Full Feather Jacket by Liz el Saadany
Through a twist of fate, clumsy seagull Manfred unwillingly joins the Air Force on a highly dangerous mission.
Full Feather Jacket was made by Liz el Saadany as part of the Dutch Ultrakort innitiative, which allows for animators to make an animated short around 2 minutes in length. It screened in front of blockbuster film Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation in Dutch Pathé cinemas, and afterwards screened at animation festivals worldwide.
The process of making the film is as adventurous as the film itself. Liz el Saadany and her two former classmates from Willem de Kooning Academy in Rotterdam, armed with a producer (Jiek Weishut) ,applied to the Dutch Film Fund to make a short film. Got the funding, but they still had to improvise.
The attic of art director Marjon Haasnoot was transformed into a studio, and the crew sometimes sat next to a rotating washing machine while working. But, as Liz el Saadany tells Zippy Frames, "I would have never traded that attic for a crisp studio at that stage"
The result is a well-executed parody of the Kubrick story, with even a dramatic twist at the film's midpoint. Greens and browns turn into red bloodied baths before the celebratory whites; camerawork sides with the world of feathery friends, and each scene is a calculated and orchestrated ride to the final outcome. Stay away from street lamps.
CREDITS:
Production Company: The Drawing Room
Director: Liz el Saadany
Art Director: Marjon Haasnoot
Producer: Jiek Weishut
Line Producer: Tünde Vollenbroek / Animation & Studio Production: Liz el Saadany, Marjon Haasnoot, Arjen van der Meer / Additional Animation: KLOMP! Animation (Davor Bujakovic, Romée van Benten, Emily Zwaanenburg) / Creative Consultant: Patrick Chin
Music Composers: Rinus Aarts, Dolf de Kinkelder / Music Performers: Members of Het Gelders Orkest / Voices, Foley & Sound Design: Juus Piek (Piek Muziek)
Final Mix: Jeroen Nadorp (Bob Kommer) / DCP Mastering: Roloff de Jeu / Production Baby: Baby Arie
Special Thanks: Wim & Joke Haasnoot, Junaid Chundrigar, Brian Hesselmann, Noor Sluman, Wim Boer, Anneke van der Nat, Peggy Knook, TVPaint, Peter Lindhout, Jolijn van Rees, Kees Ostendorf