Yvette's animation 'Five A.M.' was screened at Kaboom Animation Festival
- Design
The main character in it wakes up at 5am on her first day of school with a sense of foreboding. Something is wrong... With this animation, Yvette made it to the big screen of the Kaboom Animation Festival, while she is only in her third year of the Animation Design bachelor's course.
Yvette had been enrolled in ArtEZ Academy for Art & Design Zwolle for a while before she found her place at Animation Design. 'I started there in the Art & Design preparatory course, where I also learned to animate. I loved it, but I still took the Graphic Design bachelor's first.' Meanwhile, animation continued to tempt her, especially when, in her second year, Yvette came into contact with Animation Design students. Yvette decided to follow her heart and was admitted to the second year of Animation Design: 'I love the collaboration between students from different courses here. That crossover is a real hallmark of the course and it broadens your view as a creator.'
24 seconds in 24 hours
Talking about menstruation is still a taboo for some people, but not for Yvette, who showcases the mundane – with all its discomforts – in her work: 'I focus on what interests me in life. I translate my feelings and experiences into my work. That sincerity is important to me.' This openness makes Yvette's work come across as raw and unvarnished. For example, she talks casually about the subject of her first animation assignment of the school year: 'I wanted to start my first day of school well rested, but woke up at five with a sense of foreboding. As if something was wrong. I sat up, turned on the light and saw a trail of blood in my bed. On my first day of school, I first had to clean everything, change the bedding; a real pain. But somehow I also thought it was funny.' When Yvette arrived at school, the assignment was to animate 24 seconds within 24 hours. Yvette decided to capture her extraordinary morning.
Analogue animation
Animating is a time-consuming process. Countless frames are needed for each second of animation. At large animation studios such as Disney, for example, there may be as many as thirty, Yvette explains. Just consider how long it can take to make a short animation of, say, 48 seconds, like 'Five A.M.' ended up being. Naturally, Yvette worked on her animation for much more than 24 hours: 'Also because I like to work using analogue material. I like that more than digital because it's more unpredictable. I make a drawing for each frame by hand, scan it in and then digitise it. That takes lot of time.'
I like my work to be analogy rather than digital because it's more unpredictable. I make a drawing for each frame by hand."
Yvette ended up working on her animation for two weeks, just meeting the deadline for entries for the Kaboom Animation Festival. During Kaboom, an animation festival that takes place in cinemas in Utrecht and Amsterdam, different animations are presented according to a certain theme, for example, 'Dutch shorts,' 'Poetry in motion' and 'Here, queer and totally sincere’. Entries come from all over the world, and by no means all of them make it to the big screen. Yvette says: 'I happened to know someone in programming. I asked myself: isn't 48 seconds too short as an entry? But according to the programmer, it was just right. Per screening, you see a succession of several short animations, so there is always room for a very short film. Moreover, my film fit in well with this year's festival theme of 'welcome home'. I got lucky with that.'
Rigorous selection and compliments
It was not just down to luck or coincidence, because Yvette's film did in fact pass a rigorous selection, with points awarded to all entries. For a third-year student, it is an impressive achievement, but Yvette remains critical of her work. When the film was shown on the big screen, her first thought was that she should have delivered the video at higher resolution, and was concerned – unnecessarily – that she had not mixed the sound properly. 'But I learned from that for next time.' Fortunately, she was also able to enjoy the enthusiastic audience and the compliments of the festival director, with whom she struck up a conversation. 'She knew who I was. That feels so weird, that people from the industry suddenly know who you are', says Yvette.
Opportunity to meet new people
Yvette feels at home in the world of film festivals: 'It helps that I can already make contacts in that world. Networking is still kind of new to me and also a little exciting.' Her strategy is to regularly attend festivals and events in the animation scene without putting too much pressure on herself. Yvette says: 'I see it more as an opportunity to meet new people, hear what they do and why. I am especially interested in others. I believe that attitude is much more genuine and pleasant.' Currently, Yvette is interning with a film director and helping her on a film project. 'I enjoy these kinds of small-scale productions for the Film Fund and others. I am also working towards those types of projects. But my graduation is first on the agenda next year.'
Are you considering studying Animation Design? Yvette has a valuable tip for you:
'This year I helped with admissions and looked at many portfolios. I noticed that there was rather little animated work on display. Animating for the first time may be exciting, but just give it a try. Find pleasure in it, play with it and let your curiosity guide you. Don't try to imitate the work of others, be authentic. If you're not able to look around you with curiosity, you won't complete the course. I don't always know how to start a work either, but by just starting you'll figure it out.'
