Ticking Away

[Jourdan Biziou]

Wow, Sweie this looks great

I love your background designs and color plate the poses are also really strong and clear looking forward to watching this the little clips I saw caught my attention. well done to you and your friends who helped you

[Sewie]

Thank you, Jourdan.

We are submitting the film to festivals and trying to get shown but those festival committees are a rough bunch, we are finding out.
Not much luck, but we had a little triumph this week; Holland Animation Film Festival is going to show it and that will be the world premiere. Hopefully it will get things rolling a bit better from now on. So fingers crossed...

[Klaus Hoefs]

Why to be so keen of festivals ? I am really not so sure about festivals.

[Sewie]

Yeah, I know. I've gathered from the post on this forum that many forum members generally don't like festivals. I'm starting to see why, now.

I've done my share of animation projects for TV or online presentation, but this film was made with cinema in mind. It has, for example, a 5.1 surround audio mix, which, I think, sounds great in a theater. And I'm so curious to see how this thing works with a live audience. Yes, I could throw it on the internet and let people download and wait and see how they will react. But, for now, I find that a bit indirect and anonymous. After working on it for many years, quite isolated, I'd also like to share the result with an audience a bit more directly, if possible.

I really just want to know how this thing works in the best possible presentation, which is a proper cinema venue.

Do you think I'm naive about his?

[slowtiger]

I like festivals a lot. My films run in a big theatre with best possible sound (hopefully). The audience is packed, and generally quite positive about anything that's screened. I witness their reaction, and may be lucky to hear them laughing at the exact spot I wanted them to. This has always been my favourite part.

I've submitted "Spoon" to 3 festivals so far, by hand. These are the most important ones to me. For all the rest I will use one of those subscription services, but haven't decided yet about which one.

[Sewie]

You can also try Hiroanim festival (Hiroshima animation festival).

I've gathered, though, that Hiroshima (along with Annecy) is one of the most notoriously difficult and unpredictable festivals to get selected for...

[Sewie]

...
I've submitted "Spoon" to 3 festivals so far, by hand. These are the most important ones to me.
...

Which ones? And have you had any luck?

....For all the rest I will use one of those subscription services, but haven't decided yet about which one.

What's that, then? An online service that will submit your film to festivals for you?

[slowtiger]

I've learned to not give a f* about being selected or not - being selected is nice, but obviously I can't get everywhere. And since there's hundreds of festivals today chances are quite good to get some exposure. Not like in the 80's where there was only a handful (or I just didn't know more).

(Another difference: in ye olden days festivals were nearly the only place to gather knowledge about other festivals! Postcards and flyers were lying everywhere, inviting aspiring filmmakers all over the world (well, Europe at least).)

[slowtiger]

I'm still researching all the services mentioned here: http://reelshorts.ca/2014/02/filmfreewa ... -the-rest/ but have a favourite already because they have an office nearby in Berlin. Mind you, the article is 2 yrs old. Always read the fine print.

[Sewie]

I've learned to not give a f* about being selected or not - being selected is nice, but obviously I can't get everywhere. And since there's hundreds of festivals today chances are quite good to get some exposure. Not like in the 80's where there was only a handful (or I just didn't know more).
...

Yes, but it's quite a depressing prospect to have your film, after years of hard work, selected for only one or two festivals in the coming year

...
(Another difference: in ye olden days festivals were nearly the only place to gather knowledge about other festivals! Postcards and flyers were lying everywhere, inviting aspiring filmmakers all over the world (well, Europe at least).)

I know, I was lucky enough to attend the HAFF (one of the oldest animation festivals worldwide) around the eighties and nineties. It was fun, watching films all day, attending lectures and getting drunk in the evening with fellow colleagues. Somehow it's not the same when you watch films online.

[slowtiger]

it's quite a depressing prospect to have your film, after years of hard work, selected for only one or two festivals in the coming year

In the 80's there weren't that many filmmakers. Today the competition is much larger, I guess about 20 to 100 times. I know of festivals which had just a couple hundred submissions in the past - now it's several thousands.

[Sewie]

Indeed, I've heard that about 5000(!) submissions for short film is nothing unusual for the average festival these days.
With many good ones among them, I have no doubt, but it makes me wonder if those committees are conscientious enough to really look at each and every submission.

[Sewie]

With your permission I'd just like to share what the Holland Animation Festival wrote about my project in their announcement:

Ticking Away, Michael Sewnarain (2015)

Through the Cinecrowd crowdfunding website, filmmaker Michael Sewnarain secured sufficient funds to realise his dream short Ticking Away.

The breathtaking result can be watched for the first time at our festival. Ticking Away tells the story of a soured watchmaker, who is lonely but likes his job. His life hasn’t exactly been easy. One evening, a strange man brings him a very special watch to repair...

Michael Sewnarain is an animation filmmaker, story-artist and illustrator with a field experience of over twenty years. His short film 'Rain' (2005) was selected and shown on many international film festivals. Apart from developing and working on his own film ideas, he regularly collaborates on commercial productions, television specials and feature films. Working with internationally renowned directors like Joanna Quinn, Peter Dodd and Piet Kroon.

Ticking Away is also selected for the competition Dutch animation.

Yessireebob!! 'Breathtaking' they say...!

[Elodie]

Congratulations ! (no problem to share links and quotes about your art ! Feel free to do so !)

[Thierry]

Congratulations !

(by the way, each time I see the title "Ticking Away", I instantly think of the Pink Floyd song "Time", which begins with ... clocks ringing and the words "Ticking away, the moments that make up a dull day.." :p)