Yeon Choi - Ever after
7:00, 2006, AnimationDirectorYeon Choi
Edition2006
< overview
Who is Yeon Choi?
I was born in Seoul, Korea in 1966. I studied painting at Ewha University in Korea. And I came to US to study Computer Arts at The University of Massachusetts, Amherst. I started creating animated film for my thesis work for the Master’s Degree. I have been creating animated films since then. Currently I am an assistant professor at The University of Louisiana at Lafayette teaching computer animation. I am also a digital artist, but animation is really what I like doing the most.
Why filmmaking?
When I saw computer animated films long time ago, I wanted to learn how to do it because I wanted to make my painting moving. Now I know, animated film making is more challenging and I love doing it.
Ever After is about...
As we grow up, especially girls, we all hear and learn about fairy tales that imply there is one prince charming who will complete your life. Especially now days, Hollywood feeds it even more. In real life, many women make mistakes by staying in bad relationships partially because they believe in fairy tales. Ever After is different version of fairy tale trying to disillusion those sweet fairy tales. The idea of the story comes directly from my life experiences of divorce. Also, I am trying to tell all the girls in the world that sometimes the cost is huge for your mistake. You have to live with it, but you will still learn from it. And you will grow up.
Financing your movie?
I am creating animated film, and I do most of things by myself such as animating, editing, sound design so forth. Therefore, I didn’t need a big budget for my film production although I did need good equipment for the production. Mostly, everything was self- financed with the income from my teaching job.
New Media; a challenge for film makers?
I believe, new media provides the film makers resources quickly, new way of distributing their films and new way of making films. Of course, there must be challenges for film makers since they have to update themselves all the time in terms of technology, but there are more advantages of it.
Influences?
I think people learn and grow endlessly through their lives. I learn from all people I know, all of those books I read, all of the movies I watched and so forth. I cannot think of any single long-lasting influence because there were so many.
Individual film making or co-operation?
I have been doing whole process of animated film making on my own, I guess, I prefer it because I know exactly what I want for how the film has to look, how the lighting has to be, how the editing should be done and so forth.
Future...
So far, I have been making animated films. Although the techniques are mixed, (e.g. Stop-motion and computer animation), they were straight animated films. I would love to do live-action and animation mixed film at some point. Also, I want to integrate my animation with interactivity.
Did you ever had another ambition in life than to become a filmmaker?
Yes, I was a painter. I thought I was going to be a painter forever, but things changed. I feel more comfortable and satisfied with being a filmmaker.
Digital or classic?
For my work process, everything is digital. Everything is created on my PC and transferred to either DVD or Mini DV. Most of the equipment I used for the production except sound recording and editing system are owned by me.
View other work of Yeon Choi
I have a personal website at the university that I teach. The URL is: http://www.ucs.louisiana.edu
And go to More/Recent Work1 or Recent Work2
There are some still frames from “The Fly”(2003), “The Labyrinth”(2002) in the slide show format.
Also, they can see a still frame from “Sandstorm” (2003) from Brooklyn Film Festival 2004 website:
Http://wbff.org/films/2004 and Click on animation category, and Click on Sandstorm.
< overview
Edition2006
< overview
Interview
I was born in Seoul, Korea in 1966. I studied painting at Ewha University in Korea. And I came to US to study Computer Arts at The University of Massachusetts, Amherst. I started creating animated film for my thesis work for the Master’s Degree. I have been creating animated films since then. Currently I am an assistant professor at The University of Louisiana at Lafayette teaching computer animation. I am also a digital artist, but animation is really what I like doing the most.
Why filmmaking?
When I saw computer animated films long time ago, I wanted to learn how to do it because I wanted to make my painting moving. Now I know, animated film making is more challenging and I love doing it.
Ever After is about...
As we grow up, especially girls, we all hear and learn about fairy tales that imply there is one prince charming who will complete your life. Especially now days, Hollywood feeds it even more. In real life, many women make mistakes by staying in bad relationships partially because they believe in fairy tales. Ever After is different version of fairy tale trying to disillusion those sweet fairy tales. The idea of the story comes directly from my life experiences of divorce. Also, I am trying to tell all the girls in the world that sometimes the cost is huge for your mistake. You have to live with it, but you will still learn from it. And you will grow up.
Financing your movie?
I am creating animated film, and I do most of things by myself such as animating, editing, sound design so forth. Therefore, I didn’t need a big budget for my film production although I did need good equipment for the production. Mostly, everything was self- financed with the income from my teaching job.
New Media; a challenge for film makers?
I believe, new media provides the film makers resources quickly, new way of distributing their films and new way of making films. Of course, there must be challenges for film makers since they have to update themselves all the time in terms of technology, but there are more advantages of it.
Influences?
I think people learn and grow endlessly through their lives. I learn from all people I know, all of those books I read, all of the movies I watched and so forth. I cannot think of any single long-lasting influence because there were so many.
Individual film making or co-operation?
I have been doing whole process of animated film making on my own, I guess, I prefer it because I know exactly what I want for how the film has to look, how the lighting has to be, how the editing should be done and so forth.
Future...
So far, I have been making animated films. Although the techniques are mixed, (e.g. Stop-motion and computer animation), they were straight animated films. I would love to do live-action and animation mixed film at some point. Also, I want to integrate my animation with interactivity.
Did you ever had another ambition in life than to become a filmmaker?
Yes, I was a painter. I thought I was going to be a painter forever, but things changed. I feel more comfortable and satisfied with being a filmmaker.
Digital or classic?
For my work process, everything is digital. Everything is created on my PC and transferred to either DVD or Mini DV. Most of the equipment I used for the production except sound recording and editing system are owned by me.
View other work of Yeon Choi
I have a personal website at the university that I teach. The URL is: http://www.ucs.louisiana.edu
And go to More/Recent Work1 or Recent Work2
There are some still frames from “The Fly”(2003), “The Labyrinth”(2002) in the slide show format.
Also, they can see a still frame from “Sandstorm” (2003) from Brooklyn Film Festival 2004 website:
Http://wbff.org/films/2004 and Click on animation category, and Click on Sandstorm.
< overview
