Nov 10, 2023

2024 Academy Awards Short Film Candidates: - Crab - Director Pyotr Chmielewski.

Welcome to the spotlight series of Cartoon Brew, which focuses on the 2024 Academy Award-nominated animated shorts. There are several ways in which a movie can qualify. Use these profiles to focus on Oscar-qualified and award-winning films at Oscar-qualified festivals.

Today's short is the crab directed by Pyotr Chmilevsky. The film earned its qualification by winning the Jury Award for Best Animated Short at the Edmonton International Film Festival.

The unclean stop-motion Short in the kitchen is the story of a crab whose imminent death at the bottom of a pot can only be stopped by an act of God.

Cartoon Brew: How did you create underwater effects such as floating particles, bubbles, and ripples on the surface of an aquarium - whether they were actually done or added digitally?-

Piotr Chmielewski: Oh. We used a lot to create the effect of water – plastic foil, gel, transparent clay, transparent raisins, glycerin and even crystals from old Czech lamps. For example, ripples on the surface of water are made by photographing compressed air on a glass covered with a layer of glycerin. It creates a circle of ripples for a few seconds - enough time to take a picture. We tried to do everything using stop-motion technology, but some effects with the help of a computer, especially during underwater shots, we created a transparent filter to put in front of the camera, which created a stop-motion effect of underwater morphing. But in the end, we were too scared to use it. It is very difficult to control this transparent filter, so we decided that the risk was too high. In addition to that, sometimes it gives a strange reflection. So we asked cgi specialist Jacek Mazur to help with the underwater effect, and he did a great job,

about this story and concept, what was it that forced me to connect with you and direct the film?-

I would like to make some short movies that tell stories from the perspective of animals. For me, it's a powerful way of building empathy for other beings, and stop-motion puppet animation gives life to such a concept I was gathering the idea of a movie, and I came across an Internet joke that, from the lobster point of view, the sinking of the Titanic was a miracle. Well I could not resist the script possibilities that this concept had.

What did you learn through the experience of making this film, production wise, filmmaking wise, creative, or about the subject-

My God, I learned a lot. This was my debut; The first time he worked as a director on a professional set, and when he had the privilege of working with a group of such talented and experienced artists. I learned how important relationships are in directing a film. I learned to trust my heart a little more. I learned what you can do with hot glue.

Can you explain how you developed a visual approach to cinema - why did you settle for this style/technique-

I discovered the paper mash technique at a Primanima workshop with Peter Vacz and Joseph Wallace in 2017. The elements of almost every scene - dolls and crabs - have this rough paper mash structure that I really like.

The scenes in our film were made on a 1:1 scale. Initially, we found this direction a bit risky, but our performing artists Krzysztofwierzbowski and Iza Ambroziak did a great job and managed to build a full-size ship kitchen We tried to use historical references. For example, a button on a stove in the kitchen or in the chef's uniform is an exact replica of an object from a white starline ship.