Montreal: The National Film Board has a plan to develop more meaningful professional experiences for young animation filmmakers, primarily through shorter-term projects.

English animation studio executive producer David Verrall is spearheading ‘a high-intensity, fast turnaround program where young filmmakers will get a taste of all the fundamental elements of production’ – from talking the talk to mixing and sound studio experiences.

Essentially a form of immersion, Verrall says the program will make it easier for young filmmakers to deal with mentors. ‘Certainly one of my convictions is we need to find a way to let a young developing filmmaker get all the way through the production cycle – from idea to audience – in a relatively short time frame.’

Last year, the NFB’s English Program animation studio completed 10 productions, eight out of the Montreal studio, while the French Program’s Studio Animation/Jeunesse, headed by executive producer Marcel Jean, delivered six animation titles.

Verrall anticipates 18 English and French productions will be delivered this year.

Playback asked Verrall and English Program director-general Tom Perlmutter about the NFB’s animation mission, the range of studio production styles and new productions in the 2002/03 pipeline.

Auteur cinema

Perlmutter says there is an important distinction between industrial series and auteur animation, in terms of production methodology, technologies and the labor-intensive creator component.

‘The whole notion of animation cinema is at the core of activity at the film board,’ says Verrall. ‘It’s fair to say that throughout the world today our output is looked at in terms of exploring the possibility of animation to make social comment, address social issues and explore new technologies, and I think our program is based on a notion of versatility and eclecticism.’

NFB animation shorts usually range from between 30 seconds and 15 minutes, although there are exceptions, like a new half-hour Christmas special for TV coproduced by the English and French studios.

Animation processes

In terms of the English animation studio’s working environment, Verrall says, ‘I think we are still practising a kind of alternative version of the independent auteur filmmakers. However, it is true that we now have more animation desks than we use and fewer computers than we need.’

The NFB still produces a few titles using established film-based techniques, traditional cel animation and stop motion.

There are two direct-to-film, stop-motion studios in the Montreal facility. The studio also houses a big computer-assisted rostrum (Oxberry) animation camera, as well as several 35mm film cameras, designed and built at the NFB in the late 1970s.

Another production category, animated in a traditional way, originates with pencil drawings on paper. Once the animation is tested, the images are scanned into a computer and the balance of the work, compositing with backgrounds and coloring, in a word, the rendering, is completed digitally.

‘Virtually managed’

The NFB studio in Montreal ‘virtually managed’ Toronto filmmaker Iris Paabo’s highly auteur project Loon Dreaming. Paabo worked directly from her home studio, connecting through the Internet with the board’s digital imaging specialists. ‘The fact that we could trade images and even debug circumstances in her working situation without having to make a trip [to Montreal] was quite exciting as a new opportunity,’ says Verrall.

The NFB also produces multimedia films. An example is veteran animator Don McWilliams’ (Creative Exposures) feature-length experimental film Fifth Province. The film incorporates documentary footage and digital and animated elements, which are applied to the live-action sequences.

More coproduction

The board’s top-selling animation titles maintain an evergreen status, says Perlmutter. NFB animated shorts sell to TV in Europe, but more on the institutional and non-theatrical side in North America. Major sales to the Canadian and U.S. educational market are anticipated for Talespinners, a children’s collection

The NFB’s animation studios coproduce within Canada and internationally. Current projects are underway with Norway (The Danish Poet) and Holland on the English side, and with Switzerland and France on the French side.

New NFB animation

New English Program animation includes Chris Hinton’s Internet short Twang, which received the Best Animation for the Internet award at the OIAF, Alison Reiko Loader’s coming-of-age 3D production Showa Shinzan; Sheldon Cohen’s touching story of child dreams I Want a Dog; Oscar winner John Weldon’s tale of justice and tolerance Point of Order; Craig Welch’s cel and paper animation Welcome to Kentucky; Paul Driessen’s 2D or Not 2D, combining drawings on paper with computer rendering; Beth Portman’s 16th century fable Fair Phyllis and Jill Haras’ cut-outs/CGI short Joe.

The French Program studio has high hopes (in early 2003) for Rumeurs (a film by Groupe Kiwistiti entirely made in Quebec City) and for Nuit d’orage, a first film by Michele Lemieux based upon her internationally acclaimed book.

The English animation studio has an annual national budget of $3.5 million. Other than Montreal, the NFB has dedicated animation producers in Vancouver and Winnipeg, where Michael Scott has just been named animation producer.

-www.nfb.ca