The main concept of Andrea Vinciguerra’s parody, “No. I Don’t Want to Dance!” comes from the idea of creating a fictional social campaign to raise social awareness of the dangers of dancing. “But at its core,” Vinciguerra told us, “it’s all about what happens when you stop critical thinking and just blindly conform/follow what society is projecting to you.”
To make his point, Vinciguerra strings together scene after scene of random set-ups. As each narrative progresses, a constant house beat growing in the background, the randomness gives way to a cohesive hilarity. Consider the bored wine-mom cooking for her plugged-in teen, or the dad dancing to a DJ with his toddler on his shoulders, but when the mom’s hair catches on fire and the teen mimics her frantic movements in a dance, or the toddler poops down his dad’s back and everybody starts doing his “wipe the back dance,” we begin to catch on—and laugh!
Now the film’s caption begins to make sense: “These are dark times. The growing amount of political, social and environmental issues fills the agendas of millions…There is a critical issue that, as yet, nobody has taken into consideration: how dangerous dance can be.”
“This film is the result of seven intense weeks,” Vinciguerra said, “in which a small team of really talented people created hundreds of props, built seven sets, and animated almost thirty characters, each one with his costume and feature.” The intent, he went on, was to approach the animation conveying a sense of warmth and homemade feeling, “as much as possible without the help of CGI.
“So for instance, elements like the fire and the water have been designed to reflect the traditional stop motion animation’s way, which I believe has an immortal charm.” He’ll get no argument from us.
“The plan was also to focus on a colorful, graphics and playful design to create a contrast with the dark events happening in the film. This juxtaposition also drove the choice of materials for the puppets and the sets. I wanted the characters to feel soft and awkwardly funny and also for the world around them to be pop, smooth, stylized and colorful.
“The big challenge as often happens in small productions was the budget against the limited time we had booked in the studio.”
Vinciguerra wrapped this piece about 5 years ago and has moved on to multiples of new projects. “At the moment I just finished post-production on a short which is starting its festival race this summer and writing my first live-action feature film.” Good stuff, we’re wishing you all the best!
For more on the production, check out these bts images below:
