That’s a Movie

One unending film gag

The shorter the film, the longer the director can speak about it. Maybe it can be interesting to know not what is the film about (it’s just a film joke!), but why it was created in my head and subsequently brought to life. It was one of this special occasions when I was given a rain check that every director dreams of. To shorten the story: I got an offer to make any animated movie I wanted, except about the political satire. The studio and producer liked my previous script about political satire so much they told me that. I couldn’t do that one in a state studio in Czechoslovakia, but could do anything else, with this one small condition. I thought they are playing a game with me just to ameliorate turning down the previous script, so I came with something I thought they would throw me out, case closed. I had let my creativity fly without thinking about the physical and technical constrictions, awaiting the inevitable end. What happened after first flattered me, but then scared me, because they accepted my crazy script! Now I had to find out how I would do it. Of course looking now at my picture made 22 years ago or just reading my script a lot of nowadays animators and experimentators would just shrug their shoulders and open the AfterEffects. Well, this was in 1984, everything had to be made in the chemical film process, duh! We worked on this movie from script to final version about seven years in total and there are just two real shots, everything else is animation and work of the mechanical film stop motion machine Truca. Making that film joke brought me and my coworkers a lot of dreamless nights and sweats. Just a small comment at the end.

At about half through this fantastic drudgery the studio approach me again and asked me to make a movie how I am making this crazy movie. So at the end I made also a 10 minutes long making of documentary, titled accordingly Why Experiment, that depicts how I made that 5 minutes animated philosophical joke.

If you interested in a similar kind of visual aesthetics and philosophical treatment, this time in the area of ecology, watch the experimental time-lapse movie Ekoem.