Staff Pick Premiere: "O Black Hole!" by Renee Zhan |
Have you ever considered how a black hole is formed? It's this weeks Staff Pick Premiere, "O Black Hole!" By Renee Zhan is an epically huge and awe-inspiring music that embodies one of the most intriguing creatures of our universe through color, clay, and music. The questions of what is the source of a black hole and its death-death -- have been made by Zhan in a universe brimming with imagination and creativity.
To try to safeguard and maintain the beauty that surrounds her, a stunning young Eve-like woman decides to devour everything she likes. Consuming everything quickly and in a chaotic manner The speed and the chaos she causes creates an endless black hole from which nothing is able to escape. Worms eat the seasons, planets as well as moons and people in order to give the universe a life of infinite. In the event that she is awakened in the dark cavern the character known as the "Singularity" is confronted by creatures that are in need of her assistance. They plead with her to climb into the hole, and convince the one who made it to allow the prisoner remain as they are meant to and the world will cease to exist.
"O The Black Hole!" is a fable about not giving up what you love overly. Its vivid claymation and paintings make a myriad of drawings about the importance of embracing the temporary and accepting the inevitability of dying.
There's a lot to the craft of this film and its story that we were lucky enough to get together with its animator and director, Renee Zhan, to break down every question we had about it. Check out the following for answers:
Inspiring:
"A lot of my films begin by capturing one or two images that remain inside my head. Some time ago, I began drawing this lady with a dark charcoal line on her face. I spent hours interrogating the image, trying to figure out what she could be. After a while, it dawned on me that she was nothing but a black hole.
The movie is that concerns a woman who is worried about the passing of time that she takes all of her family members and all of the things in her own body to keep them in peace for all time.
She sucks in all of the universe until, eventually, she's just dancing on her own in circles.
The black hole is moving in counterclockwise circles since she is against Time And then when Singularity is able to save the different inhabitants of this black hole begin to dance clockwise again in the normal cycles in the Universe. They begin to restart. "
Utilizing 2D and 3D techniques:
"I've always been a huge fan of mixed-media films and I like making use of visceral effects, in addition to traditional media. I felt that the tale of the black hole really seemed to be a perfect fit for both of these mediums, 2D and 3D.
The exterior of the black space, in which time is normal it is drawn in 2D by drawing with charcoal or pencils along with watercolors and oil paints, since it's short-lived and temporary. Inside the black hole, everything it has taken in and has created is 3D, and is hard.
In the course of time, as Singularity moves across the black hole up to the top, those walls in the holes begin becoming more liquid as if the grasp that the hole has was more loose in the top. I wanted all mediums to flow into each the others and seamlessly move between 2D to 3D and back to 2D.
It's important that I leave space to think and have amusement when making films. I also like to figure the details out in the process. Creating the inside of a black-hole was an extremely interesting project, as there is no way to tell what it is like. The production designer Richard Henley and I had the chance to be completely imaginative. This gave us the chance to develop a visually distinct and intriguing world. We decided it would be in the form of dark, twisted caves like liquids which have solidified since they was taken into a freezer. . "
Her original concept against. the final version:
"When we started the film I didn't know how the film would turn out as. I'd never worked on stop-motion or made something like this.
In certain ways I was disappointed not be able to see exactly what I had in the back of my mind. My impression was that my animation was not quite as good and it was too rough and dirty. It's odd because I like watching this kind of roughness and imperfection in stop-motion movies, but on my own, I was extremely irritated about this.
Other ways, I also was awed by what we came up with. The music by Harry Brokensha and epic sound design created by Ed Rousseau were beyond what I had ever dreamed of.
Lore Lixenberg's incredible vocals as Black Hole and Emmy the Great's incredible tone as Singularity added many things to the sound.
There is no doubt that I'm very proud of our collective efforts as a group. "
HTML1 The mythological themes and humanity within her work:
"I'm intrigued by the stories about the origin of our world. They raise existential questions about humans , and then try to answer the questions by telling big, exciting tales of dive-diving birds, eggs, or even nature spirits. Mythology generally includes epic tales of battles and heroic adventures as well as explorations. I believe that this is simply part of the human desire to understand the significance of everything that surrounds us.
It's possible that in a small way, this is the thing I'm trying to accomplish through my films. In my films I'm constantly examining my own fears and anxieties along with my obsessions. In 'O Black Hole! I imagined the movie as a contemporary myth of the creation. I was looking to create a film that posed some of my personal philosophical questions, and a fun story as well as a wacky music score ."
HTML0The difficulties encountered in the making of the film
"This is without doubt the most challenging film I've ever made. The development of an animated stop-motion 2D musical featuring the main character sporting a ridiculous curly long hair (that would melt mid-way through!) made on a short deadline led to some very difficult months. It's simple to talk about the struggles. The film was packed with a lot of information in the time of a short film. True, I'm thankful to have had the opportunity to produce an amazing film and work with the most amazing group of people. I'm hoping to get many opportunities similar to this in the near future and keep making films with my friends ! "
In the context of 'O Black Hole! ':
"The final lines of the film are "O black hole, please don't lament that we're only dreams the universe has dreamt. ...' The central idea of the movie is beautiful in the midst of change. One woman who's a black hole takes all the universe around her because she's scared of change. The process of change creates an entirely new meaning and life for the future.
It seems like the movie tries to convey the idea that all things are subject to change, while new ones emerge and grow, which is beautiful and acceptable. So I do hope that this is the message the viewer receives. To be honest it's a struggle to convince myself ! "
Her advice (or the absence thereof) for filmmakers seeking to make a career:
"Maybe you could be listening to your parents and then become engineers instead. No, I'm kidding! Just kidding! It's hard to say however, I'm feeling that I'm an aspirant filmmaker. This means that I'm likely to need some help and . "
The next step:
"I'm working on a live-action/animation hybrid horror-comedy short film with BBC Films. The film is about an Asian-born British violinist called Fei whose world turns upside down after she experiences the arrival of an accomplished violinist named Mei.
Also, I'm working on an concept for a feature film animated about a cult that is devoted to birds! "
Article was posted on here