Cartoon Brew invited the filmmakers behind each of this year’s 15 Oscar-shortlisted animated shorts to share their favorite shot from their film and explain why it’s special to them. The pieces are being published in the order that materials were received.
In this piece, we’re looking at the Netherlands/Belgium/France/U.K.-production Wander to Wonder from director Nina Gantz.
Wander to Wonder follows the lives of three tiny humans perform in a vintage tv series. Left alone in the decaying film studio, they record increasingly unhinged episodes for their “fans” as they slowly starve to death.
Gantz recently spoke with Cartoon Brew about the making of this short. Below, she shares her favorite shot from the short and why it’s significant to her:
The film is about three miniature actors that play in a kids TV show and their creator has recently passed away. They’re trying to survive on their own with food supplies running out. This shot occurs just before the pivotal moment of the film (I’ve cut it short to avoid a spoiler!) and it’s my favorite for many reasons. Although it looks simple, it took weeks to animate and has the most subtle performances. I experienced the death of a loved one during the making of this film and I feel like we captured the confusion, absurdity, and the different ways of coping with grief.
Mary is clinging to the tv show and her sanity is beginning to unravel. She has created an audience entirely from papier mache and addresses the camera, talking to the children as if she is still recording Wander to Wonder in a very innocent and sweet way so as not to distress them. Amanda Lawrence’s nuanced performance in this scene was a powerful and important reference for the animation and puppet design.
The intricate animation of Mary was done by Rosanne Janssens and when I look at the movement of her hands alone, I’m amazed at how much expression she got out of them, especially as they are only one centimeter long! Fumbleton, who was played wonderfully by Toby Jones, feels freed now that Uncle Gilly is dead, and can finally show his skills as a serious Shakespearean actor. He is walking around with his old costume in his arms, a representation of the death of his previous role in the tv show, resigned to the fact that they are all doomed. Billybud is still performing and doing the thing that he knows and takes comfort in — juggling. They were both animated by Kristien van den Bussche who studied a number of slow-motion videos to perfect the juggling action.
Technically it proved quite a difficult shot because instead of using cgi, we wanted to create everything in-camera. The fire was animated with colored wool and we used custom made led-lighting to create the glow from the flames. Another technical challenge was to get all the expressions in Mary’s face and it was clear from the outset that we would need to convey a lot of emotion, especially in this shot. As the puppets were very small, it led us to using a facial replacement technique. This is where the faces are held on by tiny magnets and each change in expression requires the face to be removed and a new one fitted. I particularly love Amanda’s characteristics and her mouth which naturally turns down at the corners when she speaks. We incorporated this detail into the puppet and I think it gave her a lot of character.
I love how the sound and music intertwines as a haunting version of the tv theme drifts over the wailing Fumbleton and the desperation of Mary’s dialogue. If you listen closely you can even hear the matchsticks as Fumbleton juggles.
Read the other entries in the series:
