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.