Special PIVOT Screening and Q&A
You may have had that dress/outfit moment. That moment as a young human being when we did not, absolutely no way, wanted to wear the dress/outfit that our parents wanted us to wear. Did not matter if it was a for a special occasion or because they wanted to see us wear it, there was a moment of absolute freezing of the limbs to pull the garment on. We had enough of it and it was time to stand our ground. Even though every inch of our soul was trembling in fear of what would happen next. Would our parents be mad? Or would they finally see our unhappiness?
It’s a small moment in a whole life time of experiences but it can still be a major memory. Every single one of us had our own reasons for why we did not want to wear the outfit, but it shared the common denominator that we were standing up for ourselves. A baby step in establishing our identity. This little moment can be terrifying as we grapple with the unknowns of how our parent will react to it.
With no dialogue and a dramatic musical score, the animated short PIVOT summarizes that moment in a cute but powerfully resonating way. A young girl named Ashley is getting ready for her birthday party. Pressured by her mother’s choice, the young women has to choose between the frilly dress or what she actually wants to wear. It’s a premise that resonates with everyone who began to realize how they want to be identified and how terrifying that decision process can be.
The animation was a collaborative effort among women that participated in the Women in Animation Program. The Women in Animation Program encourages and supports women creators in the animation industry field by matching them with a mentor and a crew as they work on an animated project together. PIVOT was created from such a program and has reached international audiences among multiple festivals.
PIVOT runs for seven minutes but delivers a mighty compacted story that unlocks core memories within audiences. It’s a global message among generations reminding them that it is taking a moment to really understand the other can be life-changing. The road to understanding and communication can start with just one dress.
Viewers may react to the dress or just the sentiment behind the effort being made to wear something they did not wear. It may seem like a small and pointless action of the day to place so much emotion on but it really goes beyond the dress. Some believe that clothing is more than just an article of fabric or accessory. It can be a weapon or armor against society. There are plenty of reality shows of stylists that love to highlight the confidence boost of wearing the right clothing that fits you. Wearing ill-suited clothes can make a person feel conscious and hyper aware of non-existent malicious eyes upon them. Wearing clothes that you do not wish to wear can greatly dampen your day. Being forced to wear clothing can feel like an imprisonment of threads. The dress in PIVOT is just a one physical and visual example of what it could mean to different people. It’s a great conversation starter among different generations.
Watching the film, memories will bound to surface up. Everyone has a story. There were plenty of outfits in my own personal past that I know I have blocked from my memory. There were just as many that brings joy. These outfits can be powerful memory generators and can illicit strong emotions. Just like how smell can instantly conjure up images or sensations.
Personally, I found the dress in the short absolutely adorable and would love to wear it. As someone who practices the sewing craft, the dresses demise is a sad one but understandable from Ashley’s viewpoint. The difference between the animated character and myself is that I have had decades of experiences to know how comfortable I am in my identify today. I have the freedom and ability to choose and wear clothes of my own comfort. For Ashley, who is still a young child and still under the care of her parents, does not have this freedom yet. So it would be a very challenging and monumental moment for her.
PIVOT was created thanks to the hard work of the creators as they built upon their talent and their own past memories. The shared memories of the creators is woven beautifully into this cute and illustrative animated short. It is recommended for everyone to watch and share their own their thoughts and feelings with their friends and family.
During the Hollyshorts festival, there was a special screening and Q&A with the filmmakers at the Cinelouge in Hollywood. Enjoy the following highlights
Robyn Campbell
* Award-winning Canadian Screenwriter
* Currently writing for LEGO FRIENDS produced by THE LEGO GROUP
On developing the story surrounding a dress:
“I wrote this very specifically for the program that we made this with, WIA. I wanted to write a story about women with a young female protagonist that was a coming of age tale.
