Who is Guy Ben Shetrit? And what makes ‘Hey’ a remarkable 3D Animation Music Video? Guy is this year’s winner of the Animation category at the Babelgum Online Film Festival and Renderyard spoke to him to find out more about his background as an animator, story teller and musician and his debut with ‘Hey’ as a creative director. Render – Before you worked as an Animator you were very involved in the creation of several music projects – such as Eatliz and Infectzia -, how did you came about with the idea of making ‘Hey’ where you are able to combine both music and animation?
Guy - I worked in the animated features and TV series industry for 13 years and all these years I was surrounded by extra talented animators. I knew that I day I'll gather them to make our own personal project, that won't be a commercial or client product. I wanted to take all this talent and go wild, with no deadline over our head. All along I wanted to combine my experience with what I learned from storytelling with the musical aspect. Since I'm also a musician and composer I wanted to merge these two fields to one creation.
Render – You have been working as an Animator for the last thirteen years doing commercials, TV programmes and computer games, however, ‘Hey’ is your first debut as a creative director. How did you approach animation differently within the creative process of ‘Hey’?
Guy - As an animator I have been involved in the different stages of the animation process giving input and remarks to the staff. Always ensuring that the quality outcome delivered to the animator was as its best. Whether this was 3D modelling, the Rig or the Skin.
In Hey, the difference was that the final and decisive person who came up with the creative and technical decitions was myself, along with being the screenwriter and director.
Render – In regards to music, ‘Hey’ is a song written buy you and taken from Eatliz debut album, –also one of your music projects -. What was your inspiration to create the visuals for the song?
Guy - When I worked in Crew 972 Animation Studio, they encouraged us to create a lot. During one of the breaks between the productions, a group of animators started producing a short film. One of the animators was Eitan Weinshtock, one of Hey’s art directors (alongside Sherban). This initiative made it to the further story board, but stopped there.
A year later, I decided to make an animation music video for Eatliz, a complicated art-pop group I founded and for whom I am the main composer. It reminded me of this unfinished initiative. At first, I had the idea of taking this idea and bend it to the sake of a music video, but soon after I realized that this was artificial. So, I decided to adapt the idea of the lead character to a little girl.
Eitan Weinshtock was keen by the idea of making a music video and started to scribble the girl's character from the beginning. He also saw "Flushed Away" animation feature film back in the day, and really loved the crazy toad character. One day, I got to work and found Eitan's Sketch book wide open on his table and I saw the sketches of a little girl climbing on the back of a toad, two heads bigger than her. Right then, I had all the characters in my mind. I listened to the song "Hey" and ideas evolved very rapidly; all the metaphors, scenes and the scenarios to Hey’s music video were vividly in my head for two months endlessly.
Render – In the creation of ‘Hey’ you were involved as a Layout artist, creative director and musician together with a considerable casting. How was the experience of being so creatively involved in the project and with the cast?
Guy – It felt really natural since as an animator I always worked in all this aeas, until I was able to do only animation or supervising animation. I am used to haivng to supervise all the stages of the proces, so for me it's was quiet natural not having to wait for the green light and being able to push the project forward.
At the end of the day, HEY was my personal project and I had a very restricted budget I was lucky to afford. Thus, any assistance from my side was a bless to the rest of the crew. No doubt that this way of working allowed me to be more involved and monitor all the process; I was able to prevent future obstacles, in those crucial parts where if you did an mistake, it would take a lot of effort to go back and rectify it.
Render – In your commercial work as an animator you have also collaborated with director Yuval Nathan in the creation of projects such as Her Morning Elegance. How have these projects helpped to develop your skills as an animator?
Guy – I feel that every project pushes you further. In essence, animation takes lots of practice. Besides creativity, ideas and passion, one should always be practicing animation and animating on a daily basis, whether this is the "Bouncing Ball" or the "Walk Cycle".
Yuval and I exchange ideas, teach and lean from the other, we have a good chemistry to work together. Yuval has a very creative mind I push and make sure that the work gets done on time, which gives us the confidence to trust each other. I completely trust him at the level of the final outcome; I’ve got the eye of a trained animator and focus more on the details, if Yuval misses something, I get it, and vice versa. So it's fun and reassuring to work in this kind of collaboration.
Of course that experience with Stop Motion sharpens the animation principles, but from a different angle. The principles are basically the same and you always implement them whether it's 2D, 3D or stop motion. It works the same way.
Render - Render - In 2008 you won the MTV international art break contest and this year you just won the Animation Category at Babelgum Film Festival, what future plans have you got working with music and animation?
Guy - Right now I'm working on an animation music video for "Food Fighters", a new song for my band Eatliz which will be released on our new E.P "Delicately Violent" soon. As I mentioned before, I'm thinking of taking it to a less frantic place. This music video will not be in 3D but a stop motion animation.
My need to change the technique is influenced by my work with my fellow animator and director Yuval Nathan, who directed the stop motion music video for "Her Morning Elegance", which I helped him to animate. Yuval also directed Eatliz debut animation music video for our song "Attractive".
Render – Your music is humorous with clever lyrics and a unique blend of different styles, something that is cleverly reflected in Hey’s ever changing sci-fi fantasy journey of the little girl and her special pet friend. Where are your influences coming from in this search of fantasy and joy?
Guy - Maybe it's my way to fill boring spaces of daily life. My way to satisfy the need of a richer, imaginative and more naive world. It fits together with the things I loved as a child,. This is my refusal to turn off the switch of everything that is so beautiful about human kinds, a refuse to grow up and to keep playing with magic, dragons and imagination.
Everything a matured kid chooses to leave behind as far as rich imagination is concerned. My inspiration comes from artists who think this way; I love the work of Hayao Miyazaki, particularly the film ’Spirited Away’, which inspired me on the atmosphere when working on "Hey". I love the fantastic wild free spirit surrealism in the Japanese animation and in Miyazaki's work in particular. I admire the work of Bill Plimpton and Michel Gondry, especially the way he is dealing with his famous one shots.
Render – Eatliz’s first album titled ‘Violently Delicate’ was released in Israel in November 2007 and last year the album was distributed in Germany and Austria. You and the band members describe your own music as ‘Complicated Pop’ due to the mixture of styles. How many different music styles does ‘Eatliz’ combines?
Guy - Musicians nowadays know that versatility is common, at least from our perspective. It's vital if you want to keep track with the world. The world offers such a wide range and Eatliz is part of it. Personally, I can't love certain music genre without feeling that I'm missing something. My tendency to get bored real fast makes me listen to lots of genres and sub-genres and follow music development. I can't get excited for more than a specific time period, whether if it's a music artist or a genre.
Relevant links:
‘Hey’ official website: http://www.eatliz.com
Eatliz Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/eatliz
Eatliz lable Anova Music: http://www.anovamusic.com
