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Spraygraphic Interview with Filmmaker Jeff Chiba Stearns

By Spraygraphic | August 13, 2008

Spraygraphic Interview with Jeff Chiba Stearns

SG: Please tell us about yourself?

JCS: I am an independent animation filmmaker trying to change the world one cartoon at a time.

SG: Where do you currently live and work?

JCS: I live in a city just outside of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada called Kelowna.

SG: What mediums do you work with?

JCS: I create my films using classical animation. Classical animation is the old school technique of creating animation with only paper and pencils and a whole lot of drawings…although in the case of my film Yellow Sticky Notes I used 2300 yellow sticky notes and a black Staedtler ink pen.

SG: Describe your working process when creating a new work.

JCS: Animation meditation - animating through a stream of consciousness.

SG: What kind of things do you do when you get blocked or find it hard to create something?

JCS: Doodle randomness or watch inspiring videos, films, and animation.

SG: Where are you currently finding your inspiration?

JCS: Most of my inspiration is inspired by my own experiences and things around me. Right now I am working on a broadcast documentary called One Big Hapa Family about the high interracial marriage rate amongst Japanese Canadians and how their mixed kids perceive their unique identities. Most of the participants are my family members. You can find out more at my production blog: http://citizen.nfb.ca/blogs/category/one-big-hapa-family/

SG: Can you tell us a little about Yellow Sticky Notes.

JCS: Yellow Sticky Notes is a funny, lively and insightful look at the life of a working artist and activist – all told through thousands of yellow sticky notes. After realizing that yellow sticky note “to do” lists were consuming my life, I decided to visually self-reflect on my filmmaking journey by animating on the same sticky notes that caused me to ignore major world events for the last nine years. Animation meditation is blended with image, text, and an original musical score by Genevieve Vincent through the creation of a classically animated experimental film that was drawn straight ahead with only a black ink pen on over 2300 yellow sticky notes.

Creating this film was one of the most liberating filmmaking experiences of my life. I had no budget, no deadline, no broadcaster breathing down my neck. I animated only when I felt inspired. Being created on sticky notes meant I could animate anywhere and while I was traveling with my last film on the festival circuit, I could animate on the plane or in the hotel room. It was amazing just to make a film for me and not have to worry about anything else. The straight-ahead animation style I chose was really freeing. If I made a mistake with the black pen I had to throw out the sticky note and start again. As I animated, I had no idea of the sequencing the film would take. All I wanted is for the animation to flow from text to imagery. When I started animating, I had no idea how this film would end. It’s a high concept film where I had no idea when I would be finished because I really had no ending. One day I just decided I was done and I laid out all the piles of sticky notes and arranged them in an order that made sense to me. It took me over 19 hours straight to capture all the drawings under the camera and another few weeks to finish editing the film. After that I shipped off the film to the composer, Genevieve Vincent, who was in her third year of a film scoring major at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. I gave her no direction and told her to score the film through interpreting the animation. She sent the score back, we made a couple revisions but other than that, it was perfect. I can’t wait to create another film using this method!

SG: How long did it take to complete the video?

JCS: Yellow Sticky Notes took me about nine months. Almost all of my films so far have taken me nine months to make. I refer to it as the closest thing I’ll ever have to having kids. My films are like kids and I want each of them to do well once I sent them off into the world. So far I’ve produced four classically animated films!

SG: Can you please tell us a little about, What are you Anyways?

JCS: “What Are You Anyways?” focuses on the adventures of the Super Nip as I explore my cultural backgrounds growing up a mix of Japanese and Caucasian in the small Canadian city of Kelowna, BC. This short classically animated film looks at particular periods in my life where I battled with finding an identity being a half minority - from my childhood origins to the epic showdown against the monster truck drivin’ redneck crew. “What Are You Anyways?” is a humorous yet serious story of struggle and love and finding one’s identity through the trials and tribulations of growing up. It is the first animated film to deal with multiracial identity and Hapa issues. I coined the term Hapanimation after blending Japanese anime with North American cartoon styles much like my own blended background.

SG: Where did the term HAPA come from? What does it mean?

JCS: The term Hapa is a Hawaiian term for half or part. Used as a combined term of Hapa Haole, it was a derogatory term to describe people living in Hawaii of mixed Hawaiian and white decent. The term traveled over to North America after WWII where many people started using the term to describe Asians of mixed-decent. It became a pride word much like how homosexuals took back the word gay to be a term or empowerment. So anyone who was mixed Asian or Pacific Island Ancestry could be considered a Hapa. There is much controversy over the evolution of the Hawaiian term. Now Hawaiians are trying to reclaim the word Hapa saying the word had been misappropriated from their culture and misused by the mainland. Many people of mixed Asian decent liked the term Hapa because it gave them a sense of identity after years of struggling with their multiracial identity.

SG: Where has your work been seen?

