The Projectionist

The Projectionist by Tim Palmer.

Who?
The film was a solo project I completed during my Senior year at Ringling College of Art + Design. Other than myself, the people that were most involved with the film were my composer and sound designer; Matt Podd was my composer and Adam Podd was my sound designer. I also had regular critique from the faculty at Ringling College.

What?
A timid projectionist in the 1940s finds himself too shy to talk to the beautiful concessions girl. When he dozes off into a daydream he acts the way he wish he could, a confident ladies’ man, only to snap out of it to face the girl in reality.

Why?
The film was part of my education while at Ringling College, but part of what inspired the story was my interest in film, the various aspects of it, and the different ways people interact with each other. I originally didn’t want to create a love story because of how often they’re made, but once I had the idea I strove to challenge myself to create a love story with a twist. While making my film, I gained most of my inspiration from the animators around me at the time, my friends, fellow classmates, and professors. They were the ones who pushed me to do better and helped keep me motivated through the process.

How?
I went through a normal pipeline to create the film, from preproduction and story creation through rendering and compositing. In terms of style, I worked with a muted color scale to help add to the older sense of the film. I studied up on different film noir movies and the dramatic style of old black and white films to try and make it as authentic as possible. I strove to recreate the well known staged lighting of old black and white films.

Next Project?
I’m not currently working on another film, but I am in the midst of creating a children’s book, which is something different, but I’m very excited about it!

Which animated film would you liked to have made?
In terms of any animated film, I would have to say “The Lion King.” It was such a huge film when I was younger and I fell in love with the characters and story. The music and the aesthetic of the film are still some of my favorite to this day. If I were to choose a 3d animated film, I would have to choose “Toy Story” because of how groundbreaking it was to the world of animation.