production
notes
originally
shot on 16mm,
'the
three of us'
is a collaboration between benjamin
goldman and
nirvan mullick
that started in 1999, just two weeks after the
two met at calarts.
the film began as an experimental improvisation scheduled to last
two weeks. after working together for a year on the project, benjamin
and nirvan went
separate ways to make their individual thesis films. three years later,
after graduation, they finally found time to get back together and
finish 'the three of us.' the 16mm footage was transfered to high-definition,
put on hard drives for editing purposes, and then blown up to 35mm
by fotokem. post sound was completed
by
danetracks.
______________________________________________________________________________________
screening
history*
AFI
FEST 2003
SLAMDANCE
2004
CINEQUEST
2004
FLORIDA
FILM FESTIVAL
SONOMA
VALLEY FILM FESTIVAL
INDEPENDENT
FILM FESTIVAL OF BOSTON
Screened
with SLAMDANCE at The Egyptian in Hollywood, CA.
*
to give an independent animated short film life takes a great deal
of effort. the labor does not end when the film is complete; film
festival submissions and print traffic take a great deal of time and
effort. unfortunately, we have had to end the festival run of this
short film indefinately in order to bring other projects to life.
festivals and venues interested in screening 'the three of us' are
still invited to contact us, but you will need to assume full responsibility
for print traffic.
______________________________________________________________________________________
ben harper music notes
music
and animation can often go well together. in some cases, they can
even inspire one another. such is the case with 'the three of us'
which was very much inspired by the ben harper instrumental song that
begins and ends the film: 'number three' from 'the
will to live.'
The
film, which began as an improv, eventually found its poetic tone,
structure, and even narrative from the feelings evoked by ben harper's
beautifully haunting melody.
shortly
after benjamin and nirvan decided to spontaneously make a film together,
they first settled on the character- they chose a conjoined doodle
from one of nirvan's old sketchbooks. then they decided to try and
find a piece of music to help give them something to animate to. when
they listened to ben harper's instrumental 'number three' they immediately
chose it; not only was it short, but it also seemed to express something
wordless, but inherent to the character. as they began putting the
pieces together, they listened to the song repeatedly and a story
began to form. eventually, they created an animatic with timing very
motivated by the musical beats.
they
even titled the film 'the three of us' because they initially thought
that that was the name of ben harper's song. later they learned the
song was in fact called 'number three!' 'the three of us' is actually
the name of a different instrumental ben harper song from his earlier
album 'welcome to the cruel world.' still, the name stuck, and it's
tone became the story.
once
completed, nirvan (a long time ben harper fan) sent the film to ben
harper's label. they loved the film and gave nirvan and benjamin a
very rare gratis use of ben harper's song for film festival use.
