Matthew Toffolo: What motivated you to make this film?
Christian Frosio: The theme of the song is a subject dear to me. During the recording music session, I started to write the storyboard of the video clip and to imagine the related scenes. It was a natural process. The idea was to reinforce the message of the song through a visual dimension that would have been strongly reflective and impactful.
2. From the idea to the finished product, how long did it take for you to make this short?
It took a month of work, with me and Michele Bernardi working on the realization of the idea. It was a two-man job involving exchange of opinions on daily basis. We established a very good artistic collaboration. Many of the scenes were filmed by me with my smartphone, with him turning them into animation.
3. How would you describe your short film in two words!?
Briefly: dreamlike, hopeful.
4. What was the biggest obstacle you faced in completing this film?
We did not want to deliver the main message of the song (the end of life) to the audience in a tough and straight manner. We all lose someone dear to us sooner or later, and the song is trying to put the overall context with a message of hope.
5. What were your initial reactions when watching the audience talking about your film in the feedback video?
I was very grateful by seeing people listening carefully to the music video, being open and honest when sharing their interpretation and understanding of the music and video clip. Seeing people interested at your work, that is one of the best thing for an artist and I am very happy about this experience.
Watch the Audience FEEDBACK Video:
6. How did you come up with the idea for this short film?
The song are based on a true experience I faced for a person dear to me. The creation of the video clip came together as a consequence. The initial idea was to make the video with real images of an hospital, but I thought that was not what I wanted to bring to the audience, because I wanted to keep to some extent the imagination and dreamlike atmosphere of the music.
7. What film have you seen the most in your life?
“Legends of the Fall”. But also ” Das cabinet des Dr. Caligari”. You can see a reference to the second one, in my video clip “La Nostra Casa “. You can find it on my Youtube Channel.
8. You submitted to the festival via FilmFreeway, what are you feelings of the submission platform from a filmmaker’s perspective?
It is a nice platforms, easy to use in the submission of your work, finding festivals, uploading your projects.
9. What song have you listened to the most times in your life?
“Let it down” Radiohead, but also the songs of the Lucio Battisti’s LP “Anima Latina”.
10. What is next for you? A new film?
I have an outgoing album entitled “Mille Direzioni” and a new music video “Anime Leggere”. Now I am working on a new video clip.
I am a songwriter and the director of my music videos. I am very attached to the video aspect, because I can express the meanings of music through the visual language, trying to create a very strong connection between the two aspects.
ECLOSION played to rave reviews at the October 2019 Experimental/Dance/Music Festival in Toronto.
Matthew Toffolo: What motivated you to make this film?
Jenny Ni: Coming from an Asian culture background, light skin, skinny body and big eyes are considered as the classic standard of beauty. Although I wasn’t overweight, I grew up receiving negative comments about my appearance and body shape. I was obsessed over the idea that being skinnier will make me more popular among others. Funny enough, just like most teenagers, I’ve tried several medicine secretly to lose weight. It’s not until I come to Canada, my perspective towards beauty was changed. Oversized girls walk confidently on the street and they seem to be proud in their own skins. The openness to diversities makes me realized beauty isn’t always about outside and even though your appearance changed, it does’t necessarily mean the society is going to accept you any better. I wanted to send a message to all the insecure people out there, especially women, to stay true to yourself no matter what you’re going through.
Meanwhile, I wanted to be critical about the bubble world we’re living in. The difficulty to reveal your true self in front of others for the fear of losing them because once they know who you truly are, there’s a higher possibility that they will see you differently.
2. From the idea to the finished product, how long did it take for you to make this short?
It took us 4 months in total to finish Eclosion from pre-production to post-production.
3. How would you describe your short film in two words!?
Emotional and Inspirational
4. What was the biggest obstacle you faced in completing this film?
My biggest obstacle throughout the process of creating Eclosion is the reveal of the main character, Ann transforming into a cocoon. My production designer and I had brainstormed a various way to create the cocoon look but we weren’t sure about its practicality. It’s not until I came across a picture of sock dance on Pinterest that we decided it would be wise to incorporate sock dance as our inspiration and apply the same idea to Eclosion. Our concept is to use a light, breathe through material and stitched it into a pouch attached our actress’ costume at the back. The pouch was designed with an zip opening. At a certain point of the dance, she will sit down and grab the pouch from her back , step in to cover her entire body with it. We want to make sure the weight of the fabric won’t influence her dance move and when she’s in the cocoon, she has enough space to breathe through. Therefore, my production designer and I spent a lot of time picking the most suitable fabric for this specific shot. The result came out better than I expected. On camera, this shot is breathtaking.