When I was a kid, a story that kept coming back to me was my childhood when one of my very good friends since preschool. She was more atheletic, liked to wear pants. Hated dresses. But for every single picture day, Christmas concert, her mom would make her wear these really frilly awful dresses. She was very adamant that she hated this, and was like a feral cat when wearing a dress, she was so angry. She would have to be bribed. When I would see her in school, she would tell me how she wasn’t very happy about how things went down.
I loved the idea of a dress. It’s so physical and you can see it, and can be a great metaphor for how children are objectified. By our parents, by society, we are told to be a certain way and you just don’t fit into them. I used my own story, multiple stories that I was afraid to talk openly about. I was always more of an introvert, very dwelling inside, deep thinking, scared to tell my friends and family around me who I really was. One of them was that I wanted to be a writer. My mother was very adamant that she did not want me to be a writer and I grew up in a place where that wasn’t really an option. Also, I’m bi-sexual. I grew up during a time where you can be gay or straight but being bi-sexual wasn’t. You were just confused.
On The Mother Character:
“It was really important to us that the Mom is not the villain. She’s just someone who doesn’t know. She thinks she’s doing what’s best. She’s giving these presents and things like that to get to wear the dress, she thinks she's doing what’s best for her daughter. I think that’s what a lot of parents are doing.
What was the choosing of little to no dialogue?
“I actually originally wrote the script with dialog, with a lot of dialog, and then less and less. Even less before I submitted it to WIA. Then after I submitted it, Julie Stewart, one of my WIA mentor, said that this topic is global. Women everywhere, and boys, and anyone who faces these problems anywhere in the world. With dialogue, you are limiting this to English-speaking people. Otherwise, you would have to add subtitles. We don’t have that much money. All of these things, I think we can eliminate the dialogue.
We worked together to write until I was able to take every piece of dialogue and translate it into an action and emotion, something physical within it. And now we’re going into our thirty second festival around the world, it’s been in Korea, Italy, and Germany. Everywhere in the world and we had so many different people relate to it. So it was the best choice.
Eva Pekárová
* composer and musician crafting compelling scores in documentaries, films, and animations.
* Works with live orchestras and weaving the rich tapestry of Eastern European folk instruments into her genre-defying upcoming album.
On the process of working on the music of PIVOT:
“The incredible thing abourt this program was that I was there from the very beginning. I read the script, I saw various iterations of the script as these guys were developing the characters. Everything that came together, I was there to witness it.
Which is something that composers don't ever really get to do. We get the final cut and then we have a little bit of time. Even though I wasn't physically writing it, I was writing down themes and ideas that I had for the characters and the film.
In the film, I made really conscious decistions in instrumentation and how themes came together at the end end,to do that conflict resolution between Mom and Ashley. I really think the best part was just being able to watch these guys work and get a sense of the characters and in my mind, kind of start deliberating on who are these two people, what is their relationship, and how do I convey that musically?
So it was a big task of no dialogue and the music is the center point. But that's kind of how it came about in a unique way.
Was there a sense of freedom in no dialogue since the music could flow freely?
Yes, definitely. I think it was that and also just the form of animation itself is so free and so creative, but I was able to explore a lot of different thematis and instrumentations that I wouldn't get to do with live action as much.”
Ana Gusson
* award-winning director (ISABEL & NICKI’S SUPER DUPER TWIN ADVENTURES) and accomplished 2D Animator based in Vancouver.
* worked as an animator in productions like MY LITTLE PONY: THE MOVIE, Netflix’s ARCHIBALDS NEXT BIG THING and Dreamworks’ TROLLSTOPIA.
* http://www.anagusson.com/#1
On her directorial debut with PIVOT:
I'm originally from Brazil and I've been working professionally there as an art director and assistant for commercials and live action. I migrated into animation and fell in love with it. And then come into Canada, studied animation, and I did some student films, but this was my first, professional experience.
Becoming a director was something that I don't think I realized that I've always been, kind of,lile as kid. I had movies that I made with Barbies like stop motion movies and having this thought that I could actually be a director.
