1) What have you been up to since we last spoke in May of last year?

Lots! I finished a new stop-motion short film, Blackheads, which was intended to premiere at SXSW last month. I got to direct animation for two feature films this summer which was lovely, particularly because both films were led by women. I’ve started teaching animation at Parsons, which is exciting to think that I get to influence a new generation of animators. And I’ve been trying to find time to scheme and write new material!

2) What’s the backstory here - what was the initial idea and how did it evolve from there? Can you talk briefly about the shift from animation of your last film "Nevada" to live action here?

I had been curious to try live-action filmmaking for a while and I was honestly pretty burnt out on animation after making Nevada. The impetus for this film came about in the long and continuous aftermath of the 2016 election. I was dealing with some health issues and was feeling exhausted by the desire to fight, while simultaneously not knowing how to best take care of myself. All that came to a head when I found out how bed bugs reproduce — through a process called traumatic insemination, which is just as horrid as it sounds. My family had gone through a bed bug invasion when I was in high school, so I drew together all these frustrations and experiences to make this film.

3) What was the biggest challenge in making this film? And generally what part of the creative process do you enjoy the most, and the least?

It’s hard to say, because each aspect of the process had it’s own positives and negatives! I tried a lot of new things with this film and certainly learned a lot. The most important lesson being that live-action isn’t necessarily easier than animation. While I loved the communal and collaborative shoot, I definitely missed the level of control afforded by animation. We were also challenged by the amount of rotoscoped animation we included. Rotoscope can be quite a meditative and enjoyable process, but pushing through five minutes of rotoscope, at 12 frames per second, while try to meet a deadline was quite an ordeal… So I didn’t get a break from animation tedium after all. It was really exciting to combine animated and live-action elements though. That was a great experience, working with my friend Catherine Mehringer who was our lead compositor and VFX supervisor. 

4) What’s a film you’ve seen recently, new or old, that you really loved and why?

Portrait of a Lady on Fire absolutely blew me away. It was exquisite to live in a film for two hours that felt like a haven for femininity, in all its facets. I’m a sucker for slow burns, nuanced queer stories, and celebrations of artistry, all of which this film contained!

5) What’s next for you?

Lots of writing. I’ve been getting into comics this past year, especially as an art form that feels so closely related to animation. I’m working on expanding upon my preexisting films, focusing on a character that’s a comic artist and uses her work to digest her life experiences.

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http://www.ehoffmanportfolio.com

IG: @emilyannimation