Advent Animation 2014 – Dec 5: Tis the Season (Jens & Anna)
I met Anna Brenner this year at Annecy and we reunited at Hiroshima a few months later where we had great times swimming on forbidden Japanese beaches and eating in local dives. One of three directors on Through the Hawthorn, Anna has been sweeping up awards at numerous festivals, most recently at BAF. Along with masterfully handling a serious subject matter like mental illness, Anna and her partner in crime, Jens Blank (Jens & Anna) have a sweetly twisted sense of the holidays. In ‘Tis the Season, a few of our favorite Christmas characters relax a bit after their holiday performance.
Interesting moment, fact or point of inspiration from your production:
We’ve been sending out holiday greetings every year, and they kind of grew bigger and bigger, doubling up in length and effort until this one actually became a fully fledged little short film. If we continued at this rate we’d have to do a feature in 6 years.
Favourite moment during production was definitely Anna doing the VO for S&M Santa and our sound designer doing the reindeer sounds.
Most animated holiday party you’ve been to (literally or figuratively):
The Brits take their work Christmas parties very seriously and always do fancy dress. This year’s work Christmas Party has got an Alpine Chic dress code, so I’m thinking of going as Roger Moore era James Bond in his cute yellow jumpsuit.
What’s one thing you are looking forward to in the new year?
Hm, we just moved down to Berlin, and been pretty busy with work straight away so we’re really looking forward to some time off to explore the city more, and also to get some time working up new personal projects.
Tis the season: Direction /// Jens & Anna
Cast /// Jon Severity, Alix Middleton, Monique Squeri, Nico Diodoro, Rosie Spearpoint
Sound & Music /// Marian Mentrup
Animation /// Chris Ikimi, Sergei Shabarov, Jens Blank, Anna Benner
Recording studio /// Peter Zed
Locations /// Francesco Picardi, Airelle Depreux & Ignatz Johnson-Higham
As a bonus, here is Jens & Anna’s suggestions for decorating your Christmas tree.
Direction & Design /// Jens & Anna
Sound Design /// David Kamp
Animation /// Sergei Shabarov
2d Animation /// Duncan Gist
#AdventAnimation is a daily showcase of holiday themed animation. If you are working on something with a touch of holiday cheer that will be released sometime between 1 December and Christmas Eve,drop me a note and I will put it into consideration.