KIDS for KIDS with ERIC (Hayes) the GREAT

He’s only been animating for three and a half years, and his short films have already been selected for screening at various international festivals. His latest film, the three-minute-long “A Recipe for Disaster,” showed at this year’s Calgary International Film Festival and was shortlisted for the coveted Young Renegade Award. He has a resume many of us would be eager to swap for, and he’s not even old enough to drive.

Meet Eric Hayes, the brown haired, freckled teenager who led this year’s Kids For Kids Workshop at Quickdraw, on Sunday, November 8. Eric’s task: to share his own techniques and insights, and to provide enough inspiration and guidance to have the nine young participants each finish a short film before noon.

Considering that Cordell Barker’s “The Cat Came Back” was six years in creation, and the recent big-screen hit Coraline took four years to make and all of a decade to write, the pressure was on Eric and his potential protégés. (What kind of a talented world is it when a fourteen year old has protégés?) Of course, if anyone could get a group of nine, ten, and eleven-year-olds out of bed before ten and excited about animation, it would be the Quickkid success story himself.

Before the first hour was up, Eric had the kids bringing their ideas to life on white paper storyboards: careful pencil strokes quickly gave way to dynamic characters and vivid backdrops. The nine pupils were encouraged to make use of the various dolls, action figurines, plastic animals, and Lego props available at the Quickdraw workshop.

Zach, a faired-haired boy, told the story of a shark attack: after having skilfully transcribed the image of a Lego man and row boat onto his storyboard, he set off to create the cardboard shark and waters that would complete the attack scene. Seth, who sat at the drawing table opposite Zach, had little problem imagining and drawing a fight scene in which a Ninja Turtle encounters a rival on his way through the forest. The pine trees in Seth’s wooded backdrop were individually hand-crafted from green Plasticine.

With their storyboards full and their cardboard-clay-toothpick-Lego-part backdrops complete, Eric’s kids moved on to the actual animation. With only two “animation stations” (camera and screen set-ups which allowed the kids to take still shots and accurately reposition sets and characters,) one of the greatest challenges was to keep the animators, well, animated.

“It went well,” admitted Eric once the workshop kids had finally filed out. “I kind of improvised, but it went okay. We kept them busy.” If he had not fully thought through his every next move, then the last ones to know were the kids. “We made animations with a professional” one of them gushed to Dad at pick-up time.

9 year old Ella, the sole girl of the bunch, left the workshop in smiles over her animation project, a short video in which a trio of plastic beetles capture a dinosaur pair and lock them up in Ella’s own handmade jail. “I’m really happy with the way it turned out,” she said on her way out the door, only to pop back a few minutes later to collect the storyboard she had nearly left behind.

As the remnants of the morning—scraps of paper and cardboard, felt markers, scissors, and colourful Plasticine stubs—were cleared from the drawing tables, Eric’s last animation project came into full view. The over two foot tall set, a Parisian inspired Bakery, with brick façade, gothic fence, a green fur lawn, and buns and baguettes for the window display, was constructed by Eric in his parents’ basement for the short film “A Recipe for Disaster.” Eric, too, can attest to the drawn-out time required for animation: his own film lasted a mere three minutes and took all of six months to make.

As Eric packed up and prepared to take off to yet another GIRAF 5 event, a free screening of NFB Family Shorts at the Plaza, he appeared satisfied with his stint as workshop instructor/animation professional. “The kids did well,” reflected Eric. “They listened well and I’m pretty sure they had fun.”

As for the teen animator’s future projects? He’s not sure, but he’ll definitely keep animating. (Of course, it doesn’t hurt that his younger sister can loan out her dollhouses anytime and that his older brother is somewhat of a musical composer.) “I’m planning on pursuing some sort of career in the entertainment industry,” says Eric, eloquent beyond his years, “but you never know where life will take you.”

For now, life has taken Eric down the kinds of festival-lined roads many of us have only dreamed of traveling. And by the looks of things, he’s headed much farther still. Which is great. We love Eric Hayes. We’re proud of his success. We’re glad his workshop went well. We just can’t stand the fact that he’s only fourteen.

