Karni + Saul Talk

"Karni and Saul are a couple and a creative team who have just joined Aardman Animations as Commercials Directors.  Saul is originally an animator/director, and Karni a photographer/director.  They started working together in 2004 after the video department at Virgin Records saw potential in some 10” films they made for showstudio.com. The films were based round the idea of flip book animation and were a natural evolution from their individual occupation bringing photography to movement or the other way around. They developed these into the three minute music video/film and then have gone onto make longer shorts, including the BAFTA nominated Turning, and Flytopia. Karni and Saul see their films like little stories, short cuts around a certain narrative where, influenced by their photography background, framing, beauty, crops, lighting are all very important. They like to call their work “breathing stills”."

On Wednesday, I received an email inviting me to a practitioner talk by filmmaking couple Karni and Saul. Both born in Israel, they met in college and wanted to become art teachers. Saul ended up becoming a self-taught animator, while Karni changed schools to study photography. They both ended up in England and met up again while working for Nick Knight's ShowStudio. This came about after Karni, who was struggling for money, was influenced by Nick Knight's interactive shop window installation. The finished product was uploaded to Showreel, and from there Knight commissioned a short. 

In terms of equipment, the couple use DSLR to film moving image for their stop-motion work as they found with the flexibility of lenses, the work was better quality than if they filmed with a camcorder. Camcorders are too low-resolution to make stop motion from due to the file format. Saul animates the films himself and tries to make any CG (computer generated) work look as photo-real as possible. However, due to Karni's photography background, she sees it as more important than animation in terms of filmmaking. 

Karni and Saul like to shoot on film as it has a good result, however it limits the filmmaker experimenting due to the cost. Karni believes playing is underrated as it is where you "find the magic". The couple read biographies of directors to inspire them to be playful. 

The couple think that a written script is not as important as you may think it is when pitching an idea. For their first pitch, they submitted a storyboard as they didn't know how to write a script. The idea that they were pitching included little dialogue so it was also beneficial to submit a storyboard instead of a script. 

It took a long time for the couple to get into films from commercial videos and music videos. They believe that critiques are essential to improving your work, and to not submit work that is similar or includes similar styles and techniques to what is popular, as it makes you stand out and is favourable. They said that film isn't about being like, but it's about being brave as it gains respect. 

Saul encourages filmmakers to challenge narrative and storytelling. He says it is easy when watching films to tell who has been to film school, as they are taught how to make films. Saul tells film students to disregard what they have been taught in film school and to find and keep their original style and look.  

The couple have made two short films. The first, Turning, is ten minutes long and was commissioned by the BBC.  The synopsis from the BBC website reads:

"On his sixth birthday, Robert receives three beautiful old ladies in his mother's sitting room. Through his eyes, we visit the memory of this afternoon, visualised with the free spirited imagination of childhood, naive yet wonderfully dark. Ladies appear like birds, a gift scuttles across the floor, blue icing is nibbled from a magical cake, tea is sipped, lacy slips shifted, and between knobbly knees strange visions appear. The ladies weave an extraordinary tale of an emperor with no skin, and the boy himself, older and wiser, adds the finale... with a tail."

They call Turning a "naive, soft fairytale with a dark side". At that point, they had read the Will Self short-story Flytopia, but felt that it was too raw for a first film. Turning was nominated for a BAFTA.

"We stumbled across the fantastic short story by  Lynda Sexson  in a murakami-edited collection called "Birthday Stories". 

And we immediately fell in love with the mix of wild imagination, crazy narrative structure and the magic of its world.. dealings with age/skin/beauty/sexuality and childhood.

It was shot over a week in Bristol with a fantastic crew cast and team!! great fun!!! the rest is history. we are very proud of our very first short. its now toured more than 12 film festivals around the world and is still going.... and the BAFTA nomination was fantastic,  we actually had to buy Saul his first suit .  p.s. got to kiss Tim Burton hooray!!..."

Flytopia was the couple's second short film, based upon the Will Self short-story featured in his book Tough, Tough Toys For Tough, Tough Boys. It is 20 minutes long and was commissioned by Film4. 

"A dark fantastical tale in which a man enters into a pact  with all the insect inhabitants of his rural cottage. 

dripping with honey, sex, flies, meat... 

and a very sticky end"

They shot on location in Hungary and used the location and Hungarian crew to push themselves. The short was shot over the space of a week, but Karni and Saul commented that they could have possibly done with an extra week. Their Director of Photography had worked previously on feature films. The majority of the insects were computer generated - Saul estimated 95% - and post-production lasted for 12 months. One component of the film was making madness to be a "good place".

Flytopia was shown at the Encounters Festival in Bristol, however it is not a premiere as it cannot be a premiere in your home city. Will Self was nor involved in the making of the film, however, he gave the film good feedback, calling it a "mistresspiece". Karni and Saul are now collaborating on writing a feature film with Will Self. 

The couple have filmed music videos for Flogging Molly, and also Joanna Newsom. The Newsom video for her song "Good Intentions Paving Company" was banned due to her being "too sexualised", although she had asked for a Rihanna-style music video. 

Karni and Saul say that they are still developing their style, but believe a crossover of mediums is crucial to bringing something to life. Karni said:

"If anyone feels anything while watching something I've made, I'll be happy."