Animator toils to produce full-length movie alone

The animated feature film “Away” revolves around a boy's adventure to a mysterious land to find his family. He is chased by a giant monster. Courtesy of Gints Zilbalodis

He likens 3D movie making process to character's journey to find family

By Lee Gyu-lee

When a movie wraps up, the closing credits usually roll for minutes, especially for feature films. But for the visually intriguing feature-length animation “Away,” there's no need for a long list of credits, because it has only one name: Gints Zilbalodis, an up-and-coming talented animator.

Latvian animator Gints Zilbalodis made the animated film through a complete one man production. Courtesy of Korea Independent Animation Film Festival

The 25-year-old filmmaker's complete one-man production “Away” ― from the story, animation to post-production distribution ― created much buzz at international animation film festivals. He has also received the award given to newly discovered talent in the Annecy International Animated Film Festival ― one of the world's most renowned animation film festivals.

Last week, the Latvian animator came to Korea as his feature film was selected to open the 15th Korea Independent Animation Film Festival, which runs from Sept. 19 to 24 at CGV Myeongdong in Seoul.

“The story is connected with the way the film was made,” the animator said in an interview with The Korea Times, Friday, at the festival site.

He compared his solo production journey to the adventure the film's character embarked on.

“The story is about a boy who's alone on the island and goes on his journey while being chased by a giant monster, which resembles pressure and stressor that carried on with the production.”

Zilbalodis started dabbling in animation when he was 15, and has made seven short films before making the 75-minute feature film.

It took nearly three and a half years for him to complete the whole production.

He said the time-consuming, painstaking process gave him a deeper understanding of animation. “I wanted to learn animation, so in a way, this film was like my film school.”

“By making this film, I learned to go through a full process of feature film production; editing, animating, composing music and so on,” he said, adding that he made great progress through creative freedom and self-taught experiences.

A poster for the animation/ Courtesy of Gints Zilbalodis

The animated film, composed of four chapters, focuses solely on the journey of the unnamed boy after he parachutes to the mysterious land.

The story progresses as he makes his way back to his family after defeating the soul-eating creature chasing him. However, the simplistic storytelling techniques delivered through the astonishing scenery of the vast mysterious land and self-composed scores provide enough reason to watch the film.

Active and dominant music continues for quite a while in each scene, which otherwise would be silent. “In some films, the music is used to determine how audiences should feel for the scene, and they change too quickly, switching from one emotion to another,” Zilbalodis noted.

“I wanted to use simple music to let audiences have enough time to develop and soak in the emotion, so I designed the film around that idea. In my film, the emotions are not changing too rapidly, but instead, they go deeper and deeper.”

The animator revealed that he had no musical background nor plays any instruments.

“I thought this was an advantage for me. Since I'm new (to composing) and didn't know the rules of music, it helped to be less classical and more unique.”

No single word of speech is used in the film other than the sounds of animals. It was shot without a script or storyboard. He said he left speech out of the film because he's not confident writing dialogue. But this has allowed him to develop his piece more expressively through the universal languages of picture and sound.

“When you take away dialogue, there's more space for images and they can be even more powerful,” he said.

“It felt almost like a cheat ― explaining things in words. And it came as less interesting. I wanted to make a film that you must watch (to understand).”

As he expressed, the film lets audiences choose what to take from the film rather than spoon-feeding them.

“My goal is to create an experience for the audience. It's not necessary to take on one lesson,” he noted. “As for music, you just create the mood and sympathy for the character and entertain the audiences.”

“There's no clear message in the film as I was just exploring different themes and loneliness in society and adventure.” He added that he let audiences interpret the film, and hopes they can relate to the story of overcoming struggles in personal ways.