SPOTLIGHT: Cordell Barker/ NFB- Get Animated

The National Film Board of Canada sponsored a great afternoon down at the plaza.

Starting at 2:30 there was a collection of animated shorts with a plethora of unique styles and varying content. The filmmakers were in fine form with this shorts package. Daniel Janke's How People Got Fire creatively mixed rotoscoping, watercolour and smoky charcoal with a look at history and a little girl's experience of "now". Yet another sweet story unfolded when the screen transported us to the Land of the Heads, an accordion playing monkey, a black crow and of course, a bodiless head.

The final short in what proved to be a very well rounded package was none other than two time Oscar Nominated Cordell Barker's Runaway. Cordell took us back to the train tracks, but in a full steam engine instead of the old trolley car from The Cat Came Back. Cordell's timing is at it's finest in this new short, with plenty of laugh's, greed, romance and a spotted heifer.

Cordell was in town at the urging of the NFB to talk about his work and the audience was treated to a live behind the scenes from one of Canada's greatest animators.

Cordell started by showing a ten minute reel of his influences. From Popeye to Mickey to a number of NFB classics, it became evident that Cordell's attention to detail is in large part what makes his animations so special. Timing was the keyword, as he then went on to break down his first oscar nominated short, The Cat Came Back(available for viewing at www.nfb.ca).

Cordell broke down the film by section revealing the things that still irk him 20 years later, but more so, sharing in the victories he still values. It was refreshing and a great reminder, that the animator really must have a passion for the project they are working on. It will be with you, good or bad, for years to come.

Hopefully we'll get to see another Cordell work soon!

9 Facts About $9.99

Love random films? Love random facts? Great.That's what this is.

1. $9.99 is based on the Short Stories of Edgar Keret. It was directed by Tatia Rosenthal and adapted for the screen by Rosenthal and Keret.

2. Pre-production began in 2006, with the shoot commencing in 2007, and post-production starting in Tel-Aviv in January of 2008. The film premiered at Dendy Opera Quays, in Sydney, Australia, on June 6, 2009, as part of the Sydney Film Festival.

3. The film was shot using stop motion animation, an extremely detail oriented and time-consuming technique. In the process, puppets were moved by tiny increments between frames, and each of these frames was individually photographed. When played back quickly one after the other, these photos create the illusion of one fluid movement.

4. Film generally uses an exposure of 24 frames per second. In $9.99 animators repositioned their puppets once every two frames (this means 12 different movements for a second of onscreen film time.) The film took 4o weeks to shoot.

5. Nine animators, from Australia, Israel and other international locations, worked on the production of $9.99; on average, each animator could finish 4 or 5 seconds of film footage per day. With the animators standing on their feet for up to 12 hours at a time in order to fashion minute adjustments, the job proved extremely physically demanding.

6. The puppets used in $9.99 were sculpted by puppet master Philip Beadsmoore, whose previous modelling work with silicon spoke to Rosenthal. Physical traits for the puppets were inspired by photographs of family, friends, old professors, and even complete strangers. Puppets were made at 1/6th scale—about the size of a Barbie—yet their hands were crafted at 1/5th scale, to facilitate hand movements, the holding of props and general dexterity.

7. Geoffrey Rush, Anthony LaPaglia, Samuel Johnson, Claudia Karvan, and Joel Edgerton were among the actors who lent their voices to the puppets. Instead of keeping actors in isolated booths during recording (a practice which is more typical of the animation industry,) Rosenthal preferred to have most of the voice performers together, in one booth, to work through the scenes in collaboration.

8. The urban world of $9.99 was inspired by New York, Tel Aviv and Sydney. The entire film world, including the inside and outside of the main six apartments, was built completely from scratch at 1/6th scale. Pre-production, in Sydney, took five months, largely due to the massive set requirements. (When the film was finally shot—with a Canon 30D Digital Stills Camera by cinematographers Susan Stitt, James Lewis and Ricahrd Bradshaw—it was done so on five or six sets simultaneously, with duplicate models of the main puppets present on several sets at once.)


