Staff Pick Premiere: "O Black Hole!" The song was written by Renee Zhan |

Mar 23, 2022

Ever wondered the process by which a black hole gets formed? It's this episode's Staff Pick Premiere, "O Black Hole!" composed by Renee Zhan is an epically massive and core-belief shifting musical, which captures one of the most mysterious creatures that inhabit our world through color, clay as well as song. The mystery of the beginnings of the black hole -- and the conclusion -was created by Zhan during an era filled with fantastic imagination and originality.

In order to protect and keep the beauty surrounding her, a gorgeous young Eve-like girl takes the bold decision to devour everything she finds appealing. Consuming everything quickly and in a chaotic manner at a rapid and chaotic way, the speed her actions creates creates a black hole that everything is a prisoner. The swarm devours the seasons, planets in addition to humans and moons in a bid to make them immortal. After waking up in the black hole that is cavernous, the protagonist known as the "Singularity" is confronted by beings that need help. They want her to walk beyond the black hole, and convince its creator to allow its prisoners to be treated as they're meant to be and even for the entire universe in the way we see it will cease to exist.

"O The Black Hole!" is a parable about not being a slave to your passions too much. The vivid paintings as well as the imagery made of clay provide a number of images about embracing the fleeting and accepting the inevitability of ending your life.

     There's plenty about the film's process and its storyline; we were lucky enough to talk with its director and animator, Renee Zhan, to answer all the concerns we had about it. Learn more about her answers:

Inspiring:

     "A majority of my films begin with one or two dominant images that I've created in my head. A while ago, I was drawing this woman with an incredibly dark charcoal mark where her face should be. I spent hours looking over the sketch and trying to figure out who that she looked like. After a while, it was evident that the head of her was an empty black hole.

The film is that focused on a woman who is so concerned about the passing of time that she crams everything and person she loves inside her body to ensure their safety for the rest of her life.

     She absorbs the whole universe until eventually, she's just dancing on her own in circles.    

"The black hole moves in counterclockwise circles because she's in conflict with Time And then when Singularity saves the various inhabitants of the dark hole, the hole will turn clockwise again to complete the natural cycles of the Universe. Then they begin again. "

On using 3D and 2D methods:

     "I've always been a fan of multi-media film and love using visceral texture and conventional mediums. I thought that the story of the dark hole really fit the contrasting media of 2D and 3D.

     The outside of the black space, in which it is possible to observe time, is depicted in 2D using pencil or charcoal, watercolors and oil paint, because it is ephemeral, fleeting. In the black hole all that it's been able to absorb and make permanent, is a 3D solid.

     In the moment that Singularity is moving through the black hole until the very top of the black hole the walls of black holes start to become more liquid as if the grasp of the black hole becomes less secure there. I was hoping that all media would flow into each the other and seamlessly transition from 2D to 3D, and back.

     It's crucial for me that I leave space for thinking and playing when making films, and to work the details to come up with the best ideas. The idea of creating the interior of a black hole is very appealing because no one knows what it will look like. The producer Richard Henley and I had the freedom to be totally imaginative. It was an opportunity to design a visually striking and intriguing world. We came up with the form of dark, twisted caves, reminiscent of liquids that became solid when they was put into the freezer. . "

On her original vision against. the final version

     "When we first started filming I wasn't sure how the project would end up. I had never worked on stop-motion before or created such a huge project.

In some ways , I felt disappointed in not being in a position to create exactly how I wanted it to look in head. My impression was that the animation was not good enough, and it appeared messy and filthy. This is odd because I like watching this kind of roughness and imperfection in movies made using stop-motion however , on my own I was so angry about it.

     Other ways I was astounded by the idea we came up with. The compositions by Harry Brokensha and epic sound design by Ed Rousseau were beyond what I ever could have imagined.

HTML0 Lore Lixenberg's incredible voice as Black Hole and Emmy the Great's pure tones in Singularity contributed so much to the work.

This is a fact. I'm extremely proud of the work we all made as a team. "

HTML1 The mythological themes and humanity that she writes about:

"I'm extremely interested in the mythology of creation that is prevalent across the globe. They raise existential issues for humans and attempt to address these questions through telling epic, exciting tales of dive-diving birds, eggs, or the nature spirits. Mythology often includes big epic tales of heroism and adventures and quests. I think it's all just an aspect of the human need to know the exact nature of the universe we live in.

It's possible that on a less intimate level that's what I try to do through my films. In my films, I'm always examining my own anxieties or fears or anxieties and other desires. In "O Black Hole! I had the idea of making it as a mythological contemporary tale of the creation. I wanted to develop films that contained personal philosophical questioning combined with the jolly tale of a journey movie that included a lush operatic score ."

On challenges faced during the film's creation

     "This was one of the hardest film that I've ever done. The creation of a stop-motion/2D 16-minute musical featuring a lead person who had a ridiculously long curly hair (that would melt midway through!) created on a tight deadline resulted in some pretty difficult months. It's very easy to talk about how difficult it was. The film is packed with many details for a short film. Really, I'm just happy to have had the privilege of making an amazing film and work alongside such a great team. I hope I'll get more chances similar to this one in the near future and keep making films with co-workers ! "

The lesson from 'O Black Hole! ':

"The final words of the film are 'O black hole, do not beg. We're dreams the universe has imagined. ...' The core idea of the movie is the power of change. A black hole girl is a sucker of the entire universe around her, because she's scared of change. The idea is that the process of change provides new meaning and life to the present.

     The film, I think attempts to convey that everything changes and die and new things come and flourish, and that's beautiful and normal. This is the message that viewers get. But to be honest I'm trying my best to convince you ! "

Her suggestions (or the absence of) to aspiring filmmakers:

     "Maybe take advice from your parents and become engineers instead. No, I'm kidding! Just kidding! It's hard to say however, I'm sure that I'm still a filmmaker in the making myself. It's possible that I'll be in need of some guidance also . "

What's next?

"I'm working on a live-action/animation hybrid horror-comedy short film with BBC Films. It's about a British Chinese violinist called Fei whose world turns around when she learns of the death that another violinist is equally gifted, namely Mei.

In addition, I'm developing an idea for a feature movie based on a religion which worships birds! "

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