MOVIEBRAVE FULL
I was similarly lucky to have the talented Kazimir Iskander create a full color script for the film. I was fortunate to have incredible artists like Allie Strom and Amy Lewis leading the background team with beautiful digital paintings. The final look is the result of compromise between period authenticity and tools that made the film achievable by a small, remote team.
The trains were animated in Maya on 2s and 1s and rendered to look like drawings. Instead of a multiplane camera, I had After Effects. Instead of paper and cels, I had Photoshop and TVPaint. I wanted the film to resemble a fully restored animated short from the 1940s but use pragmatic digital techniques to justify extremely limited resources besides my own time. It yields a result unlike any other.Īlso, Patreon suited me for this project’s revival because it matched my preferred pace and temperament.Ĭan you describe how you developed your visual approach to the film? Why did you settle on this style/technique? That’s been my favorite way to work as a filmmaker in animation. We developed the music and reels simultaneously. For me, the approach to the collaboration was the reason to wake up and make the short.Ĭreating a film with that music room mindset from animation’s Golden Age, as composers Frank Churchill and Leigh Harline did with Walt Disney’s artists, was a process I always wanted to experience. Hambleton absolutely slayed the assignment from the casting to the arrangements to the Foley to the period microphone everything was recorded on. When I pitched the concept to my former animation instructor, Tom Schroeder, he connected me with composer Tom Hambleton. What did you learn through the experience of making this film, either production-wise, filmmaking-wise, creatively, or about the subject matter?Ī project is only as good as the team making it. There is beauty in things once mainstream becoming boutique. I appreciate the oldest of the old and the newest of the new in both animation and life. Westerns like True Grit, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (a live-action R-rated Melody Time), and even No Country For Old Men explore obsolescence in ways I found entertaining to echo in this family film. Trains lent themselves well to the era being pastiched and provided exciting possibilities for animation and music. When I revived the project during the pandemic (with a “you only live once” mindset following nearly a decade pause), some people felt it was commenting on the sudden arrival of A.I. Back then, it felt like it was commenting on the sudden decline of hand-drawn American feature animation. The theme of obsolescence was always at the heart of it. I originally developed the project in late 2008, in my early 20s. What was it about this story or concept that connected with you and compelled you to direct the film? Their work is reflective, entertaining, and rewarding to revisit. Growing up, I also felt a kinship with Bill Peet and Bill Watterson. Those films made impressions with their incredibly dynamic directing.
I remember being enchanted and terrified watching The Brave Little Toaster and Who Framed Roger Rabbit as a small child in the 1980s. I enjoy films from Disney’s lifetime that explore a full range of emotions and successfully balance sincerity with satire. Toad, Susie the Little Blue Coupe, and Paul Bunyan. Other inspirations include Pinocchio, Dumbo, The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. The Andrews Sisters sounded like magic! It has long been on my bucket list to create a love letter to that specific era that sparked my passion for animation. The inventive marriage of images and music arrested me. What are some of the classic works that inspired you while developing this film?Īndrew Chesworth: Melody Time and Make Mine Music are among my earliest memories of experiencing animation.
Cartoon Brew: This film is a real throwback, from its animation to its music to its willingness to go dark with the narrative.
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