Decoding The Thomas Beale Cipher

If you’re a fan of detective films and have been secretly wishing you’re a private detective who spends your day decoding codes, you can’t turn yourself away from this animation short based around a century-old riddle. The Thomas Beale Cipher is a ten-minute animation film that follows the story of a cryptographer who is on his way to solve the notoriously difficult Beale cipher.  The film contains 16 secret hidden messages about the character – conveyed through numbers, letters and collages appearing on scenes of the film.

Combining the use of collages and textures to add into the narratives of the film, The Thomas Beale Cipher is an epitome of cleverly designed animation and amazing storytelling. The man behind this animation, director/writer/producer Andrew S Allen created the film using the technique of rotoscoping, building each frame by hand resulting in a visually striking animation. The film recently made its online debut after appearing earlier at the 2010 Seattle International Film Festival as well as various film festivals in New York and Toronto.

Now, if you allow us, we’re gonna go back to dechiper the codes we’ve found from the film.