Staff Pick Premiere: "O Black Hole!" by Renee Zhan |
Have you ever thought about what happens when a black hole formed? The current Staff Pick Premiere, "O Black Hole!" by Renee Zhan is an epically massive and mind-bending musical that embodies one of the most mysterious beings in the universe using clay, color, and song. The origin of the black holeand the end of it -- are thought up by Zhan in a world that is awe-inspiring and imaginative.
To preserve the beauty around her forever, a young Eve-like girl takes the bold decision to eat everything she loves. In a frenzied and fast-paced way, the speed and chaos with which she does this creates a swirling black hole that there is no escape. She eats seasons, planets human beings, even moons, trying to give the universe a life of infinite. After waking up inside the cavernous black hole, a character called the "Singularity" encounters beings who need her help. They ask her to go up to the peak of the hole , and convince the creator of it to allow its prisoner's out their transient lives as they were meant to, or the entire world would cease to exist.
"O Black Hole!" is a fable about holding onto the things you cherish overly. The vibrant clay illustrations and vivid painting create a variety of metaphors about appreciating the ephemeral and the inevitable the end of your life.
There is so much to this film craft and story-wise; and we were able to speak to its animator and director, Renee Zhan, to break down the many questions we had about it. Find out her responses:
Inspiring:
"A majority of my films begin with one or two strong persistent images in my head. In the past, I sketched this female with an eerie charcoal streak in the area where her face was supposed to be. I spent many hours interrogating this image and trying to discover what she might be. Eventually, it seemed clear that her head was black.
The film was the story of a woman anxious about her time that she locks every thing and person she loves in her own body to ensure they are in peace for ever.
She takes in the whole universe , until she's dancing in her own company.
Black hole is dancing in circles that are counterclockwise because she's Against Time Then as Singularity rescues the diverse people living in the black hole, they begin to spin clockwise once more according to the natural rhythms in the Universe. They restart."
On using 2D and 3D techniques:
"I've always been a fan of films that mix media and I really like using visceral textures as well as traditional media. I thought that the story of the black holes really fit the contrasting mediums of 2D as well as 3D.
The exterior of the black hole where time passes normally, is rendered in 2D using pencils or charcoal, watercolors and oil paint, because it's ephemeral and fleeting. Inside the black hole everything that the black hole sucked inside herself and made everlasting, is 3D and is solid.
In the process of Singularity travels across the black hole up to the top, those walls in the hole begin slowly turning liquid like the black hole's grasp is looser and looser. I really wanted all the mediums to flow into each the other and smoothly transition between 2D to 3D and back again.
I find it essential that I leave space to think and experiment when creating films, and to work the details out in the process. Creating the inside of a black space was very appealing because no one knows what that looks like. The production designer Richard Henley and I had the freedom to be wildly imaginative. It gave us the chance to design a visually distinctive and fascinating world. We decided it would be the form of dark, twisted caves, reminiscent of liquids that solidified as the time had been frozen. ."
On her original vision in contrast to. the final version:
"When we started the film I was unsure what the film would look like. I'd never worked on stop motion before or done anything of this scale.
In certain ways I was disappointed not be able to make it look exactly what I had in mind. I thought my animation was not good enough, and it was filthy and messy. This is odd because I like to observe this type of roughness and imperfection in films made with stop-motion, however with my own work I was so angry about it.
In other ways I was awed by what we created. The music of Harry Brokensha and epic sound design by Ed Rousseau were beyond what I could have ever imagined.
Lore Lixenberg's powerful voice as Black Hole and Emmy the Great's unadulterated tones as Singularity added many things to the music.
Most of the time, I'm happy with what we all made in the group."
The mythological and human themes within her work:
"I'm really interested in the creation myths of the globe. They take existential human questions and attempt to address these questions with grand and thrilling stories of diving birds, eggs, or nature spirits. Mythology often includes big epic stories of heroes as well as adventure and hunts. My opinion is that it's simply part of the human need to comprehend the nature of our world.
On a smaller level that's what I try to do with my film. Through my work, I'm often exploring my own insecurities, obsessions, fears. With 'O Black Hole! I imagined it as a modern day legend of the creation. I was really interested in making films that included personal philosophical questions, and the fun story of a film about a quest as well as a wacky operatic soundtrack ."
On challenges faced during the creation of the film:
"This was the most demanding film I've ever created. The creation of a stop-motion/2D musical featuring a lead character with stupid long wavy hair (that was constantly melting halfway through!) made on a short deadline resulted in some pretty miserable months. It's easy to go on about the struggles. We crammed a lot into the time of a short film. In the end, I'm thankful to have the opportunity to produce an amazing film as well as to be part of an amazing team. I hope I will have more opportunities like this in the future and to keep making films with my fellow filmmakers !"
On the lesson of "O Black Hole!:
"The closing lines of the film are 'O black hole, do not lament. We're fantasies that the universe has made. ...' The central theme of the film is about the beauty in transience. The black hole woman sucks into the universe within her due to her fear of the possibility of change. Singularity teaches the black hole woman that changing is what gives new meaning and life to our lives here.
The film, I think, attempts to convey the idea that things always change, go through a process of dying, and that new things appear and grow and that's beautiful and normal. So I do hope that that's the message the audience gets. But to be honest I'm still struggling to convince myself !"
Her advice (or absence of it) for aspiring filmmakers:
"Maybe you should listen to your parents and become engineers instead. No, I'm kidding! Just kidding! It's hard to say, but it seems like I'm an aspirant filmmaker. In fact, I could be in need of some guidance as well ."
The next step:
"I'm working on a live-action/animation hybrid horror-comedy short film with BBC Films. The story is about a Chinese-born British violinist called Fei and his world flips upside down when she meets the arrival of another talented violinist called Mei.
Also, I'm working on an idea for a feature film animated on a religion that worships birds!"