Saturday, June 29, 2013

“Home Delivery” (2)



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.