Dream Balloon Ent. has announced the completion of a 15-minute short titled, ONCE UPON A CHRISTMAS VILLAGE, which combines motion capture with live-action backgrounds. The voice cast includes Jim Belushi, Tim Curry and Amanda Davis.
On his worst Christmas night ever, Santa (Belushi) drops his magical pocket watch during a near miss with Air Force One. The watch, possessing the power to stop time and bring inanimate objects to life, falls into a house and brings to life a Christmas Village set up under the family's tree. During the course of the story, the good villagers must safe their town from the dastardly toy Sir Evil Medieval (Curry), who plots to melt the village people down in a Suzy bake set and mold them into his army.
Michael Attardi wrote, directed and produced the film. Other principal filmmakers included animation producer Jeff Scheetz, art director Paul "Kit" Stolen, exec producer Joe Anselmo and co-exec producer Andy Van Roon. Attardi collaborated with Dani Donadi on the music and lyrics.
Attardi said, "When I made this film, I wanted to do something that no one has ever done in movie making. I used old technology and mixed it with new. My animation team in Orlando, Florida, was a dream team. We worked on this project for six months with a crew of 20. I was very impressed with their level of commitment and determination to make very shot work. We never had a day when no one wanted to work on this movie. In many ways, it reminded me of the old Disney days when animators felt like they were really part of the movie and not just a hired hand."
"The magic continued when actors Tim Curry, Jim Belushi and Amanda Davis signed onto the project," Attardi added. "Their creativity and improv gave the characters their emotions. They were phenomenal to work with and really believed in the movie. They helped me tell a full length feature story in 15 minutes."
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
