5 Questions with Gurleen Rai & F. Anthony Shepherd
1) Can you talk briefly about your backgrounds, and how you first got interested in filmmaking?
Gurleen: I originally studied fashion design, graduated then realized the business side of fashion and it’s emphasis on consumerism didn’t align with my values. I’d always been drawing and painting so illustration was a natural fit. Around that time a friend suggested trying animation but I didn’t know where to start and wasn’t in a place where I could commit enough time to it. That changed when I met Anthony in 2015 and within a few months we were working on our first animated short, I did the animation and Anthony did the music/sound. We’d finish a project and start working on something else, it was all very organic and fun.
Anthony: I’ve been playing guitar, vocals, synth and bass since my teens. As a vocalist for bands I started recording and producing. All of these skills were sharpened over years of performing and trying different projects. I moved more towards sound design and production as things became digital therefore cheaper and more accessible. When Gurleen showed interest in animation I was supportive in brainstorming and logistically planning the process of using the medium effectively. At the same time I was writing experimental ambient music and scores to public domain films so I was excited to begin scoring and sound design for original ideas. I’ve been a writer my whole life, have tried many other arts, hobbies, and trades which offered me skills and perspective, and I think all of that experience has found a use in the film-making process.
2) What’s the backstory here - what was the initial idea and how did it evolve from there?
Gurleen: “ Get Up, Pierrot” started in August 2017 as a really simple animation inked on printer paper. I was struggling with some personal issues and in an effort to motivate myself I made a simple animation of a clown laying in grass, it gets up and walks away. I called it, “get up”. That unintentionally became the first episode of the series and the opening sequence of the film. My intention was to be spontaneous, I drew whatever came to mind. In general, the series became a creative way to channel some emotional baggage/self doubt while not taking it too seriously.
Anthony: Gurleen began working on 2 more segments of ‘get up’ and wanted to do more. So we began brainstorming and researching clowns. When we came upon Pierrot, the sad clown from commedia dell'arte, we realized this was the clown she created. So I thought an interesting way to create more of this story, without having to commit to writing and storyboarding, was a “Choose Pierrot’s Adventure” type game on Instagram. We ask a poll question in IG stories, and based on the winning answer, create another segment. Since then ways to play the game have evolved as IG adds more features but we also pull from real life interactions such as the voices at the end of the film. We screened an early cut of “Get Up, Pierrot” to Film Shop New Orleans and asked them to say terrible things about Pierrot and their comments made it into the film. Now we’re thinking of opening up a Pierrot hotline!
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?
Gurleen: The biggest challenge for me was balancing commissioned work with releasing episodes on Instagram regularly. It turned out to be a great creative outlet because it allowed me to be more flexible than the structured animation work which was scripted with storyboards and animatics. It let me focus on what I enjoy most about the animation process: brainstorming and drawing.
The thing I’m always resisting with animation is how planned it is and how polished and overworked it can start to look, I like to leave room for intuitive or last minute changes. I think that’s what I enjoy most about working on Get Up, Pierrot, it’s imperfect, dirty even. I don’t bother tracing previous frames, if I make a mistake it still ends up in the final, it’s not precious.
Anthony: The biggest challenge for me is when she hands me a segment and I have nothing to start from. Meaning there is no music, no sound trailing in, it’s just a cold start and I have to turn completely silent action into a world. But that’s also the most fun because Pierrot’s world can be very minimalist but suddenly very rich with sound or vice versa with lots of color and near silence. I have a lot of fun interacting with the audience @getuppierrot on IG. I take time to think about responses to make it fun for everyone. We really do allow our IG family to influence Pierrot as much as possible. In general, I really love our creative process because we go back and forth talking about ideas a lot before we commit to writing or executing.
4) What’s a film you’ve seen recently, new or old, that you really loved and why?
Gurleen: At Slamdance 2019 “Get Up, Pierrot” screened in front of a feature, A Great Lamp directed by our friend Saad Qureshi, we ended up screening at a number of the same festivals so we’ve seen it at least 4 or 5 times and it’s one of our favorite films of 2019. It has a magical quality to it while being sincere and honest. As far as animation, I just rewatched Asparagus by Suzan Pitt and her work is always inspiring.
Anthony: She said it A Great Lamp is amazing and the films together are a beautiful pairing! I love them! I’ve been amazed and moved by a lot of films I’ve seen at festivals this past year especially the shorts. I rewatched Ganja & Hess recently, it’s one of my favorite films of all time because it’s raw, experimental and the music/sound design is just amazing to me. I could go on about films forever but I let my cravings guide me from film to film for better or worse.
5) What’s next for you?
Gurleen: We’re currently in the middle of Season 2 of Get Up on Instagram and so far it’s been fun going a new direction with Pierrot. We’re also independently working on an animated mini series.
Anthony: We completed an animated series of shorts called “Rosie & Joe” that’s airing in the spring season of Cake on FXX. We’re also film festing our latest animated short, “Cosmic Spaghetti” which premiered at New Orleans Film Festival 2019 and has a few other dates lined up including its international premier. Besides that I’m always writing music and working on new ideas.
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http://www.zimteemo.com
Instagram: Gurleen Rai: @zimteemo | F. Anthony Shepherd: @f.anthony_shepherd.