Animator Bill Plympton on Independent Movies
Hair High, Idiots and Angels, Guard Dog Director Speaks
Jun 17, 2009 Dominic von Riedemann
Animator Bill Plympton makes his films his way: literally drawing every single scene in every movie. He's produced 5 feature-length films this way, and is currently working on his sixth.
In Part #1 of this exclusive interview, Plympton talked about his upcoming Master Class (Friday, June 19th) at Toronto's Worldwide Short Films Festival, and his acclaimed Dog shorts.
Now, he discusses making feature films like Idiots and Angels, plus his biggest creative hurdle.
S101: How much does it cost for you to make a full-length feature?
Plympton: “Idiots and Angels was about $120,000 - $130,000. Hair High was about $400,000.”
What drove the cost up with Hair High?
“We did a lot of reshoots. Hair High also had a lot of stars like David and Keith Carradine, Martha Plimpton and Dermot Mulroney, Sarah Silverman . . . they weren't cheap. The production values were also really high; it took a long time to make.
“With Idiots and Angels, I did all the production, and the colouring was all done digitally, which used a lot fewer people.”
A lot of traditional animators automatically resist computer-generated animation. What’s your take?
“I tried CGI in one of my films, Shuteye Hotel, because everyone said, ‘Everyone’s doing it.’ And it ballooned the budget and slowed down the production by 5 or 6 months.
“If you see one of these Pixar shorts, or a Blue Sky short, it’s only 5 minutes but you’re talking a million dollars. No way I could finance a short for a million dollars; I would lose money. I run my own studio, I finance the film myself, I need to make films that show a profit.
"For me to go into CGI would be a disaster.”
I’ve heard that you hand-draw all your cels yourself?
“I do every drawing that you see on the film.”
What speed? Are you going 24 frames per second?
“No, I can’t afford to do that and frankly the audience doesn’t notice it. I'll do a drawing in 3 or 4 frames of film. My style is kind of blurry and rough, but it works.”
How do you avoid carpal tunnel syndrome?
“It’s good exercise: my hand feels really great after a full day of drawing. It’s a wonderful feeling.”
Do you do anything to take care of yourself, to avoid injury?
“I just try not to break my hand. Drawing is a creative act that I find very joyful. It’s something that I love to do, and it’s probably my favourite thing. I get up at 6 in the morning and draw until 8 at night, simply because it gives me so much pleasure.”
How does a Bill Plympton film come together? What’s your process?
“It’s pretty simple: I just come up with an idea that I like. Let’s take the Dog series: in “Horn Dog” I wanted to have him fall in love. So I wrote down a lot of ideas that I felt were funny, and applicable to his personality, then I narrowed it down to a concept that I felt was amusing and about 5 minutes long. Five minutes is a perfect length for a short film.
“Then I do a storyboard; that takes about a week. Once I think the storyboard's where I want it to be then I start animating. After that, I make sure all the movement, spacing, and timing is good. Then I’ll colour every drawing with coloured pencil; very low-tech.
“Once I’ve coloured it, it gets scanned here in my office in New York and composited and cleaned. Then we put the sound and the music on.
“We coloured Idiots and Angels digitally, but for the Dog shorts, I do it all myself.”
Will you show scripts to people you trust in order to get their reactions?
“With feature films, I will because it’s such a big undertaking. I do have a small group of people that I will show it to, and ask distinct questions about certain parts and whether or not they work.
“Also, when I get a rough cut of the film done, I'll show it to more people and get their input. I think it’s very important that the audience likes the film, and I really need to make it as good as I can.
“For Idiots and Angels, I had a rough-cut screening in Chicago in 2007. We used the Music Box Theatre; I think we had 700 people. We handed out questionnaires to everybody so they'd let us know if there was anything that really stood out as being offensive or confusing. But most people really liked the film, so there weren’t any major changes.”
What’s been the biggest problem for you in putting together your films?
“Getting distribution. It really concerns me, because I get rave reviews from Variety, Hollywood Reporter, and audiences.
"But a lot of distributors don’t think there’s a market for adult animation. It drives me batty because I know there’s a market out there: it’s not as big as Pixar's market, but I know people are dying to see animation with adult themes."
Who do you admire?
“Definitely Pixar, they do great stuff. I love Blue Sky, I loved Horton Hears a Who. I really like the independent stuff: Cordell Barker has a hilarious new film out, called "Runaway."
Marv ("Bambi Meets Godzilla") Newland is a big influence, (Wallace and Gromit director) Nick Park, I love Spongebob Squarepants, I think it’s a wonderful, wonderful show. There’s so many people doing animation now, it’s really exciting.”
What’s next for you?
“I’m starting a new feature film: as I’m talking I’m drawing scenes. It’s about a perfect romance that goes wrong due to confusion and miscalculation. The script is done, the storyboard is done, I just have to draw it. I’ve got about 4 minutes done; I’ve got 70 minutes to go so it’s gonna be a long process. The working title is Hanky Panky.”
A scene from
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