Flow, as seen by Gints Zilbalodis
Screened at Certain Regard, Flow, the second animated feature by Gints Zilbalodis stars a cat forced to share a small boat with other animals after a terrible flood. The story echoes the choice made by the young Latvian filmmaker, who is used to working alone, to surround himself for the first time with a technical team.
What inspired you to begin work on this film ?
Before Flow I made an animated feature film called Away in which I was doing everything myself. It’s a story about a character who’s alone on an island and looking to reconnect with others. So there are similarities to the process of making the film. I decided to make my next film which became Flow about a character who’s used to being very independent and self-sufficient and now he has to figure out how to work with a team. So again I’m exploring my experience of making this film itself.
What was your working method ?
Unlike most animated films we didn’t use any storyboards. Instead I would create a 3D environment and place the characters in them and explore them with the camera. This is necessary because in Flow there are many very long and complicated shots in which the camera moves through the space which would be impossible to draw in storyboards. In the animatic process I can explore many ideas. It’s like a mix of cinematography, production design and editing. Everything is quite rough and unpolished, but still you can see if the film is working or not. This was the first time working with a team for me so I had to learn many new skills. Before, if I had an idea, I had to figure out how to make it myself, but now I had to articulate it to the team. This was challenging at times, but also very gratifying when ideas were evolving through collaboration. Most of our crew were quite young and passionate and eager to prove themselves.
Please share a few words about your actors…
The cat was very hard to work with. He never arrived on set in time. It was much easier with the dog. Though he required a lot of direction.
What did you learn during the course of making this film ?
That everything takes more time than you initially think. I learned a lot about managing people and delegating work. This is something that doesn’t come naturally to me, like it’s for the cat in the film. Flow is my second feature film, but maybe it’s the first one that I’ve actually “directed” because previously I was working completely alone. It was a challenge at first, because I hadn’t had any experience of working with a team on a film on a production, so I had to learn the basics very quickly. Maybe this actually helped the film that I didn’t know how things are usually done.
What would you like people to remember from your film ?
I tend to forget the plot of films, but remember the feelings. So I hope that our film will create a strong enough experience that will stay with people.
Can you tell us about your next project ?
The last 5 years while working on this film have been very intense for me and we just finished it so I’m looking forward to a little bit of rest. But I have an idea for my next film. It’ll be an animated film in which I wish to explore the themes and techniques of Flow in a deeper way. I would like to use the camera even more actively to tell the story. For it to almost be an independent character with a mind of its own.