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The original english language interview is also available.
Wie entstand die Idee zu eurem entzückenden Kurzfilm „Umbrellas“ und habt ihr von Anfang an ein junges Publikum im Sinn gehabt?
José: Nun, die Idee entstand aus einer Illustration, die ich 2012 gemacht habe. Es war eigentlich meine Partnerin Alicia Cánovas, die in dieser Illustration und ihren Figuren den Ursprung für etwas anderes sah. Daher beschlossen Alicia und ich, eine Geschichte im Format eines Kinderbuchs mit einem kurzen animierten Teaser zu erzählen. Ein paar Jahre später beschloss ich, diese Geschichte in einen Animationskurzfilm zu verwandeln, und gleich danach stieß Álvaro als Co-Regisseur und Co-Autor zum Team.
In welchem Rahmen und über welchen Zeitraum hinweg konntet ihr euren Film umsetzen?
Álvaro: Insgesamt haben wir fünf Jahre gebraucht, um den Kurzfilm fertig zu stellen. Das war allerdings kein Vollzeitjob. Das Projekt durchlief viele verschiedene Phasen. Wir mussten das Interesse von Produzenten und neuen Teammitgliedern wecken, also verbrachten wir viel Zeit mit der Entwicklung des Drehbuchs und des Storyboards. Sobald wir etwas Geld aus öffentlichen Fördermitteln hatten, begannen wir mit der Produktion, die ein Jahr in Anspruch nahm.
Was war euch auf visueller Ebene wichtig?
Könnt ihr mir noch ein bisschen mehr speziell zu der Charakterentwicklung erzählen?
Álvaro: Eine Sache, die uns von Anfang an klar war, war, dass das Herzstück unserer Geschichte der Konflikt zwischen den Figuren ist. Wir haben ein kleines Mädchen, das Angst vor dem Regen hat und an einem Ort lebt, an dem es ständig regnet. Wir haben auch einen Erwachsenen, der sich um dieses kleine Mädchen kümmert und nichts tut, um sie zu drängen, ihre Angst zu überwinden. Bis etwas passiert und beide Figuren sich mit ihren Ängsten und Gefühlen auseinandersetzen müssen. „Umbrellas“ ist eine emotionsgeladene Geschichte, und wir haben uns sehr bemüht, dem Publikum diesen inneren Aspekt zu vermitteln.
Könnt ihr mir noch ein bisschen mehr von euch erzählen und wie es zu der gemeinsamen Arbeit an dem Kurzfilm kam?
Wie verlief die Zusammenarbeit? Gab es eine klare Aufgabenteilung?
Könntet ihr euch vorstellen die Geschichte der beiden noch weiter zu erzählen?
Álvaro: Dies ist unser erster professioneller Kurzfilm und er läuft ziemlich gut. Wir hoffen, dass dies erst der Anfang unseres Weges ist!
Sind bereits neue Projekte geplant – gemeinsam oder getrennt?
Die Fragen stellte Doreen Matthei
Übersetzung von Michael Kaltenecker
Lies auch die Rezension des Kurzfilms „Umbrellas“
Interview: Talking to Spanish filmmakers Jose Prats and Alvaro Robles, we were able to learn more about their animated short film “Umbrellas” (OT: “Parapluies”), part of the ‘Tricks for Kids Shorts’ program at the 28th ITFS (International Animated Film Festival Stuttgart), how they developed the story and character design, and why they decided to make it all in 2D animation.
How did the idea for your delightful short film “Umbrellas” come about and did you have a young audience in mind from the beginning?
José: Well, the idea sprouted from an illustration I did back in 2012. It was actually my partner Alicia Cánovas who saw that illustration and its characters as the origin of something else. That being so, Alicia and I decided to tell a story in the format of a children’s book with a brief animated teaser. A couple of years later, I decided to turn that story into an animation short film and right after that Álvaro joined the team as co-director and co-writer.
Álvaro: When we started writing and developing the story, we didn’t have much of an audience in mind. Of course, the story’s core was a children’s book story but, as we were thinking more and more about the characters, their world and their conflicts, we realized that “Umbrellas” themes could engage as well with an adult audience.
In what framework and over what period of time were you able to realize your film?
Álvaro: The total amount of time we took to finish the short film has been five years. This hasn’t been full time though. The project has had a lot of different phases. We needed to catch the attention of producers and new team members, so we spent a lot of time developing the script as well as the storyboard. Once we had some money from public fundings, we started the production, which took one year to complete.
What was important to you on a visual level?
José: The visual style of the short film evolved from an old 2D style inspired by the animation shows of Hanna Barbera to a more organic and traditional style. As for the technique, we also did a quick test run of the father character in stop-motion animation. However, we soon realised that the big umbrellas-shaped beard of the father worked so much better as a bidimensional object, and that conditioned the whole look of the film. The background design also changed from early on, before they were thought to be digitally painted, but after doing some further research and painting explorations, we decided that watercolours were just spot on to portray Umbrella’s humid world.
Can you tell me a little bit more specifically about the character development?
Álvaro: One thing we had clear from the beginning of the process, was that the heart of our story was the conflict within characters. We have a little girl that has fear of the rain and lives in a place where it’s raining all the time. We also have an adult that takes care of this little girl and does nothing to push her to overcome her fear. Until something happens and both characters need to deal with their fears and emotions. “Umbrellas” is an emotion driven story and we did put a lot of effort into conveying that inner aspect to the audiences.
Can you tell me a bit more about yourselves and how you came to work together on the short film?
José: Álvaro and I have known each other since we were teenagers. We both grew up in the same town. Álvaro is two years younger than me and he went to school with my brother. Ever since we met we chatted about films, comics, stories… and at some point we decided to create a project together. We started out with a little comic back in 2010 and it worked very well. Then we directed a live-action short film together and again the collaboration was a joy. In 2014 both Álvaro and I found ourselves living in Madrid and he suggested attending a filmmaking & script writing course. During the course I asked Álvaro to join Alicia and I in the making of Umbrella’s short film and the rest is history!
How did the collaboration go? Was there a clear division of tasks?
Álvaro: Jose was the mastermind behind the project and he led both the story and the art of “Umbrellas“. At the time, he was working in the industry, as a color artist. I worked in the advertising industry as a copywriter so, let’s say that my drawing skills weren’t that good. During the pre-production process, Jose worked really hard to achieve a solid animation. Then, we would discuss some aspects of it: length, type of shot, characters acting, etc. During the production, we would work together briefing every shot to the animators, giving feedback or supervising other tasks. Still, he was the one who could draw so, while he was painting the (beautiful) backgrounds, I would deal with production issues, edit the live-animatic of the short or start with a sketch of the sound design that later we would send to the sound designer.
Could you imagine telling the story of the two of you even further?
Álvaro: Well, this is our first professional short film and is going pretty well. We hope this is just the beginning of the road for us!
Are there already new projects planned – together or separately?
José: Since we finished “Umbrellas” both Álvaro and I have been rather busy with work and Álvaro also took a full-on course on script writing. During this time, we have kept writing stories on our own, however we’re already discussing ideas in order to find the right story and the right project to collaborate together again.
Questions asked by Doreen Matthei
Read on the german review of the shortfilm „Umbrellas“