5. What were your initial reactions when watching the audience talking about your film in the feedback video?
Although I’m used to receiving comments from my friends about the work I’ve done so far. Seeing them on screen is a whole another experience. Especially knowing the viewers are watching my film from another city, it made me excited but also nervous. Excited in a way that I’m glad I’m able to deliver my message to a boarder audience group. Nervous because this is the first time that my film is being screened in a downtown theatre.
Watch the Audience FEEDBACK Video:
6. How did you come up with the idea for this short film?
To be fully honest with you. I was going through a really hard time with myself at a certain point last year. Before I created Eclosion, I was stressed over the idea that there will be no path for an international filmmaker here after I graduated from school. There are times that I skipped class just to slept in. I don’t want to engage much with my friends and I purposely distanced myself from them because I see myself as a bad influence on them. One day in our acting class, my friend commented on how people are hiding behind a shield, afraid to be see through, or accepted for who they are. I burst down crying after hearing that. I’ve had enough of hiding my emotions within, it’s time to let them all out. My friends were shocked seeing me cry in front of the whole class. They came up to me and asked how I was doing. I could genuinely feel the love that I got from my class and how unnecessary for me to put on a mask in front of them.
Soon after, I came up with the idea of a caterpillar evolve into a butterfly. My experience has enrich my mindset towards being vulnerable and show off your true self.
7. What film have you seen the most in your life?
I adore all David Fincher’s films, especially the one that got me into psychological thriller—Gone Girl. This film is a great example where director mindfully place the clues and let the viewer figure out themselves. He’s also playing around with the timeline of the film which leads to the plot twist in the end. It’s also the very first time that I saw such a strong female lead playing a cold hearted “killer”. Therefore, these unique elements combined made up my favourite film of all time.
8. You submitted to the festival via FilmFreeway, what are you feelings of the submission platform from a filmmaker’s perspective?
The website for FilmFreeway has a really clear design and it makes my submission super easy. Although I would like to ask to improve on the security for managing linked bank accounts on site. One time my producer mistakenly used my credit card for the payment and I had no idea where my money went until he told me.
9. What song have you listened to the most times in your life?
I love a classic duet between female and male artists. Best Part by Daniel Caesar and H.E.R is my go to Karaoke song and on a side note, I started singing since I was in middle school. The jazzy, R&B vibe warms my heart with their lovely harmony. This is one of those songs that made me want to find a lover an run away with him to the sea.
10. What is next for you? A new film?
I’m currently in school finishing my diploma in Arts at Capilano University but I’d love to get back to film as soon as I can. There’s a few scripts I’ve been working on for a long time and it would be fascinating to see them on screen. Apart from that, I’m also working on creating a new YouTube channel focusing on styling and music since those are two of my other passions. I’ve been also thinking of directing music videos for local artists just to connect with more talents and get to know the music industry as well.
SUCKR FOR LOVE was the winner of BEST FILM at the October 2019 Experimental/Dance/Music Festival in Toronto.
Matthew Toffolo: What motivated you to make this film?
Nathalie Kraemer: Originally I needed a music video for my next song release that wouldn’t cost a fortune and include many cast and crew. So I decided to make an animation in a very specific style that I wanted to do a long time ago and which also served as an homage to German film maker Lotte Reiniger from the 1920’s. It was important to me to create something meaningful and socio-critical as well.
2. From the idea to the finished product, how long did it take for you to make this short?
From research at the Film museum in Duesseldorf to concept, storyboarding, production and completion it took me about 4 months.
3. How would you describe your short film in two words!?
Missing love
4. What was the biggest obstacle you faced in completing this film?
The biggest obstacle was time. Based on my production schedule I planned a deadline and booked the venue for my single release. Everything had to be ready for that date because a lot of people were involved, a night full of concerts, prizes to win and collaborations with small indie businesses so there was no way to move the date. What I didn’t factor in was the many retakes some scenes needed because of unforeseen small technical issues or the character animation just didn’t look great and I had to redo it. Closer to the deadline I had to work longer hours and faster and luckily my back was holding up from being bent over in a dark room all day. I literally rendered the movie up until the night before and I’d say the last 2-3 days were panic mode haha but I finished it on time.
5. What were your initial reactions when watching the audience talking about your film in the feedback video?
My initial reaction? I’d rather not say. 😉 I was present during the live screening and when the audience gave their feedback I felt myself tense up inside, sink into my chair, get into defense mode (I know it’s silly) and listen to the feedback. And the audience feedback was very positive and great!
Watch the Audience FEEDBACK Video:
6. How did you come up with the idea for this short film?
The content of the film had to make sense to the lyric of the song since it was intended to be a music video for that specific song Suckr for Love. Since the song is about unrequited love I focused on the story of a girl trying to find true love in a time where people don’t have patience to get to know someone and instead just run off to the next person they see. Worked into the background paintings drawn by my artist friend Hannes Berg are environmental issues we are facing currently such as the plastic pollution in our oceans, the dying of the bees, carbon emission, etc.
