GRAB - Explore Big Sky
GRAB - Explore Big Sky
GRAB - Explore Big Sky
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explorebigsky.com <strong>Big</strong> <strong>Sky</strong> Weekly<br />
Gallery June 14-27, 2013 17<br />
Section 2:<br />
business, HealtH and environment<br />
Montana-made film is on a roll<br />
Makes splash at international film festivals<br />
bIG SKY – A Tangled Tale is an<br />
official selection for this year’s Annecy<br />
International Animation film<br />
festival, the most prestigious and<br />
longest running animation festival<br />
in the world. The short film will<br />
also screen at the Hamburg International<br />
Short film festival, Maui<br />
film festival and the Palm Springs<br />
International Shorts fest, making<br />
June a very busy month for big <strong>Sky</strong>based<br />
director Corrie francis Parks.<br />
The film follows two fish hooked<br />
beneath the surface of a Montana<br />
river. As the two fish struggle, they<br />
realize that the very thing they<br />
are trying to escape is also what<br />
draws them together. The resulting<br />
romance is a tangled tale.<br />
Parks, who will be traveling with<br />
the film to Europe, was recently<br />
awarded a big <strong>Sky</strong> festival Grant by<br />
the Montana film Office to travel<br />
and promote the film at the festivals.<br />
“My animation is inspired by the<br />
light and colors that surround me,<br />
the expansive sky, the mountains,<br />
the rivers. I would not be able to<br />
stay inside and animate for such<br />
long stretches if I didn’t have the<br />
outdoors to run to when I needed to<br />
recharge.”<br />
Each frame of the film was created<br />
with sand on an illuminated<br />
lightbox, just as it was done by the<br />
technique’s pioneer, Caroline Leaf.<br />
The sand was captured with a digital<br />
camera and then reworked into<br />
a new image, adding up to a total of<br />
4,385 individual sand drawings.<br />
“It’s a high consequence form of<br />
animation, because there is no way<br />
to go back and make corrections.<br />
That forward momentum is what<br />
carries me through the long hours<br />
under the camera,” Parks said.<br />
Parks next takes each frame and hand<br />
tints it in Photoshop, then composites<br />
the sequence over several layers<br />
of painted backgrounds in After<br />
Effects. The result is a multilayered,<br />
underwater environment, which is<br />
the home to her two lively sandfish.<br />
with its depth of textures and colors,<br />
A Tangled Tale has redefined what<br />
sand animation can and will look like<br />
in the future. The film took two years<br />
to make, and was partially funded<br />
through a Kickstarter campaign.<br />
Sound design for the watery environment<br />
was done by Chicago artist Cole<br />
Pierce and the original music was<br />
composed by Mark Orton, a founding<br />
member of the chamber group Tin<br />
Hat and a Sundance Institute fellow.<br />
Watch a trailer from the film, and<br />
more in depth information about<br />
sand animation can be found on the<br />
film’s website, atangledtalefilm.com.<br />
Find more of Parks’ work at<br />
corriefrancis.com.<br />
Volume 4 // Issue No. 12<br />
this frame from a tangled tale was created by arranging sand in an illuminated lightbox. the short film will be featured at multiple film festivals this month.<br />
photo by Corrie franCis parks
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