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5 Questions Hemali Vadalia ("Drift")

1) Can you talk briefly about your background, and how you first got interested in filmmaking?

I have always been interested in art and craft. Stop motion was a medium where I could put all my interests together, storytelling, painting, music, craft, costume and production design. However, I didn't start out this way. I had majored in computer engineering at college and used to work as a programmer. After a couple of years I quit my job to pursue a creative career and joined a grad program in animation design.

2) What was the initial idea for this project and how did it evolve from there?

I wanted to work on a story about a little girl who dreams about having an adventure, travels to an unseen world and explores on her own. I have been brought up in a traditional Indian household and I had been internalizing these ideas a lot at the time. Around the same time I heard ‘Northern Belle’ by Kori Pop, a canadian singer and loved it. Brainstormed a few ideas about the execution, how I wanted it to feel like, the technique and the set design. I felt the words and the vibe matched what I was looking for in the character and started building on that.

3) What was the biggest challenge in making this film? And the easiest part?

The eyes for the puppet in the film are pre-recorded from another shoot I did with my friend. The challenge was to put everything together. I wanted to superimpose these eyes but also it had to feel right for the orientation of the head and the mood of the girl in the film. After a little bit of tweaking it worked out at the end. Having the song and the music really made things go smoothly. Not only did it really lift and help with the visuals, the film shaped around it.  

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

I watched Russian Soyuzmultfilm and films by Yuri Norstrin recently. I love how soulful, timeless they are. I wish my work could speak the way these old films speak. In an age where we are so bombarded with commercials all the time, it encourages me to look deeper and try to make something that feels genuine and personal. 

5) What’s next for you?

I have been painting and working on thoughts, learning to articulate and put it in visual form by painting. I do plan on making a painted animation.

www.hemalivadalia.com | IG: hemalivadalia