Jul 19, 2013

Michel Gagné discusses his new short film "The Saga of Rex"

Adapted from the graphic novel of the same name, the film follows the daring space adventures of a clever fox kidnapped to the arcane planet Edelnia.

The story originally appeared in volumes 2-7 of the comic anthology Flight, and was later repackaged as a trade paperback by Image Comics in 2010. The four-minute short was funded last year on Kickstarter with over $57,000 raised and will be the first of Gagné's planned classically-drawn independent animated feature films. I'd like to believe that there are still people out there who want to see some good old 2D classic animation," said Gagné. I know my major donors love this kind of animation and want to see it continue, and we can't rely on the big studios to keep the art of 2D full animation alive."

His 1995 film Prelude to Eden was created using the now-defunct 2D animation software Animo, which was his "go-to" until 2012, when he began looking for updates. He tried Toon Boom and was pleased with the results. "I quickly realized that I had upgraded my old Model T Ford to Car of the Year," he said. So, with Toon Boom in hand, along with Photoshop, After Affects, and Premiere, Gagné decided to see how far he could progress "Saga of Rex" for the screen. I wanted to test my limits and see what I could do on my own within a certain time frame," he said. What you see here is about six and a half months of work.

Subtitled The Animated Film Project Pt. 1 - Abduction, the short film is animated in pantomime, which is also Gagné's intention for the film as a whole. I thought about adding narration, but then I realized that it would take away from the mystery," Gagné said. In a way, I don't want people to fully understand what's going on. I want them to ask questions and create their own meaning."