Jeff Kim:
I had several half-baked ideas floating in my head for some time before really settling down to begin creating the film. Since the project was supposed to be one minute or less, and I was adamant about keeping it under one minute, I had to choose an idea that would work for that seemingly short amount of time. Yet, I wanted to communicate some kind of message for the audience to take from the piece.

After pitching a few, more honed ideas to my mentor and classmates, I settled on the story of the arrogant man trying to woo a woman sitting in the passenger plane (yes, it was originally supposed to be a modern day passenger plane rather than an old pre Depression-era train). This idea was one of my last story ideas pitched, but I believed it had the most potential, because I saw this kind of stuff all the time in San Francisco, especially on my long commutes to and from work. Every person can relate to being rejected, sticking his or her foot in his mouth, and unfortunately, subconsciously stereotyping other people. I've been on the other end many times in my life -- looking very different from others in my neighborhood and school, not as tall, strong, etc. -- so I still have a lot of sensitivity to being at the other end of stereotypes. Yet it is the hero of the film who is thinking, "Oh come on, that chubby guy can't possibly have a chance with this woman," so the audience needed to identify with being the stereotyper. And this all had to be done in a light, funny way; it is a cartoon after all. But to this day, I feel I may have focused too much on the lightness of the situation, and the actual meaning may have been lost.

As to why I switched the setting from a modern plane to an old train, it was purely for practical purposes. I was so adamant about not having any dialogue for this film, and when I pitched it to my mentor, Bret Parker, she was concerned about having it be "overpantomimed," which would actually draw attention to the fact that there was no speaking.  The part where the hero finds out that the chubby man is her husband is where actual dialogue would have made it so much clearer to the viewer.  It could have been done through silent acting, but I knew I was not at the skill level to pull that off.

So I kept thinking, "How can I solve this problem?" A logical solution was to use intertitles, or dialogue cards, but I knew that would not work at all for this modern day setting. I talked to my co-worker, who was also a student at Animation Mentor, and he said, "Dude ... just have it be an old stage coach or trolley or something." I thought about it for about 20 seconds and I felt my face light up and head getting lighter. And it was from that moment on that I felt really passionate about this film again, while kicking myself for not thinking of this before.

Jeff Kim:
It's been said a lot of times in prior Short Film interviews about how important it is to get constant feedback. I mean, without asking for feedback, I never would have decided to use the old period setting like I have now. But on the flip side, I've also learned how important it is to stick to my own ideas, because only I knew what I truly wanted to communicate with this film.

If you watch the Layout animation for this film, you can see I've proposed two different endings, the alternative being something a good friend of mine proposed. I did this even after the storyboard had been approved, but I was still open to other ideas for the ending. I passed both versions along to a lot of people, to take a poll as to which ending I should use. And to my surprise, it was always 50/50: it got to the point where six liked the original ending, six liked the alternative ending. Both sides wouldn't budge. Eventually I decided on the original ending because the mentor (who is also like the director) preferred the original one, and her decision also confirmed my original idea.

Another equally important thing I've learned from this experience is the value of patience and the belief in oneself. I know it can sound cheesy, but the planning phase in creating a story can be mentally and even emotionally draining; it can really test your belief that you are a creative person. You also have to remember that this film can reveal to everyone who you are, what you find funny, how you view the world, and what you care about.  It can be difficult to sift through the different ideas and suggestions from other people that you don't always agree with.  In the end, I had to remember that this is all for entertainment – it absolutely needed to be entertaining.  So I've learned that completing a film definitely requires a lot of patience and the belief in oneself.

Jeff Kim:
Six months -- three months (Class 5) of preproduction and three months (Class 6) of animating. I was absolutely determined to finishing it on time and realized that a one minute film is not so short after all! Of course, I saw that no film can actually be "finished," so I must confess that I did a lot more tweaking here and there than I'd like to admit, hehe.

Jeff Kim:
Planning didn't only make the process easier; it actually is where it all happened. It took about 3 months to plan this all out, not including the weeks before Class 5 when it was just an inkling of an idea waiting to be paid attention to. It was like being in a puppy pound, where all those small ideas were in their little areas and I chose this one to take home.

On my long commutes to and from work, I would just play it out in my head over and over, thinking that the main character was actually there on the bus with me. All over downtown I would see "that guy" and I would imagine how he would be if he was that character model Murdock that Animation Mentor provided. The funny thing is, I actually did find "that guy" who even looked like Murdock and sort of acted like the hero of my film. If you think and imagine hard enough, it can actually materialize. Literally. I still meet him at gatherings and such periodically, and of course he still has no idea that he is the central character of my film.

Anyway, I would say that roughly 80% of the time spent planning was all in my head and imagination, just absorbing and letting the ideas drift and settle.

Jeff Kim:
When I thumbnail, I am just very disorganized: I doodle or sketch anywhere, like a notepad sitting on my workdesk, or on Post-Its, etc. I just prefer it that way but I know I need to be more disciplined with this kind of stuff.

When I sat down to draw out the animatic, I already had what I thought were clear ideas and camera angles. But as I struggled to sketch (or more like to doodle in my case), I realized that it's not as clear when you see it on paper. Many times, what I had in my head just did not look "right" on paper. However, I immensely enjoyed this part of the process and it inspired me to look into this a lot more later on in my career. It also gave me a whole new appreciation and admiration for the pre-production process.

Jeff Kim:
In addition to the dialogue vs. pantomime issue I faced earlier, once I started to animate, I sometimes felt I dug myself into a hole. I knew I wanted to try a bit more cartoony approach, unlike the earlier Animation Mentor assignments where I decided to stay more "realistic." And since this was the final project at the school, I felt it was my last chance to do something more cartoony under the direction of a mentor. I guess the only solution was to "just do it”-- just keep playing, experimenting, allow mistakes and see how far you can go. There's a lot of stuff I have never attempted before: a peppy/cocky walk, a chubby man's walk, a chubby man's jog, kissing a hand, etc. Those were all opportunities to try new things.

One part that I really had to take out was the hero's cane. I really wanted him to have a cane as an extension of his character, like Charlie Chaplin. However, I knew it would give me technical nightmares, and had to make a judgment call on whether it was worth the risk, because if I could not get it right, it would have looked really bad. So instead of Chaplin (who was too much "Chaplin-esque" if that makes any sense), I started to look at Cab Calloway and Fred Astaire to draw inspiration.

Jeff Kim:
All of the previous classes had led up to this short film. All the fundamentals, the mechanics, and the acting was preparation for this piece – the final showcase for your abilities at the time. Doing a short film was the ever present reminder of why I wanted to animate in the first place – to tell stories, to express my thoughts, desires, and to share my view of the world in a very small way. That's all I can do for now, but it feels so good. It's easy to lose focus on the bigger picture. When you are focusing so much on the craft of animation, sometimes you lose yourself and forget occasionally that the reason for animation is to entertain. But I also really believe there needs to be a message within entertainment, whatever the medium. The craft of animation is only part of the art of animation, and doing a short film was the most effective and productive way to appreciate the whole art form.

To this day I still can't believe I actually finished a short film. I look back on it, and sure there are many areas where it needs improvement. However, this experience gave me something tangible to look back on, a huge milestone in my very early career as an animator. And even just as important is how this experience gave me the confidence to continue forward, to keep challenging myself and to enjoy the journey. To top it all off, Animation Mentor provided the community and the feeling that we are all in this together.  Not just with the Animation Mentor community, but with anyone who has the passion and the heart for animation.