I have been an animation fan and especially stop action animation fan since I was very VERY young. I grew up watching Davey and Goliath after school used to play with my grandfather’s 8mm film camera to make my own stop action movies. Many a battle was fought on our ping pong table and in the front yard by just about anything I could get my hands on to animate. I even created a short in college animating my friend amongst a collection of inanimate objects.
A while back I visited an animation exhibit in Vancouver which included actual props and characters from Lotte Reiniger’s 1926 animated feature film, The Adventures of Prince Achmed. This was the first true feature animated film that came out 11 years before Disney’s Snow White in 1937. As with Snow White, this film used a multi-plane camera and just simply spectacular backgrounds that appear to be ever moving watercolors. Now the big difference is that The Adventures of Prince Achmed has no dialogue. It was also never recognized as the first feature-length animated film.
Ever since viewing the characters and film clips, I have wanted to make a short film homage in her style. I even purchased the film on DVD to study it and I’m enthralled by her watercolor backgrounds each time I watch it. You can see some of Act II here and I encourage you to purchase the entire movie.
Well now I want to move forward and actually create this short film. Probably 7-12 minutes, it’ll be a silent film, music only, just like the original. We’ll create the main characters in shadow puppet form just like the original and animate them either for real in stop action or in a stop action look. The only reason to make this film is just because we want to. The plan is to utilize Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and After Effects for the bulk of the art and animation. Either Premiere Pro or possibly DaVinci Resolve for the editing so we can edit and color grade in the timeline. There’s no budget, no pay, just something to have some fun on the side and create a good film to submit to short film festivals.
You notice I keep saying “we” and not “me.” See I’m looking for help from those who want to join me and make something for fun. Scriptwriters, artists, animators, photographers, editors, composers, professionals, students, hobbyists, you name it, if you want to join the team, let me know. Doesn’t matter where you live, we can all work remotely.
I’m going to start kicking around ideas with the hope to start into pre-production after the Christmas and New Year’s holidays. So what do you say? Wanna make an animation?
Ping me walter (at) biscardicreative (d0t) com and put animated short in the subject line.
Yes. Absolutely.
This is such an exciting idea!
I would love to be a part of this, I really would. So if you’re in need of an editor – I’m your lady.
Thanks so much! I got your email with the contact info, excited to have so many folks wanting to get involved!