Please tell us about the projects you worked on before making ‘Unforgettable Moments’. How did you start, and how did you learn to make animation?
Since I was very young, I was fascinated by animation and enjoyed reading and researching the subject, but it wasn’t until a few years ago that I decided to fully immerse myself and start working on projects professionally. I began by learning traditional 2D animation, using pencil and paper. Later, I transitioned to digital 2D animation, and through my work, I was invited to delve into stop motion. That’s how I joined the Mexican animation studio Cinema Fantasma, where I collaborated on several projects, with my most notable work being as an animator on the first Mexican stop-motion animated series, "Los Sustos Ocultos de Frankelda" (“Frankelda's Book of Spooks”. Max, 2021).
I’ve always liked practicing a lot to keep improving, following the advice my colleagues share with me, and applying my knowledge of acting and theatrical direction to interpreting the characters I animate, in order to create more believable and human scenes.
Tell us about ‘Unforgettable Moments’. How do you describe it?
"Unforgettable Moments" arises from the desire to express how we are using technology to censor and practically erase the "bad" or “sad” from our lives, were most of the use of technology to make our daily lives easier focuses on providing us with "happiness" at all times. And part of my questioning is whether that’s really happiness. Is it the absence of sadness and bad moments? Or, in this pursuit of happiness, are we actually stripping life and our experiences of an important, real, and organic part? This is my way of sharing that reflection with others.
Please tell us about your favorite filmmakers.
I can name a few that come to my mind now, but there are many more. I love Wes Anderson’s work, his narrative, and the iconic visual composition he always presents in his films, besides he liked to work in animation projects too. Charlie Kaufman with his bold, different, and profound scripts. Guillermo del Toro, who constantly renews his vision with incredible works where he blurs the line between humanity and the monstrous aspects of our own nature. Finally, I find Makoto Shinkai’s work wonderful, blending the everyday modern world with Japan’s traditions and the magic that our world can hold through ancient legends.
If you were given a good budget, what would be your ideal project?
My ideal project would be to create my own universe, like "The Dark Crystal", "Star Wars", "Avatar: The Last Airbender", or "The Lord of the Rings". A unique world with beings that only exist there. It would probably be a kind of dystopia where I could highlight social issues we face today, offering my perspective and sparking conversation aimed at raising awareness and inspiring positive change in our behavior. I have a great passion for detective novels and love Arthur Conan Doyle’s work with Sherlock Holmes, so there would likely be investigations and a mystery to solve. That would just be one possible idea, as there are various themes I’d like to explore and share in future projects.
Describe how you would ensure that production is on schedule. What steps would you take?
I would start with a detailed pre-production plan, thoroughly analyzing the project to prepare for and prevent potential issues that could arise in the next stages, especially in production and animation. Having alternative solutions in place and easing their implementation in the subsequent stages helps avoid delays. I would create a critical path that we could follow and have clear expectations of progress for each stage at specific moments. Additionally, I would assemble a crew of experienced creators, as their expertise would allow us to move forward more efficiently, and if complications arose, we would have a variety of solutions that would lead us toward a more effective resolution.
What was the hardest part of making ‘Unforgettable Moments’.
The hardest part of creating "Unforgettable Moments" was actually finishing on time. The short film was made possible thanks to a grant that required us to create and deliver the final film within a year, so the biggest challenge was making fast progress to finish on time, with only a few people involved. That was the main challenge, but a more specific complication was building the rotating conveyor belt for the road with the trees to give the sensation of an endless path that was being created as we moved forward. It took a lot of time to plan, test, and finally, after several adjustments, achieve a functional system for animation. Just building that structure and set took us about two months.
If possible, tell us about your next work. What plans do you have for your future work?
I have three ideas in mind that I’m working on, but the one with the highest priority for me is a metaphor about neurodivergent people. I want to convey the difficulty of an ordinary day and how challenging it is to try to fit into what is socially accepted as "normal." It’s a very personal topic, and I would love to work on it and use the final short film to help more people understand and accept this condition that many live with.
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