7. What film have you seen the most in your life?
Probably Disney movies as a child. I typically don’t watch movies twice.
8. You submitted to the festival via FilmFreeway, what are you feelings of the submission platform from a filmmaker’s perspective?
I like FilmFreeway, they have almost all International festivals listed there and filtered search options to find whatever suits your film. Very easy to navigate the site and user-friendly.
9. What song have you listened to the most times in your life?
Hard to say. I listen to a lot of music on repeat. Maybe Pink Floyd the division bell.
10. What is next for you? A new film?
Yes. I am currently applying for funding for my next silhouette short about humans lost touch of nature and focus on indigenous stories.
EMERGENCE played to rave reviews at the September 2019 Experimental/Dance/Music Festival in Los Angeles.
Matthew Toffolo: What motivated you to make this film?
Klaus Hoch: I co-created a new way of creating music with Peter and wanted to create something that expresses the music.
I had the idea in my head for a long time – using music to have humans emerge from the inanimate world, become sentient and then return to the inanimate state.
I do a lot of doing single-take, hand-held, visually-enhanced, performance videos and wanted to expand on that: a single-take drone shot, choreographed to dance, with expressive effects within the take.
2. From the idea to the finished product, how long did it take for you to make this short?
About 8 months. I’ve had the basic idea for a long time. I had Peter compose the music for the concept. The actual shoot was just 1 day.
There was a lot of searching for a large enough, appropriate location and a drone and operator that could respond to the choreography.
Since it’s a single long take, the post was relatively fast except for the visual effects woven into the single shot at various places.
3. How would you describe your short film in two words!?
Drone Dance ? Two words is really hard for a project like this.
4. What was the biggest obstacle you faced in completing this film?
The main problems were finding: 1) a choreographer and dancers, 2) a specific location – large, textured enough, with natural light and available. and 3) a drone pilot (and drone) who could execute what I had in mind – a long take with intricate moves and getting close to the dancers.
5. What were your initial reactions when watching the audience talking about your film in the feedback video?
Surprised at the different things they saw in the work. How they interpreted what I had conceived. It was all good.
Watch the Audience FEEDBACK Video:
6. How did you come up with the idea for this short film?
I see and imagine things then try to film them. I have always liked the idea of the inanimate coming to life as a human – being awoken by art, in this case music.
The dancers emerge from the piano as aspects of the piano (the costumes), discover life, discover each other, reject the exterior world (the blinding light) and then return to the inanimate world (back into the piano)
7. What film have you seen the most in your life?
Chinatown.
8. You submitted to the festival via FilmFreeway, what are you feelings of the submission platform from a filmmaker’s perspective?
Great. It worked very smoothly for this music video.
9. What song have you listened to the most times in your life?
I couldn’t possibly pick one.
10. What is next for you? A new film?
Another feature film. I did one several years ago (then I developed an illness which now I’ve recovered from).
Matthew Toffolo: What motivated you to make this film?
David-Alexandre CHANEL: At THEORIZ we constantly explore the relations and convergence of reality and virtuality. This project started as a scientific research project exploring how we can use immersive videos, tracking, interactivity, real time visuals – tools we use everyday for our work on stage, shows or event – for a cinema/film setup. We explored different paths and came up with a prototype of a mixed reality room were you could film actors and project the visuals around them, reacting to their movements and the camera. Starting there, we used it further it begun to write and produce the short movie, to explore what we could do with this new technique.
2. From the idea to the finished product, how long did it take for you to make this short?
Taking into account the whole tech and research work as well as the production, i took one and half year. The writing and production of the movie itself took 6 months, with two months visual and tech pre-production and three days of shooting.
3. How would you describe your short film in two words!?
Very hard task ! I will go with : Experimental virtuality
4. What was the biggest obstacle you faced in completing this film?
The biggest obstacle was definitely directing and managing a whole short movie production with a tool I never used, which were still a prototype at the time. So I had the task of directing both the development and technical challenges, as well as directing the content and story. It was extremely intense, but I had a great team and I’m quite proud of what we could achieve with the means we had.
5. What were your initial reactions when watching the audience talking about your film in the feedback video?
It’s always incredible to get feedback of the audience because there is several layers of things to get in the movie. Different people always catch different part of it. Lots of people think it’s just CG and green screens but it’s not ! Also on the story side, there is some details hidden, and part of it is also open to interpretation so it’s very nice to see what it people got out of it.
Watch the Audience FEEDBACK Video:
6. How did you come up with the idea for this short film?
We were working and exploring a lot how we could innovate with innovative tech for film shooting. Then when we started writing the story. At that point, the tech itself became an inspiration, hence having the character uploading themselves in a virtual world and the movie playing with what is real or not constantly.