JCS: My work has been broadcast by the Canadian Broadcast Corporation. All my films have also screened in countless film festivals around the world. Some of which have included the Tribeca Film Festival in New York, Taiwan Animation Festival, ANIMANIMA in Serbia, Spike and Mike’s Festival of Animation, the Maui, Calgary, and Newport Beach Film Festivals just to name a few. Filmmaking is a great way to explore the world and I’ve been fortunate to travel the world with my films. Yellow Sticky Notes launched on YouTube as part of their Screening Room series and in a week received over 600,000 views. So overall, I’m happy that people have had a chance to experience my work on the big and little screen through various screening formats! I’ve also been fortunate that my films have won major awards at these festivals, which has also helped to land distribution for all my films through Ouat! Media based out of Toronto.

SG: Where will it be seen next?

JCS: Yellow Sticky Notes is still touring with the Spike and Mike Festival of Animation so check the website for a screening near your. I was also informed that YSN will be converted to 3D for the new Spike and Mike 3D show that will also be touring around North America. YSN also gets into new festivals every day so join the Yellow Sticky Notes fan page on Facebook or to keep updated on screenings near you. My new documentary will hopefully be completed in March 2009 and will broadcast in Canada. It will also hit the festival circuit when complete. Go to www.hapanimation.com for updates

SG: What is your dream art assignment?

JCS: My dream assignment is continue creating films that I have full creative control over. Films in which I fully conceive every idea and have the freedom to do whatever I want. I have my own animation studio, Meditating Bunny Studio, and I only take on commercial projects that I really believe in and share a passion for. I don’t just work on any old crappy idea. Even if the budget is huge and there’s a lot of money. Integrity is far more important than money and I strive to continue to make great films that I write, direct, produce, and animate.

SG: What is your favorite color?

JCS: I like blue since I can stare at the sky and ocean all day but these days it has definitely shifted to Yellow…for obvious reasons!

SG: Who is your favorite artist? And Why?

JCS:I have many artists, animators, and illustrators that inspire my work. If I had to choose a favorite illustrator it would be Maurice Sendak because his drawings are beautiful and his storytelling is amazing. He is why I wanted to become an artist. I also admire Sheldon Cohen, Norman McLaren, and Hayao Miyazaki for being great animators and Brad Bird for being such a great director. Joseph Conrad and Joseph Campbell inspire my storytelling and the imagination of Dr. Suess fuels my passion for crazy ideas.

SG: What book/magazine are you reading this week?

JCS: For magazines I read, Giant Robot, Hyphen, Ricepaper, and Animation Magazine. Books I am currently reading are, Swimming Upstream: A Lifesaving Guide to Short Film Distribution by my friend Sharon Badal. I am also reading The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell and various Rumi poetry books.

SG: Ever do a self portrait? Where is it now?

JCS: The last self portrait I did was in my latest film Yellow Sticky Notes. I drew a picture of me animating a self-reflection. Also, since I was the main character in my animated film, “What Are You Anyways?” I must have drawn myself over 2000 times. Now that I think of it, both Yellow Sticky Notes and “What Are You Anyways?” are animated self portraits. If you want to get technical, I also once created a drawn self portrait for a newspaper interview I did once. Although, I really wasn’t happy with how it turned out but they ran the picture anyways. Most artists have an infatuation with self and as much as they deny it, they’ve all got self portraits hiding in strange places that they’ll keep forever, mine just happen to be more public.

SG: Where is your favorite place to hang out?

JCS: Up at my parent’s orchard. I get a lot of inspiration working in the orchard…picking apples and letting my mind wander. I have to keep a note pad in my pocket at all times so I can jot down notes that come to my head.

SG: Any final words of advice?

JCS: Draw and don’t stop. Observe life around you and draw it. Anyone these days can make videos. YouTube is a perfect example of that. Try to make videos that make people think, inspire, enlighten, educate, inform, engage, and entertain. I go all-out to do that with all the films I make. Don’t do it for the money or to try to make money. You’ll lose focus of what’s really important - story! I’m lucky because I can support myself on just filmmaking but it’s because I strive to make good films! Everyone has their own style so don’t copy someone else’s just because you think it’s cool. Riping off people isn’t cool. Be aware of copyright. Develop your own style and the uniqueness of your work will make you stand out! Have many ideas and at least one will be amazing! Find bliss, pursue passions, and dream big. If you really want to be an animator, you’re going to have to be a bit crazy…all animators are crazy…it’s part of the job requirements! If you still want to be an animator, research animation schools and pick one with a good reputations for creating creative animators not just industry grunts. Overall, write down every idea and sketch because you’ll never know how huge those ideas can grow…they could just become the next big thing!

Topics: Asian Artists, Film-Video, You Tube videos |

http://www.sprayblog.net/spraygraphic-interview-with-filmmaker-jeff-chiba-stearns/

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