Life through the lens
Animated documentary workshop brings filmmakers' talents to the screen.

Danielle Eldred is fascinated by flight.

The 26-year-old artist has studied birds and takes great pains to sketch and paint them, capturing single moments in flurries of motion. When she participated in an animated documentary workshop, which wrapped up last weekend and was sponsored by the True/False Film Festival, she found she had to illustrate flight in a much more complex way. 

The documentary aspect of her 90-second film came from interviews she did with members of the Mid-Missouri Radio Control Association. She had heard of the group because both her husband and father-in-law fly the miniature planes.

"I asked them a lot of questions about flying," she said. "I asked where they like to fly and what time of day. How often they crash and the best lesson they’ve learned."

Eldred illustrated the hobbyists’ words with birds she fashioned out of paper cutouts. To get the effect of flight, she took hundreds of shots with a video camera, in which the design was changed ever so slightly.

Completed, the animation is designed to give the effect that it’s the birds themselves doling out tips for staying airborne.

"I’ve been studying birds and drawing them, but to actually study the way they move and to try to give them character so that it looks like a living entity was very satisfying but a lot of hard work," she said.

Eldred’s short and others from the workshop screened last Sunday at Ragtag Cinemacafé. They will be shown again in February during the True/False Film Festival, Columbia’s documentary fest.

Organizer Paul Sturtz said he wanted to do the workshop after the success of a kids’ filmmaking workshop led by teen director Charlie Stovall during last year’s True/False Film Festival.

"We wanted to do something that was a little more full than a one-day workshop," he said. "We wanted something that would result in some good work coming out."

Two classes were offered: one for adults and one for kids. And organizers are hoping to put together a similar workshop next fall.

Students learned a variety of techniques, from interviewing and editing audio at community radio station KOPN to making animated figures with help from instructors from Access Arts.

Sturtz said that although animated documentaries have a long history, they are still relatively obscure. A good example of the form, he said, is "Creature Comforts." The animated film is by Nick Park - best known for the Wallace and Gromit series - and is about living creatures in confined situations, such as people in nursing homes and animals in zoos.

"It’s still a bit esoteric, but to me, it’s one of the most exciting forms of filmmaking right now," Sturtz said.

Sturtz said Columbia is especially ripe for animated documentaries because it has a public-access television station, on which the films can be aired; a public radio station, at which sound can be edited; Ragtag and the True/False Film Festival, where the films can be shown; and the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Journalism, which brings in many people interested in the documentary format.

Although a big Hollywood studio might not pick up the genre anytime soon, Sturtz said he believes it offers an interesting alternative to traditional documentaries.

"Let’s face it: Most of the documentaries have a visual style that is fairly prosaic, fairly boring," he said. "A lot of times you have what are called talking heads - people speaking into the camera. The animated documentary allows for a really fresh approach to filmmaking, and it allows for some really interesting juxtapositions between audio and visual elements."

Erin Kullman, 14, watched the final version of her short film in the basement of Stephens College’s Helis Communication Center last weekend.

Kullman, who wore bright-orange tennis shoes and a T-shirt that said "Tough Guys Wear Pink," teamed up with another student to make a film about "old people."

Kullman interviewed people downtown with a mini-disc recorder on subjects ranging from driving skills to medication.

She wanted to participate in the workshop because she is interested in journalism and likes to draw.

"It’s a lot more fun to do this than just carry around a video camera because you get to be a lot more creative," she said.

Her short film features Chad the Dragon, a purple dragon fashioned out of clay. The experience of gathering interviews and then illustrating them has given her a new understanding of animated films.

"It was a lot harder to do than I thought," she said.

Stephanie Toliver, 16, made a short film on a more serious matter: the No Child Left Behind Act.

She interviewed a teacher, some random people downtown and some friends.

"I thought it would be a good idea because it’s controversial, and it does affect us," she said.

Toliver said it was challenging to illustrate her film, which was less than two minutes long.

"I can’t even imagine doing one that’s an hour long," she said.

Eldred agrees.

"I always realized it took a lot of time and a lot of artistry to animate something," she said. "I knew it was a really beautiful but challenging endeavor, but I think I appreciate it even more now, knowing how much time goes into it."

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Reach Liz Heitzman at (573) 815-1715 or lheitzman@tribmail.com.

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