7. What film have you seen the most in your life?
I’m actually not into watching a lot of time the same movie. Except some short movie when I’m in awe with the aesthetic of it. I’ve watched a lot of movies speaking about virtual worlds and playing with the concept, who were definitely part of an inspiration for this movie, obviously some well known movies like Matrix, ExistenZ and Ready player one are a good example of this topic.
8. You submitted to the festival via FilmFreeway, what are you feelings of the submission platform from a filmmaker’s perspective?
It was great to easily connect with festivals and community internationally, the platform played a big role for our team to be able to connect easily with a wider audience.
9. What song have you listened to the most times in your life?
Haha, that might be all the songs of the Mechanical Animals album by Marilyn Manson
10. What is next for you? A new film?
I would love to explore more this technique !
But we are going forward already, our next movie will be a real time experience in VR, where you will encounter an avatar and going through different world by helping each other. We want it to feel super real, so we are working with cognitive science and haptics research labs exploring how we can trigger new sensations in virtual reality.
Matthew Toffolo: What motivated you to make this film?
Marieta Landkroon: Unfortunately, classical music is still often seen as ‘dusty’ and ‘boring’. As a young artist, I want to show a wide audience that classical music can be incredibly inspiring and impressive. Within the culture of music videos there isn’t much attention for classical music and that is one of the aspects that makes this project innovative and distinctive.
2. From the idea to the finished product, how long did it take for you to make this short?
It took more than 2.5 years to realize the production of the music video. The first production meeting between director Marieta Landkroon and producers Jamillah van der Hulst and Conrad Alleblas took place in the winter of 2016. With the help of the founding sponsors of the project the song for the music video was recorded in October 2016. It then took another 1.5 years to get the funding in place; sponsors came on board, the Amsterdam Fund for the Arts offered their financial support and a succesfull crowdfunding campaign was executed in April-May 2018. Finally, production took place in the first two weeks of June 2018.
3. How would you describe your short film in two words!?
Mystical experience
4. What was the biggest obstacle you faced in completing this film?
To get the funding in place. It was a process of 1,5 years.
5. What were your initial reactions when watching the audience talking about your film in the feedback video?
It is absolutely great to hear that the audience understand what is happening, even though they don’t speak Russian. The music and the images are very abstract and poetic in a way, so I’m glad to hear that the images communicate the message right.
Watch the Audience FEEDBACK Video:
6. How did you come up with the idea for this short film?
The idea for making a classical music video was based on my love for film and classical music and the realization that the combination of these two arts is almost non-existent as a music video.
7. What film have you seen the most in your life?
Sleeping Beauty.
8. You submitted to the festival via FilmFreeway, what are you feelings of the submission platform from a filmmaker’s perspective?
A good place to search for interesting Festivals who can help distribute your film
9. What song have you listened to the most times in your life?
Tough question… the one that pops my mind is ‘The Memory Remains’ by Metallica
10. What is next for you? A new film?
I hope so! But first I’m working on a new photography project about the seven archetypal Greek goddesses together with a costume designer.
Matthew Toffolo: What motivated you to make this film?
Joshua Nicholas Goodman: The idea of exploring the point of view of a ‘peeping tom’ and his process. Also to make the audience feel like the voyeur that we all are and then show extremes of it.
2. From the idea to the finished product, how long did it take for you
to make this short?
It took just over a year to finish.
3. How would you describe your short film in two words!?
Peeping Tom
4. What was the biggest obstacle you faced in completing this film?
It came in the editing. Knowing when and how to finish the film. Re-shooting. Being ready to send out that final cut. There was no deadline, so we had to make our own, otherwise we’d still be filming.
5. What were your initial reactions when watching the audience talking
about your film in the feedback video?
It felt surreal that there were people watching it and commenting on something that we worked hard on creating over the past few years. It’s wild that people are on the other side of the world watching it. I loved everything they said even just for the fact that they said anything about it at all.
Watch the Audience FEEDBACK Video:
6. How did you come up with the idea for this short film?
We had a location of an empty house for a week and wanted to take advantage of it. We sat in the house toying with different ideas and eventually came to the idea of starting with a “peeping tom” character looking and peeping around. It started with the location and subject matter and grew from there.
7. What film have you seen the most in your life?
Taxidriver or Reservoir Dogs
8. You submitted to the festival via FilmFreeway, what are you feelings
of the submission platform from a filmmaker’s perspective?
It was with ease and great communication that made the experience a memorable one. I hope to continue to submit more to the various outlets Wildsound offers.
9. What song have you listened to the most times in your life?
Nirvana and Wu-Tang Clan
10. What is next for you? A new film?
Writing some feature length films maybe a short. Always creating.
