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"2KJ"
is the name of an animated millennium project
currently in production. The
project was conceived in December of 1998 as an
independent film. The storyboard was sketched out
in Orlando. In January of 1999, the film's locale
moved to Savannah ,Georgia. I accepted the very
first Artist in Residency at Savannah College of
Art and Design (SCAD). I was to teach one animation
class and work on the projects of my choice. I had
wanted to produce, direct and animate a millennium
project which involved other animation artists -
kind of like the "Anijam" project produced by Marv
Newland (of International Rocketship in
Vancouver). I
have always gravitated towards these kinds of
projects. While teaching in Ireland in the early
90's, I put together an animated project, through
the Northern Ireland Film Council that involved art
students from the North and South of Ireland. The
film's name is ANIMAGIC and it debuted at the
Cinemagic Festival in Belfast. While
head of animation at the Disney Institute, we
produced one of the CHILDREN's RIGHTS spots for
UNICEF. During the production, we involved over 400
guests in the production of the spot. Our spot just
screened in Annecy as a part of the package of
UNICEF's initiative. During
my tenure at SCAD, I was contacted by the school's
Classical Animation Society (CAS). Matt Schumway
(Pres) and Lamont Wayne (VP) and several other
members were hungry for more animation instruction.
This hunger reminded me of own my college days at
Art Center where I was very fortunate to meet up
with folks like Chuck Jones, June Foray, Ward
Kimball and Benny Washam. So we devised a loose
schedule of animation seminars and masterclasses
which became VERY popular at SCAD. Still,
"2KJ" remained the focus of my stay. I decided to
create the opening of the film and then treat the
other segments as individual portions of the
project. In order to link the segments together a
transition device had to be incorporated into the
structure of "2KJ". While
I was storyboarding another film, a character named
Henri emerged. Henri is a French Art student with
only 6 long green hairs. He is also clueless,
over-enthusiastic, good natured and bumbles most
everything he attempts. In the case of the opening
for "2KJ", Henri would attempt to create a world.
He would then exit and leave the world. All the
other segments of the film would begin with that
world and end with the world in the same place. The
film would be structured like an animated relay.
Each segment of the film is suppose to answer the
question, "What's in your world?" Early
as my Residency at SCAD developed, I was approached
by a grad student (Curt Butler) and two interns
(Jason LaVicky and Luke Johnston) from the
Sequential Art Department who wanted in on "2KJ" as
part of an independent study project. From
there, "2KJ" has snowballed to where it is now - a
ten minute film which involves the best of the
student animation from my SCA classes and
independent projects. The
90 second opening is completed. Without revealing
too much of it's content, Henri enters, creates the
world and leaves. During
the production of the film, sometimes very
fortunate things occur. In the case of "2KJ",
because the world has to be placed back into
original position for the next segment that
follows. No one can destroy the world - which means
if a segment is about violence or pollution or some
historic event it has to be resolved -find a
solution) to whatever challenge appears for the
world. I like the positive aspect it lends the
film. My
Residency in Savannah was very successful. So much
so, it was extended another 10 weeks. The students
were terrific, the school very supportive of my
efforts, and the city of Savannah is a lovely place
to live. Currently,
I am back in Orlando. Animation has begun on
another three segments. The project will continue
through the year 2000 and will be popping up at a
film festival near you. That's
all for now; more on "2KJ" and my other projects
next month.
All
images copyright © Larry Lauria, 1999 |
2KJ Update