The concept of the story came from Fiona van Heemstra ( the screenwriter.) She had a friend who was very ill and almost died and she told Fiona, “You have a choice which way you want to go.”
This inspired her to write this story. Then she asked me to direct it and I was immediately moved by the story. I asked Huub Kistemaker, who is a very talented animator and set builder, to work with me and we decided to make a very pure film.
We didn’t want to use any computer effects because we wanted it to a have an old handcrafted look and feel, just like Mr. de Vries.
We tried to make an ‘analog’ film so to speak, so we used all kinds of old school techniques.
For instance the scene where he sharpens his skates, Huub made a small grinding machine and we used a small grindstone from a cigarette lighter to make the actual stars. [see video below]
And furthermore we did everything very simply and really used no rigs at all- the only rig that’s used and cleaned is the pigeon flying away.
We made the film in 3 months and had about 6 weeks of animation, 3 days per week. We used a Canon 7d with a 50 mm lens and for some shots – a macro lens and the standard 15-85 lens. To give it that blue feeling we used a polaroid filter.
It was our second time working with Dragonframe and we are no computer nerds, ha! But that’s just what we liked about Dragonframe so much- that it is so easy and simple to use.
I count as my personal inspirations: Wes Anderson, “the Fantastic Mr. Fox” and Yuriy Norshteyn’s “the Hedgehog in the Fog.”
I like animation films with great stories, more than I am interested in the technique per se, for me storytelling is very important.
Well said! If story is the heart of film, than this film surely touches the heart. Very Happy Holidays, readers! -Dragon
Spark arresting video of home-spun grinding wheel “fx” constructed from lighter assembly:
Credits
Director: Mascha Halberstad
Produced by Viking film, Marleen slot
Script/Screenplay: Fiona van Heemstra
Animation: Huub Kistemaker
Intern: Marije van Ouwerkerk
Sound Design: Jeroen Nadorp
Composer: Miguel Boelens
Festival screenings
• Netherlands Film Festival, September 2013
• International Youth Film Festival, Turkey, May 2013
• Femina Festival, Brazil, July 2013
• Cinefiesta, Puerto Rico, July 2013
• Filmfestival Nueva Mirada, Argentina, August 2013
• Brazilian Kids Festival, Brazil, September 2013
• Milano Film Festival, Italy, September 2013
• Encounters Film Festival, UK, September 2013
• Athens Film Festival, Greece, September 2013
• Le Carrousel du Rimouski, Canada, September 2013
• Kerry Film Festival, Ireland, October 2013
• Schlingel Film Festival, Germany, October 2013
• St Louis International Film Festival, USA, November 2013
• Golden Elephant Children Festival, India, November 2013
Awards:
Winner: International Short and Animation Film Award, Schlingel Film Festival, Germany
This Film was made for NTR kort! 2012
Financial support: NTR, Netherlands Filmfund, CoBo
See more on Mascha’s tumblr blog.
Much thanks to the sage staff at Vimeo for spotting, sharing and showcasing such gems.
Blog written by Vera Long