Edmonton International Film Festival 2019 – The Stained Club
Finn has stains on his body. One day, he meets a group of cool kids with different stains on their bodies. One day, he understands that these stains aren't just pretty.
Interview with Director/Writer Melanie Lopez and Animator/Editor Simon Boucly
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
ML: Thanks! It was our graduation movie. I presented the project during my 4th year, it got selected by the jury of teachers and we started producing it at the end of this same 4th year until the end of our 5th one.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
SB: Making this film, we wanted to talk about a specific subject but with a different-than-excepted approach. We spent a lot of time analyzing movies that inspire us and related to childhood, such as My Life as Zucchini or Where The Wild Things Are, trying to understand what makes them so unique and touching.
Along with the production of the film, we tried to stay focused on making decisions in coherence with the intentions and the story. Some were risky or unusual for a student movie (having dialogues for example, or not having a completely good or bad ending; all of this was hard to defend), so we hope all our efforts are worth a watch!
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?
SB: In the beginning, Melanie developed the script with the help of the teachers for six months.
Then, the team was created and we all worked on the first storyboard and animatic of the film along with the artistic parts (character design, modeling, texturing). We spent another 6 months adjusting the narrative part of the film (editing, framing...)
Summer passed (4th year to 5th year), and we realized that we weren't so happy with what we had. The feeling and the emotion that we wanted to communicate weren't there yet, and something was missing. At this point, the whole story was happening in a school, and it was made of forced elements we incorporated for people to completely understand.
With Melanie, with decided to redo everything, knowing we would then be late in the production. We put aside some elements of the movie to stay focused on the main subject of the film, which are the stains and the relationship between the kids. The junkyard appeared. Also, we wanted to let the audience make the film their own and do not explain everything so much: for example, by removing some explications about the stains.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
SB: Most of them are very touching. It's so interesting to see what people understand and how they interpret the film. We've had people talking us about handicap, grief, health problems... That's amazing.
Also, the film has been already used for educational purposes in school by teachers. It's probably the best reward for us!
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
ML: As said before, it was quite surprising to see how different the interpretation can be from one person to another. We wanted to talk about emotional pain during childhood... But it can take a lot of forms, so it's only normal people interpret it their way. If they can make it something personal, then we achieved what we wanted to.
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
ML: I hope it can open more discussions and awareness about this invisible and often silent pain children can carry, but also about emotional indifference from parents. It maybe does not look violent, but the consequences from it are.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
'What do the stains mean?' Every time!
What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?
ML: Personally, I'm trying to create a universe I could give a go as a short before trying to turn the story into something that could be a feature movie. I'm writing a few different things I'm imagining as different media and formats... I would love to try live-action movies, even if I already tried a bit of it as a student!
Interview: August 2019
We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series, music video, women's films, LGBTQIA+, POC, First Nations, scifi, supernatural, horror, world cinema. If you have just made a film - we'd love to hear from you. Or if you know a filmmaker - can you recommend us? More info: Carmela
The Stained Club
Finn has stains on his body. One day, he meets a group of cool kids with different stains on their bodies. One day, he understands that these stains aren't just pretty.
Length: 6:40
Director: Melanie Lopez
Producer: Supinfocom Rubika
Writer: Melanie Lopez
Key cast: Melanie Lopez (Director, Writer, Pre-production), Simon Boucly (Animation, Rig, Editing), Marie Ciesielski (Modeling, Texturing, Rendering), Alice Jaunet (Modeling, Texturing, Shading), Chan-Stéphie Peang (Modeling, Animation, Blendshapes), Beatrice Viguier (Prod Management, VFX, TD)
Looking for: journalists, film festival directors, buyers
Facebook: The Stained Club
Instagram: @thestainedclub
Hashtags used: #cgi, #animation, #childhood, #drama, #supinfocom, #student film
Website: www.thestainedclub-shortfilm.com
Where can I watch it next and in the coming month? Krok (Russia), Edmonton (Canada), FIFF (Namur), In the palace (Vamur)... We have a great list we can send you by email if you prefer.