9. Despite certain Magical Realism elements, stylistically, $9.99 is highly naturalistic. To give the film and characters a realistic look and feel, animators attempted to mimic human actions and to have both their puppets and sets avoid any cartoony wackiness or mannerisms.

For more fun facts about $9.99, including the making of, news and reviews, cast bios, and the official trailer, visit http://www.9dollars99movie.com/ .

No one informed me there would be roller skates.

"The Short Strings" at the Plaza...

Hey, Small Spender

Dying to spend that GST cheque? Recently chose the cash back option at Wal-Mart? At a loss for what to get that special someone on their special day? There’s no better way to say I LOVE ANIMATION (and if need be, I Love You) than by getting your hands on some of this year’s Quickdraw merchandise:

Avoid Eye Contact (Volume 1 and 2): Best of NYC Independent Animation: $16.50 each. Ranging from 2 to 10 minutes, the short films in these two volumes promise to delight all audiences with their use of color, sound, editing, and various narrative techniques. Volume 2 has 15 films: that’s only $1.10 per film.

Ten Animated Films by Signe Baumane: $16.50. Latvian animator and illustrator Signe Baumane brings us a series of whimsical tales crafted by her sometimes risqué sense of humour. We may not care to find Latvia on a map, but come on, risqué Latvian humour? Who isn’t intrigued?

Rat Moves: The QAS Portfolio Project: $16.50. A small price to pay for a lifetime of something called Rat Moves on your DVD shelf.

Teat Beat of Sex: $16.50. The official website warns that “If you are under 38, are easily offended, have a heart condition, or live in a country where movies about sex are illegal, do not enter this site!” There’s a thong on the cover, and oh, turns out the shorts are actually lectures on sex.

NFB DVD: $25/ NFB Blue Ray: $30. This year, the National Film Board celebrates its 70th anniversary. What better way to celebrate than by buying a present for yourself? (Specifically, this DVD.)

Quickdraw T-Shirts: $15. For two thirds of the price of an American Apparel T-shirt you can get, well, an American Apparel T-shirt. Plus the Quickdraw logo. Steal of a deal.

Quick Kids Membership $30/ Associate Membership $25/ Producing Membership $50. Yesterday Alan MacDonald, as he manned the merchandise booth, told me that “the best thing about the membership is the people you’ll meet” after which he accidentally added “’cause they’re the people that will make your film.” I don’t doubt that you’ll meet people. As for getting your film made by others? Maybe ask Alan about that.

Quickdraw Merchandise will be on sale at The Plaza Theatre and The Quickdraw Animation Society during festival events.

SPOTLIGHT: Richard Reeves

I had the pleasure of heading down to the Quickdraw Animation Societies home base on thursday evening to take in the Richard Reeves showcase. Richard, who's animation is known across Canada, began animating with QAS back in 1989. It was a welcome return home with many familiar faces in the crowd asking questions and sharing their enthusiasm for his work.

Richard is known for his cameraless animations, scratching, painting, bleaching and many other unique methods of creating not only the images but also the sound. We were all in for a treat having the creator introduce each film and fill us in on the process and the method that went into the creation of the unique films. Animation is very evidently one of Richard's lifelong passions. To the right is an autobiography we were lucky enough to find in the QAS archives. I have no doubt that Richard will continue animating long into the future. While others are concerned with computer advances and the newest 3D models, Richard's innovations have a much more natural feel.

Attached is a quick video from last night's screening. It includes a brief clip of linear dreams and footage of Richard talking about his process. I apologize for the quality of the upload. It is a little week.

There are still a few spots available for Richards Workshop: Scratch It! which will be on saturday at 11:00. See www.giraffest.ca for more details.

The Rebrew at Giraf

The boys from the Weekly Re-Brew Will be giving a helping hand tonight, filming the reaction to tonights feature "$9.99" at the Plaza. Come on down and be a part of the fun!