Daniel Kreizberg’s 2D short, a blend of modernist poetry and impressionistic illustrations, is inspired by E.E.Cummings’ poetry and paintings, narrated by Jane Goodall, and features a soundtrack by the filmmaker’s father, maestro Yakov Kreizberg.
Filmmaker Daniel Kreizberg had been introduced to E.E.
Cummings’ metaphoric and incredibly symbolic poem at an early age.But it wasn’t until after losing his father, famed award-winning composer Yakov Kreizberg, that the poem’s dissection of what it means to live and die started resonating on a deep level. “I had no idea what it meant when I first read it in school,” admits the young Kreizberg.“And I remember leaving class a little bewildered.
It's a poem that's a little bit inaccessible, but that's sort of intentional.And there's so much happening under the surface with these double meanings, with the characters named ‘anyone’ and ‘no one.’ But eventually, the poem opened up a world inside of me, and it's been a touchstone in the years since.It’s something that I've returned to often and has meant a lot to me.
It's musical and rhythmic.It's charming, it's hypnotizing, and it's a beautiful tribute to lives lived and lives lost and our human community.” A collaboration with Mailuki Films and NYC’s the STUDIO, Kreizberg’s animated short, inspired and named after Cummings’ poem, explores the profound connection that develops between “anyone” and “no one,” residents of a small town that becomes increasingly alienated and industrialized.Check out the trailer: The film, narrated by the late Jane Goodall, blends modernist poetry with impressionistic illustrations, using 2D animation for the characters and backgrounds, which were painted multiple times to create a kinetic effect.
It was released last year, the same year as Goodall’s passing. “She had narrated other projects before, but this was a unique ask,” notes Kreizberg.“It was a bit different.But her voice has this depth and warmth and wisdom that we knew would be perfect for the project.
And she inherently understood the film’s music, , because it’s a famous British classical composition.It’s a national treasure and so is she.We’re very grateful to her for being part of this film with us.” The short’s soundtrack is also the final recording by Kreizberg’s father, Yakov Kreizberg, who passed away in 2011 when his son was just 14 years-old.
The Russian-born Jewish American was chief conductor of the Netherlands Philharmonic and Netherlands Chamber Orchestra.He had previously led most of the world's great orchestras, including the Berlin Philharmonic and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra.He also held positions with England's Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, the Vienna Symphony, and the Komische Opera in Berlin.
“I had the thought at the time that I would like to make some form of tribute to my father,” shares Kreizberg.“But it wasn't until really the pandemic that I became better acquainted with his body of work.I knew very little about it beforehand.” An early COVID pandemic project of Kreizberg’s was to pair his favorite poems with music as an audio-only project to, in his words, “stay engaged artistically.” “So, I did that for maybe 10 or 15 poems that I really loved, and I put them online somewhere obscure, and nobody really heard them or quite understood what I was doing,” he shares.
“But, at some point, somebody pointed me in the direction of my father's recordings.It was recommended I go to that last album.And that was when I first heard this piece, (originally by Vaughan Williams), which I didn't know at the time, was his final recording.” After pairing his father’s last composition with Cummings’ poem, the idea came to Kreizberg to create an animated short of the paired recording.
But it was put on the shelf for a while. “Daniel had spoken to us during his last animation project about this idea and we were very intrigued, but we just didn't have the resources during COVID to work along with him,” explains Mary Nittolo, the Founder and Chief Creative Officer at the STUDIO, who served as executive producer on the film.“We were just trying to keep the company going as probably all small businesses were.But when he came to us this second time around, we were ready.” She continues, “I’ve always been intrigued by Cummings’ work ever since I was a teenager.
I just love the unique linguistic style and the abstraction.It's very beautiful to me, this poem in particular, with the portrayal of life, death, and the passage of time.Someone very close to me recently passed, and it just felt so resonant and so emotionally impactful that we really had to try to figure out a way to get it done.
It's a beautiful way to talk about some very universal themes in a way that's both enchanting and complex.” This was not only Kreizberg’s first time delving into his father’s musical work, but also the first time the STUDIO had executed to completion such a painterly-inspired artistic styled animation.With illustrator John R.Holmes creating most of the film’s assets, the animation was designed primarily in Photoshop with some assist from a program called Rebelle, a raster graphics editor for digital painting and drawing, designed to simulate oils, acrylics, watercolors, pencils and other traditional paint media on a digital canvas.
“That gave us these impasto-like textures,” notes Eric Schutzbank, head of production at the STUDIO as well as producer and animation supervisor on the short.“We also partnered with an animation studio called MeinArt that had worked with Daniel on his previous film .John would do multiple frames of a Photoshop animation and then we would provide MeinArt with keyframes and key poses so they could work on the in-betweens of the character art.” The team also had compositors and After Effects animators who would finish the animations final assembly. “The film had like 3 or 4 different painted versions that we would cycle through, and those different paint strokes would create that final movement effect,” notes Schutzbank.
“The film is animated largely on threes, but there's a lot of time interpolation and playing around within different shots to get that effect of the paint swirling and moving around.So, each shot presented its own different timing challenges.” But a layered animation seems fitting for such a layered poem. “This style alludes to the passage of time, and you can feel it in the animation,” says Nittolo.“We cycle through spring, summer, autumn, winter, and the cycle of life and time is one of the central themes of the poem.
So going through the layers of paintings and the different seasons in that way, the cyclical nature of it, seemed spiritually synchronistic.” Schutzbank adds, “We had explored this method with other projects that, for one reason or another, didn’t come to fruition.So, this was our first time getting to execute our ideas.We had wanted to do something that, while still made digitally, would have the texture of a real painting where the motion of the brush is felt through the animation.
And it was the perfect project to see this through because it really captures how Cummings painted and what he wrote about.We wanted to honor his legacy as a writer and also a painter.” Three legacies are being honored in this short film.The artistic and poetic legacy of Cummings, the voice of Goodall, whose words have inspired people all over the world, as well as the music of Kreizberg’s father and the connection between loved ones that transcends death. “It is indeed arduous to make independent films, short films in particular,” states Kreizberg.
“And so, with a difficult process, it makes the difference to be serving something that feels bigger than oneself.This project honors these legacies that are really meaningful and that are so rich and important.Music and poems and Jane’s voice, these things are cultural treasures that we have to preserve and continue to transmit in order to have a society that can live up to its potential.
What kept me going through the challenges of making a film like this was that guiding light of something that has immense meaning.” The end of the film includes a watercolor painting of Kreizberg’s father conducting on stage.While the animation is dedicated to the musical composer, Kreizberg has more ideas for future tributes to the man taken from his life too soon. “The initial idea that I had for a tribute is something that is still out there and something I would like to do someday when I'm in a different life phase and in a different part of my career,” shares Kreizberg.“I see art as an opportunity to engage with a greater consciousness that we can then bring to audiences around the world.
We get to convey that which is divine and holy, and we can communicate that through art, through extraordinary craft and magnificent aesthetics and sumptuous music, beautiful visuals, witty dialogue, whatever it might be.When it is done right, it's a spiritual, transcendent experience, and it can transform society and that’s urgently needed.My hope is that comes through in this film.
And there are elements of this experience that I will definitely carry into future works.”
Victoria Davis is a full-time, freelance journalist and part-time Otaku with an affinity for all things anime.She's reported on numerous stories from activist news to entertainment.Find more about her work at victoriadavisdepiction.com.
Jane Goodall-Narrated Animated Short ‘anyone lived in a pretty how town’ to Debut at SCAD Fest
