Showcase of 2013: Passer Passer
Passer Passer by Louis Morton, Graduate of the University of Southern California
Who?
This was my graduate thesis film at the University of Southern California. I directed, animated and did a rough sound mix. Katie Gately was responsible for the sound design magic.
What?
An animated city symphony celebrates the hidden world of background noise.
Why?
City sounds were the main inspiration. Collecting and listening to sounds from Los Angeles and Tokyo provided the backbone of the film. As far as animators, I was greatly inspired by Norman McLaren, Jules Engel, and my mentors at USC: Kathy Smith, Sheila Sofian, Christine Panushka, Mike Patterson and Candace Reckinger.
How?
I recorded all the audio with a Zoom H2 hand recorder. The rough sound mix was in Adobe Audition and main mix in Ableton Live. All animation was hand drawn on a Cintiq using Flash and Photoshop. Compositing was done in After Effects.
Next Project?
I’m working on my next short film which is funded by the Sloan Science Grant. It’s a story exploring the senses of smell and taste and includes fart bombs and a wise pie man.
Which animated film would you like to have made?
It would have been really amazing to be an animator at Disney or the Fleischer Studio in the really early days. There was so much joyful experimentation with the craft of animation. It would have been rad to be able to work on one of the early Disney Silly Symphonies.
