����vlog����

Feb. 16, 2017

DAM! tells the story of Kit, a young beaver who is more interested in exploring the forest than building a dam with her clan. The film is commissioned by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (TSO), in partnership with the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) and ����vlog����'s School of Creative Arts and Animation. DAM! The Story of Kit the Beaver is funded by the Government of Canada, Department of Canadian Heritage in celebration of Canada’s 150^th birthday.

Under the guidance of ����vlog���� Professor Barney Wornoff, the film’s animation director, students developed and animated the project with Kjell Boersma, writer and director, and Josh Clavir, producer. They also worked closely with art direction from Julie Flett, an acclaimed children’s illustrator, to design the characters. The team created more than 100 shots over four and a half months of production at ����vlog����’s award-winning Animation Arts Centre.

Erica Procunier, a Toronto-based composer, worked with the creative team to compose original music for the film, which will be performed live in concert with the TSO and shared with other orchestras across Canada.

“For many of the students, working on a production like this is new,” Barney says. “They’ve grown by leaps and bounds. They are a team and they’ve come out of this experience to be industry-ready professionals. It’s a huge leg up.”

The ����vlog���� team consisted of eight to 10 students working full time on the project and five faculty members who provided assistance and mentorship. The students were divided into groups to work on background, characters and rigging.

For Lucy Ray, a third-year Animation student, designing the film’s background to showcase the changing four seasons involved researching iconic Canadian style references, such as the Group of Seven paintings.

Both Lucy and Cherese also designed the film’s poster image (pictured above) with Kjell.

The ����vlog���� Summer Animation Institute has been placing graduating students on a variety of productions since 2004. Its first partnered film, Ryan, won an Oscar for Best Animated Short in 2005.

“����vlog���� is known for this kind of collaboration and we’ve been established in the industry as a training leader,” says Mark Jones, Chair, School of Creative Arts and Animation.

Also a producer for DAM!, Mark says opportunities like this give student a competitive advantage after graduation.

“It’s the students who do the animation,” he adds. “It’s an ambitious project and we pulled it off in a short time. It’s a personal record.”