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A Masterful Loop Erick Oh unveils Opera, a stunning and ambitious new short about the human condition.
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alifornia-based, Korean filmmaker and painter Erick Oh is best known in the animation world for his award-winning shorts (Heart, How to Eat Your Apple, The Dam Keeper, Gunther), his work on Pixar movies such as Finding Dory, Inside Out, Monsters The Human Condition: Erick Oh’s powerful short consists of a day and U n i v e r s i - night cycle that can be played on an ty and Brave and infinite loop. the Tonko House series Pig: The Dam Keeper Poems. This fall, he which he refers to as “all talented artists and launched a hugely ambitious short titled Op- friends who are playing significant roles in era, which has been getting a lot of festival the industry.” They used TVPaint Animation Pro attention. The nine-minute film, which con- to animate, Photoshop to design and paint sists of a day and night cycle that can be and After Effects for the final composition of played on an infinite loop, will also be the the project, which played at the Hiroshima, Zacenter of a public installation exhibition in greb and Ottawa animation festivals. He says the feedback that he has received from his Seoul, Korea in early 2021. “I first came up with this core idea and mes- friends is that they all say they’ve never seen sage in the year of 2017, which was filled with anything like it before. so many iconic political moments in our recent human history around the world,” Oh tells An Expanding Universe us in an exclusive interview. “In January 2017, “Although the approach seems different Donald Trump became the president of the from my previous projects, I’m using one of my U.S. and a few ‘I wanted to expand and deepen the experience by creating a months later in March, the presiworld that reflects different parts and stories of our life. This dent Park Geunidea naturally led me to design a structure that captures every hye in Korea was detail of our everyday life in different classes.’ impeached. It — Director Erick Oh was, indeed, the year of chaos, and I had to tell a story that iconic black and white characters, which were documents this part of humanity which actu- introduced in some of my old films like How to ally has been repeating in human history nu- Eat Your Apple (2012), ‘O’ (2015) or animation merous times, in different forms and cul- poetry series on Instagram,” Oh points tures. This piece fearlessly touches upon out. “Which means, this still lives in the same diverse issues like racism, terrorism, religion, world and deals with some metaphors and natural disasters, war, education, economy and symbols I enjoy using, such as an apple, fish, more in different parts and classes in our so- clock, key, tree and so on. With those, I wanted ciety. And after all, everything continues loop- to expand and deepen the experience by creing eternally.” ating a world that reflects different parts and Oh collaborated with a team of 32 artists, stories of our life. This idea naturally led me to
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design a structure that captures every detail of our everyday life in different classes. In those structures and numerous different locations and levels, people live and survive, interacting with each other.” The director says he was deeply influenced by Hayao Miyazaki’s movies when he was very young. “Then I fell in love with Masaaki Yuasa’s unique, quirky sensibility, which definitely became a huge influence in my career,” he says. I also became a huge fan of Michaël Dudok de Wit — again, a huge influence in my art and life. I should mention some of the early Pixar movies like Toy Story, Ratatouille, WALL•E and more. My childhood was filled with Disney and Ghibli animations. I’ve been always dreaming about making animation since then. Even when I went to a fine art program in my college where I spent most of my time on painting, I somehow always knew that I’ll become a filmmaker one day. Then I made my first independent animated short all by myself in my room as my graduation project, and that whole experience certainly encouraged me to pursue animation.” Oh is a strong believer in using animation to express an artist’s personal voice. “Animation is a medium after all,” he says. “Which means, after all, what really matters is what you want to say through your animation. In other words, your own personal voice and vision is one of the most important qualities. It will define who you are as an artist and help you find your way to be successful with your goal eventually!” ◆ For more info, visit www.erickoh.com.
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