Director´s
Comments
The
tale told in this short film aims to be a kind of anti fairy tale; a
children’s nightmare which also leads us to reflect upon our
current globalized world, on domestic violence and on how we confront
our problems. But, at the same, we find ourselves within a macabre
comedy which keeps to its own rules throughout the project. As far as
the visual aspect is concerned, I’ve set out to direct this short
film with intelligent and innovative use of camera movements.
Currently, advanced use of computer tools in the process of
traditional animation allows us an amazing level of freedom for the
animator’s camera, which in the past was limited by the capacity of
the animation stands. This way, we can now use traditional animation
backgrounds as three-dimensional objects which gives us, with the
addition of a third dimension, a new universe of expressive resources
for the creators. From the beginning, this project has been conceived
as a synthesis of “the best of both worlds”: traditional
animation craftsmanship and computer generated images. The fact that
the studios responsible for both these aspects of the film work hand
in hand is absolutely fundamental to obtaining satisfactory results
without an of those errors which stem from lack of coordination. This
work would be much more difficult if it were done by two separate
studios. Fortunately, La Huella Efectos Digitales and Sopa de Sobre
Studio have been working hand in hand for almost 10 years,
complementing each other in the language, techniques and
characteristics of both worlds of animation However, the work has
been extremely hard, especially for the traditional animators. The
extraordinary freedom that computer generated backgrounds give the
camera, which jumps over the third dimension transforming the
backgrounds from flat objects into three dimensional worlds, greatly
complicates the job of the traditional animator who must adjust his
shot by shot hand-drawn characters to the camera’s positions and
movements.
One of the most amazing experiences for me has been the day to day
work that I have done with Sopa de Sobre and La Huella Efectos
Digitales over the past two years (during the time I could spare from
other commercial projects). Witnessing how a group of animators
headed by Jérôme Debève, Juan Antonio Ruiz, Miguel Martínez,
César Leal, Santiago Verdugo, Antonio Lado, José Ramón Alonso,
David Escribano or Régis Barbey have managed to create this little
short film. Watching an animator sketch free hand and appreciating
how the animation flows, literally, from his hands or how a 3D model
maker can transfer a series of polygons on to a textured, illuminated
and “navigable” scene, is an absolutely fascinating learning
experience.
