Press Kit

Okay, so I have a few more things to post today. :)

First, here's my trailer:

http://vimeo.com/22276115



And here's my Press Kit

Title: Vice and Virtue

Duration: approx. 3 minutes 30 seconds

Language: N/A

Completion date: April 2011

Aspect ratio: 9:6

Director: Alexie Johnson

           

Synopsis

A small character finds himself and two others trapped within a maze where none of them have control over anything.  They are unable to explore but still need to find their way out.

Artist Statement:

I started off as an illustrator helping my practice grow and change with a variety of fine arts classes such as life drawing, painting and Native art.  After being accepted into Emily Carr University I was given the opportunity to try out something I felt (at the time) was the closest I could get to illustration, animation.  While I found out it was completely different than illustration, I was surprised to find out how much I enjoyed creating motion with my images.  After taking my first classes in animation during my first year at the school I decided that that was what I wanted to strive for as a career.  I got accepted into the animation program in second year and am now about to graduate from this program with hopes of getting a job in this industry.

                                                                                   

As I entered into second year at Emily Carr as an animation student I began to see the beauty in movement and the schematics of making a character move.  I became fascinated with how people and objects move and would often play 2D and 3D games and watch animation films strictly to observe the characters move.  Being in fourth year now, I have found that this new interest for motion has begun to transfer over to how I draw my characters when illustrating.  Looking at my past character designs I find them now to be to very stiff and rigid whereas some of my most recent works I have started incorporating motion into the poses and playing with the line between the concepts of static and dynamic positions.  One of my animation professors told us that if done well one pose can tell a person everything from what the character's personality is to how they would most likely act in different situations.  I believe this one statement has changed the way I approach both my illustrations and animations.  My mind is, now, constantly thinking of how the character would move and flow throughout the picture, whether it is a single still image or many images combined together to create the illusion of this movement.  Animation has drawn me towards the wonders of motion and made me more aware of the way things move and the simple differences between similar movements such as how each person walks, for example.

My art deals with subjects such as great strength and defiance as well as the delicate nature of people and objects one can find in life.  I have the desire to capture the proud and confident features of an object or living being while still showing the ethereal aspects of it/them as well.   More recently I've been exploring humour and situations with surprise or unexpected endings.   I enjoy both making people laugh and turning the audiences expectations of my animations, especially, upside down.  I love how films with twist endings give me a sort of satisfaction when it happens while at the same time making think 'Wow, I never saw that coming'.  Afterwards I always find myself trying to piece together various clues within the earlier part of the film in an attempt to see how it all could lead to such a mind blowing ending.  That is what I like about this kind of film; the time spent thinking about it after a person has finished viewing it.  It leaves a more lasting impression and hopefully more satisfaction. 

Film Credits:

Animator: Alexie Johnson

Sound Designer: Alexie Johnson

Special Thanks:

Marilyn Cherenko

Martin Rose

Anna Fletcher

Jessica Brown

Screen Shots: