Miscellaneous (2016 - Present)
In addition to the films mentioned previously, I've made a number of other shorts and experiments, many from my time at MassArt. While I wouldn't say many have enough material to warrant a page, I certainly think they all deserve at least a watch.
41 Seconds of a Man Sneezing (2019)
Director, Animator, Printmaker, Editor
FESTIVALS (WLVFF #1)
41 Seconds of a Man Sneezing was an experiment in seeing if printmaking and animation could co-exist. Created as the culmination of my first printmaking class, the film was a real joy to make - a playful distraction from making the more narrative-focused Put a Stick in It.
The animation for the man was first crafted in Adobe Animate before it was traced onto linoleum, using a technique I lifted from my good friend Kate Costello. From there, I cut what I needed from each tracing in order to create an imprint, and after a few color tests, I hopped right into production. At the end, the entire film was composited and slightly tampered with in After Effects and Premiere. 41 Seconds of a Man Sneezing felt like a return to my experimental roots as an art student, and provided a wonderful penultimate film in my MassArt career.
Christ is Risen, Indeed (2021)
Writer, Director, Animator, Editor
FESTIVALS (WLVFF #5)
Who doesn't love a good holiday cartoon? I know I do! Some folks may not, at least not in the vein of Christ is Risen, Indeed. The cartoon started off as a brief "break" project towards the end of production on All Those Left Behind. What I didn't realize was that my one-off joke project ballooned into a mad dash to get the cartoon out before Easter (it came out two days later, on Tuesday.)
While it didn't match my ambitions for it, I am happy that, for four days work, it's not that bad! Plus, it gave me an excuse to use Cinemascope like the old religious epics from the '50's. Christ Is Risen, Indeed is stupid, outrageous and not terribly-crafted - traits I want to hone in on in the future.
Rite of Passage (2018)
Writer, Director, Animator; Todd Kimmell: Production Designer
FESTIVALS (Squealing Peggs [2019], New York Animation Film Awards [Semi-Finalist, 2020])
My third year final, Rite of Passage was an extension on Trapper Keeper's melancholic take on childhood in the public school system. But where that film had an optimistic ending, this one plays into the cyclical nature of bullying and how the system rarely can solves its own problems.
Many people ask if the film is autobiographical, and I'd say to a degree. I personally was never bullied to this extent, but that feeling of being relentlessly picked on something anyone can relate to, and definitely that audiences pick up on.
The film also was my introduction of the 2D/Stop-Mo technique I refined on Put a Stick in It. Its free-flowing cinematography is probably its biggest asset. Before I knew about After Effects, I painstakingly dragged each frame in Animate so that the characters would correlate with the backgrounds. Rite of Passage is a small film that definitely plays a big part in my artistic development.
Bear-Signs & Cackleberries (also known as ¡Querido!) (2017)
Writer, Director, Animator; Todd Kimmell: Production Designer
FESTIVALS (WLFF #11, Squealing Peggs [2019])
A Spaghetti Western without the Spaghetti! When our class was given a simple student project about building sets, my brain went instantly to "Western Starring Food." Don't ask me why, but that's where it went. Created within a quick two-week limit, the short wrote itself, with a donut sheriff, rotten eggs, a carrot bartender and a pretzel jury. Ennio Morricone's score for Duck, You Sucker (1971) proved to be the best soundtrack, and thankfully, this film doesn't have enough views to get flagged for copyright. So yay me.
This was also the first set-collaboration I had with my dad, Todd, who went on to work as my main set builder and production designer on other shorts as well. The food involved was real, actual food we bought at the market - which proved a problem with the donut, as they got sandier and sweatier the more the film got on. We had to shoot quickly in order for them not to break apart on us. I actual shot many of these scenes at my house during a time crunch - see of you can guess which ones they were!
Necromaniacal (2017)
Writer, Director, Animator, Cinematographer
FESTIVALS (Squealing Pegs [2019])
Crafted in just a week, Necromaniacal was an improvised little silent comedy about a necromancer and his failed spells. After the laborious production of Bearclaws and Cackleberries, my thinking going into the film was to wing it, and see if I could make something on the film in stop-motion.
The puppet came first - a gangly, Muppet-like mess of a puppet - and the cloak was designed to hide his imperfections. From there, a little story of him summoning little men to do his bidding came to mind. While I think it drags by its end, I think there's some charm to its character acting and lighting. Necromaniacal was proof to me that I could let loose and find a film as I go, and still come out with something that has some merit in and off itself.