The Ogre & the Mermaid - thanks to my crew and others who lent their time and energy.

The Ogre & the Mermaid_10 min from Christopher Magee on Vimeo.

The short version of the film (10 minutes), hiding in plain sight. This 10-minute version was made to increase the possibility of festival acceptance, as it is probably easier to program. Very competitive these days.



main_2017_05_29 from Christopher Magee on Vimeo.

The long version of the film (15 minutes). Cutting this version down, with thanks to Karl Staven, Lowell Boston, and Bob Lee for providing me with their edit suggestions, was very educational. I learned, in a short time after looking at the ways they cut down on the storytelling fat, a bit about economy in the service of moving a story forward. Valuable lesson. But getting to the point of receiving truly impactful critical feedback took a long time. I will be looking in the future to create more opportunities to gain from informed outside perspectives. We're all connected. Don't be afraid to ask for help.

Thanks to everyone who worked on the film. Hopefully you will reap some benefit from its completion - I am crossing my fingers on your behalf, looking at at least one year of focused festival submissions. Thanks in particular to Janelle Smith, who worked tirelessly on it for(ever), or what must have seemed like it, and whose line work became magically indistinguishable from my own, and Ellen Marcus, whose professionalism, efficiency, and beautiful background colors and textures are a critical component of the film's visual aesthetic. Thanks also to Tetsuya Hori, whose contribution, though we never met in person, was also extremely important - the abstract, textured, and percussive nature of the music he created helps push the the film toward an artward, rather than cartoon-oriented, direction. Just what I was looking for.

Thanks to Bob Lee, who contributed music and the afore-mentioned editing acumen. We had fun creating "star music" - that sequence remains in the director's cut. Good memories of recording with Anders Hansen on flute, me and Bob plucking the bridge and headstock sections of string on a single guitar for our celestial mimicry.

Thanks to local artists, and interns and non-student interns:

Artists from beyond UArts:
Natalia Caballero (Arcadia University)
Gabrielle Patterson (University of Pennsylvania)

UArts student interns:
Fall 2012-Spring 2013
Amanda Bautista: assistant animator
Shannon Connor: assistant animator
Matt Gemino: colorist (blog)
Giselle Rosser: assistant animator

Fall 2013
Grant Ervin: colorist
Meghan Loeb: colorist
Evan Maron: colorist
Garion McCauley: colorist
Mark Pappajohn: colorist
Nishant Thelakkat: colorist, assistant animator

Spring 2014
Tim Albany: colorist
Natalia Caballero: colorist, special effects animator 
Ginelle Joseph: colorist
James McMullen: colorist
Ra'shon Sanders: colorist
Jun Hee Kim: test composer for Sequence 4

Summer-Fall 2014
Tahirah Pryor: colorist

Motion Heads initial team (in addition to Janelle):
Jessica Barnett (UArts Animation alum)
Maya Flemming (UArts Animation alum)
Eric Nielsen (independent artist/animator)

Special thanks to:

Daniel McGowan: composer on initial iterations of the film, my friend in music
Marie Huard: for her unwavering support and encouragement
My family: for their belief in my capacities
Kahuna the cat: my soul brother