The Art of Hear Us Out

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The Art of
by Anej Golčar

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About the Director
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About the Director
Anej Golčar (1999, Maribor, Slovenia) is a visual artist and film-maker based in Rotterdam,
The Netherlands. He is currently in his third year of animation studies at Willem
de Kooning Academy. Thus far, he has been working on a diverse range of individual and
group projects, ranging from sculpture, dynamic installations, theory-fictional texts to
moving images, and sonic fiction. His approach is eclectic, often exploring, learning, and
combining new media to convey ideas. Recently he started gaining expertise in the field
of stop-motion animation, with Hear Us Out being his first finished work of this sort.
Because of the limited collaboration possibilities during the covid pandemic, he took up
the challenge to work on all the steps of the production, from concept development to
post-production, on his own.

5 Production Details
Title
Hear Us Our (Usliši nas)
Log line
A short visual poem about miscommunication between human and nature.
Synopsis
A short visual poem dealing with the problem of miscommunication between human
and nature. Told from the perspective of an old tree that has witnessed a long-lasting human-induced
chain reaction that ultimately led to the destruction of the ecosystem.
Year of production
Runtime
Aspect ratio
Format and resolution
Language
Subtitles
Genre
Technique
General info
2020
2’ 10’’ (WIP)
2:1
H.265 UHD 4K
Slovenian
English
Visual poem
Mixed media:
Live action and
stop motion animation

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Pre-production

Storyboard
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Storyboard

9 Storyboard

Storyboard
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11 Storyboard

Storyboard
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Poem
Poem
Naša zgodba je dolga in pusta.
Tvoj čas izmuzljiv.
Tvoje življenje je bežno in bežna je tvoja pozornost.
Zakaj bi nas poslušal?
Nismo pomembna in nismo privlačna,
saj nisi neumen, od zgodb ne boš sit.
Zbudi se, dnevni opravki kličejo.
Maščuj se, mašuj!
Bistrejši si od njih.
Bistrejši si od vseh nas.
Nisi kriv. Kriv si.
Nisi kriv. Kriv si.
Nisi kriv, ker ne razumeš.
Kriv si, si domišljaš, da razumeš.
Vsemogočni človek!
Praviš, da si bog,
Bogovi prisluhnejo.
Rotimo počasi,
kričimo neslišno.
Prosim, usliši nas.
Zate oddaljen krik.
Nem. Nebogljen.
Prosim, usliši nas.
Videla smo, ko niste vedeli, da gledamo.
Slišala, ko vas ni skrbelo, da poslušamo.
In tudi govorila smo, ko niste imeli časa, da bi razumeli.
Ločena, izvzeta. Smrtna kot ti.
Oster veter šelesti skozi naše krošnje.
Naše veje trohnijo.
Stoletje nas je sonce hranilo s svojimi žarki
Sedaj umikamo svoje sence, da jih damo naslednjim.
Naša pripoved je mrka in utrudljiva.
Nerazločen in nepoznan naš jezik.
Star boš in grbav, ko jo boš lahko razumel.
Slaboten kot mi, ko bo postala zanimiva.
Nam boš takrat prisluhnil?
Our story is long and dull.
Your time evasive
Your life is fleeting, and fleeting is your heed.
Why would you listen to us?
We’re not significant and we’re not attractive,
You’re no fool, fables won’t feed your hunger!
Wake up, daily errands won’t wait!
Revenge, revenge!
You’re brighter than them,
you’re brighter than us all!
You’re not guilty. You’re guilty.
You’re not guilty. You’re guilty.
We don’t blame you because you don’t comprehend.
We blame you because you’d like to think you comprehend.
Human almighty!
You tell you are god,
Gods listen.
Inaudibly we scream,
slowly beseech;
Please, hear us!
A cry, faraway.
Mute, helpless.
Please, hear us!
We saw when you didn’t know we were looking.
We heard when you didn’t know we were listening.
And we spoke too when you didn’t have time to understand.
Parted, excluded. As mortal as you.
Sharp wind is rustling through our foliage.
Our branches decay.
For a century sun has fed us with its beams.
Now we thin our dense shadows to hand it over to the next.
Dour and tiring is our story.
Illegible and unfamiliar our speech.
Old and humpbacked you’ll be when you’ll grasp it!
Feebler than us when it gets intriguing.
Will you hear us then?

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Production

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Stills
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19 Stills

Stills
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21 Stills

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Behind the Scenes
&
In the Workshop

23 Production
Trees before the final layer of needles

Production
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Each branch is made out of wire and inserted into the trunk

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Background trees were made out of coconut fibre

Production
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After and before adding the needles

27 Production
A realistic foliage was achieved by glueing tiny pieces of green foam onto the fibre from FPP2 masks

Production
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Trunks were scratched with a steel brush to achieve realistic texture

29 Production
A nail was attached to each trunk, so that it could be easily attached to the ground

Production
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31 Production

Production
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Some trees consisted out of real tiny branches

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Buildings were made out of wooden spoons

Production
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Before weathering I applied an initial coat of brown paint

35 Production
Roof is made out of combed aluminium foil glued onto the pieces of cardboard

Production
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Weathering the roof

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The terrain is constructed out of polystyrene

Production
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First I painted the ground using acrylic paint

39 Production
Then the initial layer of sifted dirt was glued onto the surface

Production
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More layers of different materials were sprinkled over to achieve a realistic forest ground

41 Production
Trees had to be carefully screwed into place

Production
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Shaping the fence out of soft balsa wood

43 Production
Weathering the wood using the disinfectant and ink solution

Production
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45 Production
Additional elements

Production
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A finished sheep and the armature

47 Production
Human armature

Production
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Wolf armature

49 Production
Needle felting the wolf

Production
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Wolves in different stages

51 Production
Custom support wire

Production
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Supports were later removed in post-production

53 Production
Improvised home studio

Production
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The initial plan for the fence had to be carefully measured, as the construction happens live during the animation

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Final fence

Production
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Some real-life props were used in the background

57 Production

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Wiring for the lights was inserted into the ground and covered with more material

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An Arduino controlled the lights and assured that the power was constant

Production
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I used a custom-made tool attached to a normal tripod to make the panning shots

61 Production
Zoom positions were marked on the lens using masking tape

Production
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63 Production
Human figure setup - I only needed the shadow

Production
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The drop of blood was made out of red clay and fake blood

65 Production
In total I used almost 2 L of paint and 1 L of spray glue

Production
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67 Production

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Production
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On the set of the live-action scene, using a gimbal for the very first time

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Distribution

Poster Production
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A VISUAL POEM BY ANEJ GOLČAR
December 2020 - Willem de Kooning Academy
Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Poster

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Poster
A VISUAL POEM BY ANEJ GOLČAR
December 2020 - Willem de Kooning Academy
Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Poster - alternative version 1

Poster
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December 2020 - Willem de Kooning Academy
Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Poster - alternative version 2

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