London Squared Productions Creates Powerfully Candid, Animated Short Film

Known for their versatile filmmaking styles and refreshingly honest viewpoint, Directors / Writers Carolyn and Andy London of London Squared Productions recently completed an edgy, animated short film titled "A Letter to Colleen."

The short is loosely based on events from high school suburban life. A love obsession, the whirlwind events of a night fueled by drugs and alcohol, and the subsequent loss of innocence. The film will premiere at the 15th Annual Hamptons International Film Festival on October 19th and October 21st in the United Artists Theaters (30 Main Street, East Hampton), and is one of only five shorts selected as part of its prestigious "Golden Starfish Awards Shorts" program. "A Letter to Colleen" will also be screening at the prestigious Foyle Film Festival in Northern Ireland, which takes place from November 23rd through December 1st.

The wife-and-husband team decided on rotoscoping the film after trying several different techniques, including puppet and cell animation.

"We wanted it to look more cinematic," explains Carolyn London. "If it were drawn two-dimensionally, it would have felt flat and presentational, and we were trying to convey a graphic feeling. We call rotoscoping the 'ghosting effect' because it's as if we've captured the essence and spirit of the characters, but it's transparent enough that the audience can fill in the details. Simple and suggestive illustrations can be incredibly powerful."

"When we hit upon the rotoscoping we knew it was perfect," adds Andy London. "It helped us create a dream state. This whole film is about one of those nights in the past that are out of control and conceptually, it felt right to have a technique that was ghostly and moody. That's the way it always is with dreams and shadowy memories. You remember only some of the details, and the rest of the time you're just left with a feeling. That feeling is what we were trying to capture."

The acted footage was recreated over several weeks and required Andy and Carolyn to step into the roles of high school students again, but this time with teams of young extras. If high school was no fun the first time, the Londons can tell you it doesn't get better the second. The footage was shot on a Digital Hi-8 camera by DP and close friend Sonya Rokes, who the Londons say was perfect for the job because of her similar dark sensibilities.

"Since the subject matter was so disturbing, we needed a good friend to go to the dark side with us," laughs Carolyn. "Sonya is not only a gifted photographer, but she's also game!" Once the footage was shot, we brought it into Flash and then rotoscoped over it with a crew of young animators. After that, we played around with various Photoshop filters to give it the low-fi, buzzy feeling we wanted."

"It was an interesting combination to have people in their 30s and beyond working on the film because those of us who are older felt a kind of sadness and recognition in the story, and those in their teens and 20s, still connected to it, but in a very different way," notes Andy. "They were still in the first flush of relationships and living."

Music was a significant part of the production process for the Londons who licensed tracks from the Pixies and Violent Femmes, and worked with Composer Douglas Mullins to weave and connect the music with picture.

"When we started thinking about this project, the music was the first part that came to mind," comments Carolyn. "We knew we had to get the rights to those specific pieces of music...and nothing else would do. Because when you're a teenager, music is the absolute soundtrack of your life and anyone growing up in the '80s and '90s, who was alienated even a little bit, would feel the pull of those pieces of music. So for Andy and me, there was a cinematic journey piecing together this story. For Douglas, it was a musical journey, trying to build an emotional arc as well."

It took the Londons and their team over a year to complete "A Letter to Colleen," rotoscoping and tracing the film frame by frame. The Londons would say this was the hardest film they ever made. Not only was the material sensitive and painful to work on, but they both experienced family deaths, which added another layer to the already dark film.

One of the biggest challenges the Londons faced was trying to shoot footage that was both entertaining and artistic. "Parts of the film walked a very tenuous tightrope almost ending on the side of porn," concludes Andy. "We worked very hard to make sure that the material wasn't gratuitous, but moved the story forward. There were many days we weren't sure what we were doing. It felt very much like going into the belly of the beast for us, but we think we turned it into something redemptive."

Colorful is just one way to describe Carolyn London's career. After carving her path in theater for many years, she worked as a PA on Michael Moore's TV series, "TV Nation." She met her husband, Andy, a graphic novelist and creator of the "Jeremy Pickle Goes to Prague" comic, during a stint in Prague as an English teacher. London returned to New York and became a writer's assistant on the popular Amy Sedaris show, "Strangers with Candy," while dabbling in dance performances and burlesque shows around the city. A music video she co-directed with Andy caught the eye of MTV in 1999, which commissioned them to direct an opening credit sequence for a pilot show. The twosome later parlayed their skills into filmmaking with their first short, the highly acclaimed "Subway Salvation." London's agency experience includes positions as copywriter at Lowe, where she worked on campaigns for Macy's, New York Times, Milk and Unilever, and Saatchi & Saatchi, where she contributed to such accounts as Olay Skincare.

Andy London cannot be summed up in simple terms. This artist, graphic novelist, self-taught animator, filmmaker and writer has gone to the ends of Earth in the name of love, art and just because. A graduate of Pratt Institute with a degree in Painting and focus on kinetic sculpture, London's interesting life turns began with a security guard position at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York where he met a German tourist, fell in love and moved to Europe with her. He fell out of love with the tourist, but began a love affair with Europe. Armed with a stack of paper, Bic pens and not much else, he began writing and drawing a graphic novel, "Jeremy Pickle Goes to Prague," about his adventures in this beloved city. After a spell in Paris selling bagels, creating French graphic novels and earning a Masters at the Paris American Academy, London returned to Prague to teach English and met Carolyn, who would later become his wife and creative partner in their numerous award-winning projects and company, London Squared Productions. A move back to NYC, several ESL teaching gigs, and one course in puppet-making later, London found himself co-directing a stop-motion animation music video with Carolyn for Dan Emory, which caught the attention of MTV and Nickelodeon, as well as the animation community. Since then, the fearsome twosome has masterminded a spate of attention-grabbing films, music videos and multimedia projects.

http://www.londonsquared.net

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