"In a village that never knew sickness a boy is sent into the wilderness to find the cure to his illness. He returns from his great journey to a village that does not recognize him for the changes he has endured.
They have no way to cope with his transformation or understand the message he brings back from his great journey. The boy is expelled from the village and forced to lead the rest of his life in a secluded wilderness.
Until one day, much later, the village sends out a young warrior to find the Boy and bring him home. It is time. They are ready to hear his story.
Are you ready to hear his story?"
Directed by: Billie Mintz
Written by: Billie Mintz, Jeffrey Stewart Timmins
Starring: Igor Vrabac
Country: Canada
Forms: Animation, Narrative Fiction, Short
Animation Techniques: 2D Computer, Animated Objects, Experimental, Ink on Paper, Paint on Paper, Puppets
The animation is done in a shadow puppet style. Jeff draws each section of the character and background, then it's placed in 3d space in after effects 6.5 and edited together in final cut pro. A lot of the mechanics and motion is based on kaliedescopes and internal clockworks of manual cameras.
For more information, as well as a conceptual trailer, see Billie Mintz' site.
Concept:
Surviving the Treatment: The Return of Myles McLellan is a documentary about a child with a brain tumour who returns to a community unable to accept him for the changes he has endured. Through storytelling, he is able to reconcile himself and his family as he goes to great lengths in order to share his experience with his community.
In many ancient cultures, storytelling was as essential to communities as science and art. Storytelling enlightens the world around us as well as the world within us. Through storytelling, we can approach subjects that are beyond our understanding and gain insight to help us deal with them. Within a classical three-act story structure, there is always a three-step process, referred to in mythology and ancient cultures as the ‘Initiation’. In the first act, the hero is separated from everything he or she knows. In the second act, known as the great ordeal, the hero is forced to face death or hardship. In the third act, the transformed hero returns to his community with a new message. Members of the community then incorporate this new knowledge into their own lives.
Myles’ story relates to the director's previous fictional films, which centered on individuals who were socially marginalized. Storytelling allows us to approach subjects that can be difficult to understand and gives us insight into how to deal with them. Storytelling has been Mintz' method of communicating the need for understanding and acceptance. It is his goal as a filmmaker to incorporate storytelling back into the community as a tool for teaching people about our differences.
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