Staff Pick Premiere: "O Black Hole!" Written by Renee Zhan |
Ever wondered the process by which a black hole gets born? It's this week's Staff Pick Premiere, "O Black Hole!" by Renee Zhan is an epically massive and core-belief shifting musical that embodies one of the most mysterious creatures in our world through color, clay as well as song. The mystery of the beginnings of a black holealong with the end of it -- are created by Zhan in an era of astounding imagination and originality.
In an effort to preserve and keep the beauty surrounding her, a beautiful young Eve-like girl takes the bold decision to devour everything she finds appealing. Consuming everything quickly and in a chaotic manner in a chaotic and fast-paced manner, the speed that she creates results in a black hole that everything is a prisoner. She devours seasons, planets as well as humans and moons, in an attempt to give them infinite life. Upon waking inside the cavernous black hole, a protagonist known as the "Singularity" is confronted by beings who need her help. They ask her to go over the hole and persuade its creator to allow its prisoner's in the way they are meant to or even the whole universe as we know it would cease to exist.
"O the Black Hole!" is a fable about holding onto what you love too tightly. The vivid paintings and clay-based imagery provide a number of images about embracing the fleeting and accepting the inevitability of the end of your life.
There's a lot to this film's craft and narratively; and we were fortunate enough to speak to its animator and director, Renee Zhan, to break down all of the questions we had regarding it. Find out her responses:
Inspiring:
"A number of my films start with 1 or 2 strong pervasive images that I have in my mind. Some time ago, I was drawing this woman with a dark charcoal smear where her face should be. I spent hours looking at this drawing and trying to determine the person she appeared to be. Then, it became obvious that her head was nothing but a black hole.
The film was one about a woman so worried about time passing that she takes every thing and person she loves into her body in order to keep them safe forever.
She takes in the whole universe until eventually, she's just dancing in circles alone.
"The black hole dances in counterclockwise circles because she is in opposition to Time And then when Singularity saves the various people living in the dark hole get to spin clockwise once more as the natural cycles in the Universe. They restart."
On using 2D and 3D techniques:
"I've always been a lover of mixed-media films and I love using visceral texture and conventional mediums. I felt that the tale of the black hole really fit the contrasting mediums of 2D as well as 3D.
The outside of the black space, in which time is normal, is rendered in 2D; in pencil, charcoal, watercolors, and oil paint, because it's ephemeral and fleeting. Inside the black hole, the entire thing it has sucked inside herself and made eternal, is 3D solid.
As Singularity is moving through the black hole to the topof the black hole, the walls of the black holes begin becoming more liquid as if the grasp of the black hole is looser there. I wanted all mediums to flow into each the other and smoothly transition from 2D to 3D, and then back again.
It's very important for me that I leave space to think and play when making films, and to work the details out as we go along. The idea of creating the interior of a black hole is very appealing because no one has any idea what this would look like. Producer Richard Henley and I had the liberty to be completely imaginative. It was an opportunity to build a visually distinct and interesting world. We came up with the form of dark, twisted caves, reminiscent of liquids that solidified as the time had been frozen. ."
On her original vision vs. the final version:
"When we first started filming I was unsure how it would turn out. I'd never done any stop-motion or created something of this magnitude.
In some ways I was disappointed not be able to make it look exactly what I had in mind. My impression was that my animation wasn't good enough and that it looked rough and dirty. It's strange because I love to observe this type of imperfection and roughness in films made with stop-motion, however on my own, I was so upset over it.
In other ways I was also awed the work we came up with. The compositions of Harry Brokensha and epic sound design created by Ed Rousseau were beyond what I could have ever imagined.
Lore Lixenberg's amazing voice as the Black Hole and Emmy the Great's unadulterated tones as Singularity contributed so much to the piece.
It's a fact that I'm extremely proud of the work we all made together."
The themes of mythology and humanity in her writing:
"I'm very interested in the creation myths of the globe. They ask existential questions of humans and attempt to address the questions by telling big, exciting tales of diving birds or eggs, or nature spirits. Mythology often includes big epic tales of heroism and adventures and quests. I think it's all just part of this human need to comprehend the nature of the world we live in.
It's possible that on a less intimate level, this is what I try to do through my films. Through my work, I'm always examining my own anxieties or fears, anxieties, and obsessions. With 'O Black Hole! I imagined the film as a contemporary myth of creation. I wanted to create films that included personal philosophical questioning combined with the playful narrative of a quest movie with a wild operatic score ."
On challenges faced during the films creation:
"This was my most difficult film ever made. Making a 2D/stop-motion 16 minute musical featuring a lead person with a ridiculously long, curly hair (that would melt midway through!) made on a short deadline resulted in some pretty difficult months. It's easy to go on about the struggles. The film was packed with a lot of information a short film. Really, I'm just grateful to have had the opportunity to produce an amazing film and work with such a wonderful team. I just hope that I will have more opportunities like this in the future and that I can continue making films with my fellow filmmakers !"
A lesson in 'O Black Hole!':
"The closing words of the film are 'O black hole, do not lament. We're dreams the universe has dreamt. ...' The central theme of the film is the beauty of change. The black hole woman sucks all the universe around her, because she is afraid of changing. It teaches it that the process of change gives new meaning and life to the present.
The film, I think, is trying to say that everything changes and die and new things come and flourish, and that's wonderful and okay. Therefore, I hope this is the message that the viewer gets. But to be honest I'm trying to persuade me !"
Her suggestions (or the lack of) to aspiring filmmakers:
"Maybe take advice from your parents and be engineers instead. No, I'm kidding! Just kidding! It's hard to say, but I feel like I'm still an aspiring filmmaker myself. In fact, I could be in need of some guidance also ."
What's next?
"I'm working on a live-action/animation hybrid horror-comedy short film with BBC Films. It's about a British-Chinese violinist called Fei whose world turns around when she hears the news of another violinist who is equally talented known as Mei.
In addition, I'm developing an idea for a feature film animated on a religion that worships birds!"