I have a passion for working with people and working collaboratively. Directors are somethings known for not being very nice people. So I've been lucky to have very nice role models that work in animation, women role models, and looking at them, I'm like, yeah, you can actually do this.
Applying for the program was my reach out to become a Director. So my role on the film was really like being a cheerleader for everyone and trying to identify everyone's special power and like what they could bring to the team.
For example, when Cindy Chiang presented that image, it was like yes this is our film and it was a like a gut feeling that I just knew, this is it. Erica, I knew previously from working with her, I knew she could do this beautifully. And when Eva Pekárová presented her as well and I was like, yes, this is the person.
So it's about meeting the team and getting them involved. Telling them what the story is about and really trying to get them to connect to what it is that matters to then in this.
It's more of an inspirational work, I would say. We're coming from Robin's script, how do we translate it into visuals, right? How do we take these beautiful words and we translate them into images, taking this into style and what's it all about this that's going to make the story flow and inspiring them. Like, tis is what I had in mind but what what do you think? What can you bring to the table? That's really special, too. And making sure that people have the room to be creative and excited about it
Tini Wider
* currently based in Canada owns her own production company Wider Entertainment Inc which has been a huge milestone in her career.
*now working as a VFX Producer on an animated CG feature film at Industrial Light and Magic.
Within the group, who comes up with the style of animation?
[GUSSON]: “Everyone collectively. We start with the designs among three candidates. When we saw Cindy Chiang's design it was an instant connection. It was like, yes, this is our film. Then moving on from the design, that's when Erica Miles comes in and helps us figure more of the details.
[WIDER]: “A lot of it came from Cindy's design combined with Robin's story. Just trying to figure out how we could bring the characters that Cindy designed to life and be able to tell the story in the best way that we could, and especially getting the characters to emote, because we had no dialogue to tell the story
Their facial expressions were very, very important. Just getting Ashley sort of emotional journey and her thought process and everything that she's going through sort of very clear and readable. So, finding an animation style that we could sort of tell the story best in was a group process, everyone sort of contributed to it as well.
We also found it, sort of, working on the film with each individual animator as well. They all brought their own special thing into each scene that they worked on. And we're still passionate about working on the story because everyone where they connected, so strongly to Robin's story and the message behind it.
Some very literally the story and some just sort of that. That sense of the fears of showing your authentic self to the people that you love the most and sort of learning how to overcome that is such a a universal thing that everyone deals with
So, yeah, everyone who worked on the film both in animation, in design, and everyone sort of came together to create the whole style of the film.”
Cindey Chiang
* Award-winning Art Director and Visual Development Artist
* Contributed to a variety of productions ranging from animating on the Beatles “Covers” ad for Apple to working on both of THE ANGRY BIRDS movies as a Visual Development Artist.
* Currently a Visual Development Artist on the GARFIELD animated feature, set to release in 2024.
On coming up with the style:
For this project, it was finally the first time that I was able to do something completely from scratch. Normally, when I work for other companiesm they already established a style. I kind of went crazy with what I like to do and how I like to draw. Fortunately, everyone responded well. Basically what I got to make, clicked.
For the texture, I really wanted a more illustrative style. It brings out more interest out on the screen versus normal production, where there is less of that.
Were there any design elements that were specific to the story had to be made? Why this dress? Could it have been any other kind of dress?
In the credits, you'll see a lot of different dresses and they were alot of dresses that I tried out. In the end, we actually went with one. It's very close to the initial concept that I had for when I applied for the project. So went wih that design and devloped it further. There were imitations to how the dress was bassed of of what we were able to acheive through animation and other things. But otherwise, it stayed pretty true to what I wanted it to look it.
Was the dress transformation inspired by certain anime called Puella Magi Madoka Magica?
Funny that you should say that its Puella Magi Madoka Magica because that was one of the things that influenced it! The dress is very cute and I like cute things. We wanted to do something that was a little quirky, a little spooky but it's still really cute
Follow PIVOT via Instagram : @pivot_animated_short
