Of Stars & People

At last online! This is a new episode of Oah & Harlam series I was working on this year. At fist glance the stories about two weirdoes Oah and Harlam may appear as senseless. But when there is an overflow of senselessness, then appears deep philosophy. 


These stories are not just shorts that I wrote, they are a worldview, answers to some questions of reality, grotesque simplicity of which seems to be surreal. In this series bits of life situations, thoughts, and actions are applied to animation, music, and a spoken word. I think there is a need to write fairytales for grownups, to write almost impossible stories in order to talk about important things in life.


The original music scored by Yoon Lee, involves a rare use of instruments such as kalimba and kayagum. 

Summary

Titled after an eponymous work by Estonian composer Arvo Pärt, this film is a collaborative project. A musician, Yoon Lee, used audio signals from varying instruments and tone generators to vibrate a plastic membrane over a speaker. Acrylic powder on the membrane formed shapes, as long as the sound was passing through. The process was captured with a down-shooting camera in stop-motion manner. And I took care of charcoal drawn animation, live action, and montage for this film. As to the music, Pärt works in minimalist style that employs self-made compositional techniques. His compositions depict simple harmonies, reminiscent of ringing bells. Exceedingly stable, yet fragile. 

Dusted from 2008...

Poet - The King of Fools

Just came across the visual development of a character I did at Jon Gomez' Life Drawing class in 2008 at CalArts. Pierre Gringoire - a struggling poet, playwright and a philosopher from Victor Hugo's novel 'The Hunchback of Notre-Dame'.  The poet's character did not appear in Disney's 1996 animated film adaptation. So, here are his looks! The Poet becomes the object of crowd's derision, when the 'King of Fools' title is given to him. 

GRINGOIRE: I am the true King of Fools! I battle for beauty and the ugly gets crowned! What greater fool can there be than I? 

Of Care - Still

         One more still frame from "Of Care". I used oil paints for all the layers in the background, which was very fun to work with, while seeing how the paints interconnect after being layered digitally on screen. 
       
The episode is scored by Thomas Parisch and Laurent Ziliani of PearUp Media. This short and "Of Stars & People", scored by Yoon Lee, will be screened along with other MFA-1 films at CalArts Bijou Theater on May 19th, 4pm. 

Of Stars & People

These are still frames from "Of Stars & People", one of the two new episodes from Oah & Harlam series. This episode along with "Of Care" is screened today at CalArts Open Show, 2 - 6 pm and after a break 10 - 11:30 pm. 

Scoring "Of Stars & People"

Scored by Yoon Lee, a new episode of Oah & Harlam series titled "Of Stars & People" is complete. The project is based on poetic prose and expressed through animation and music, along with the narration. The first screening of two new episodes is on April 30th at CalArts' Open Show! 

Animation is complete!

Two new episodes of Oah & Harlam series are complete. This is a still frame from "Of Care", one of the two shorts this year. We are working on final mix, and I am looking forward to show the films soon! 

Seine of Paris

From my older sketchbook, while on final stages of my two animated films this year. Deep breath. 

Theater of the Absurd

Inspired by Eugene Ionesco's "Exit the King", an improvisational play took place and time at CalArts's video studio last week. One of the side ideas of the improvisation was to carry it at a moderate tempo to accommodate sketching animators! ...Amazing actors, lights, cameras, and Masha Vasilkovsky - the organizer!

 

Japan

Japan has been struck today by what is now thought most powerful earthquake since records began, triggering a massive tsunami. I found in me this image with one of my characters. ...caring. 

School Girl

This is a traditional animation exercise from a CalArts' advanced Character Animation class taught by Ted Ty. The character was given, and all I had to do - animate! This is from last Fall's semester, while these days new shorts of Oah & Harlam Episodes are on the way! 

Home Alone

This is a short animation I did last Fall for Drawn Techniques class with Maureen Selwood. The task was to show a fall of a chair. 

Film Festival.

RE: "Of Giants"

"Your work was selected for this years' program and was consequently screened at the festival. We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for taking part in the Animex Awards".

These are some still frames from "Of Giants". The festival took place in Middlesbrough, UK, from 7th to 11th of February, and I am here, in California, working on another three shorts of "Oah & Harlam Episodes". Not to complain about being in California! Nor about working on new episodes! But I never attended a film festival! 

Los Angeles Zoo, painting with Deborah Ross.

Today was a fortune. I painted with Deborah Ross, one of America's leading wildlife artist. Ross is a faculty of the School of Visual Arts in New York and also teaches workshops in animal drawing and movement at Dreamworks, Pixar, and Walt Disney Feature Animations. 

“I work in watercolor because of the speed, mobility and emotional richness of the medium. My technique derives from the oriental school of painting. A broad sweep of color applied with the full body of the brush lays down the overall gesture. I then use the fine tip of the brush for a telling detail – the arch of a wrist or angle of brow line - to set and ground .the pose. All of this must be done quickly, for I only work from life. Once the moment is past, I stop.  My ambition is a portrayal of the essence of a subject distilled during the moments of observation. This “genii loci” (spirit of the place) is severely depleted and often lost when an animal is displaced from it true habitat.” - Deborah Ross 

Robert, my friend.

Taking breaks between film work and putting some care into this blog keeps me happy and sane! 

Wait Mama...

Since working on a new film these days, I am going through some of my old work and finding interesting pieces. This drawing came spontaneously, while sitting by my old desk at my parents' house, with yellow lamp light, using the leftover ink from my childhood. That was during my visit to Lithuania in 2001.

One Boy's Horse and Meeting Norstein.

Found this old sketch of mine while looking for inspiration. This was an early stage of development for "Tomorrow", my short film from 2009, where I had an attempt to show a child's sense of beauty amid devastation of war. 


A year and a half after the production was over, I met a person to whom I am grateful for the biggest inspiration starting from my early age. Yuriy Borisovitch Norstein, an author of "Tale of Tales" and "Hedgehog in the Fog" - my favorite films of all times. On the last day of our meeting I looked through my art with a hope to find something that has a soul, that has no touch of digital, something that I drew with a free mind, and stopped at this sketch. Next, it was framed with brown tape at the back and soon traveled to Moscow! 

Animation.

Full-time film work! Oah & Harlam Episodes, my friends. 

At first glance the stories about two weirdoes Oah and Harlam may appear as senseless. But when there is an overflow of senselessness, then appears deep philosophy.

These stories are not just shorts that I wrote, they are a worldview, answers to some questions of reality, grotesque simplicity of which seems to be surreal. In this project bits of life situations, thoughts, and actions are applied to animation, music, and a spoken word. There is a need to write fairytales for grownups, to write almost impossible stories, because when we seriously begin to talk about important and intimate things in live, most of us cannot take it. 


The image above is an animation pencil test from "Of Care", the new episode I am working on right now. And so, Harlam is walking. 

Studio Time.

Recording session for the next three episodes of Oah & Harlam series! Still looking for a narrator.