“I have the feeling that I didn't make it by myself, but that I was conducted by feelings that were completely different from those in my previous work. When I start making a film I don't know what I'm doing.” KnowsDifferentFeelingsFilmPrevious Work Author:Alex Abreu
“Making a film from the point of view of a young boy's eyes opened the door to another universe with lots of freedom and to explore a new dimension. This was achieved as I started doing things that were close to what exists in a child's universe.” ChildrenEyeFilmYoungUniverseViewsBoysDoorsPoint Of ViewDimensions Author:Alex Abreu
“I built the film [Boy and the World] this way. I gathered all the tools I usually use such as brushes, color pencils, crayons, watercolors, and everything else I found in my studio, and I put them on top of a table. I had this feeling of freedom and possibility like if I was this boy. I was using the boy's freedom to create this film.” IfsWorldWayUseFeelingsFilmFoundBoysPossibilityColorBuiltToolsTablesStudiosBrushesPencilsCrayonWatercolors Author:Alex Abreu
“From what type of software could help us make a movie faster to everything else regarding the textures. Some might think, "It's probably very easy to make a film with those textures," but it's much more difficult than what it appears to be. We had to discover a faster process because otherwise it could have taken us 10 years to make it.” ThinkingYearsHelpingMightFilmEasyProcessDifficultTakenTypeFasterSoftwareTexture Author:Alex Abreu
“That was a very natural process because as I was creating the animatic I added music clips as reference of the kind of music I wanted in the film. These were from musicians like Naná Vasconcelos and Barbatuques, the body percussion group.” KindBodyWantedFilmProcessNaturalGroupsCreatingMusicianClipPercussionNans Author:Alex Abreu
“If I have a blank piece of paper and I draw a red figure, immediately this brings sounds and shapes to my mind. I tried to make a film in which every component supports the others while giving each other space and stimulating the creation of what's yet to come.” IfsGivingMindFilmSoundSpaceSupportPiecesFiguresCreationShapesPaperDrawsRedBlankComponents Author:Alex Abreu
“"Airgela" is "Alegria" backwards and "Alegria" means "Joy" or "Happiness." This is a fundamental word in this film. It's very important. Symbolically "Alegria" is crucial word in the creation of this project. Although it wasn't present from the beginning, as we were working on the music it became symbolic.” MeanImportantFilmJoyCreationProjectsFundamentalsCrucialBackwardsSymbolic Author:Alex Abreu
“We discovered this halfway through the process. When we started making the film there were some lines of dialogue in Portuguese, but we then changed our minds. The film started from very specific issues in the world, in particular Latin America, but halfway through the journey we felt the necessity to have more universal ideas that were not so specific.” WorldMindIdeasAmericaFilmFeltProcessLinesIssuesJourneyChangedParticularUniversalDialogueLatinHalfwayLatin AmericaPortuguese Author:Alex Abreu
“The world's geography is not realistic. Geography is not real. Borders are only closed to people but they are open to products. There is another type of geography outside of this matrix. Because of this we noticed we were talking about much more than just Latin America. That was very important to put the film on another level. Based on this idea, we knew that we were not in this world any longer.” PeopleWorldImportantIdeasRealAmericaFilmLevelsTalkingThis WorldProductsTypeBordersLatinRealisticGeographyLatin America Author:Alex Abreu
“We were in another planet and we were reaching for something closer to a fable. It was something fabulous. I started looking at the film as if it happened in another planet and that allowed me even more freedom.” IfsFilmHappenedPlanetsReachingFabulousFables Author:Alex Abreu
“Looking through a child's eyes and knowing this was another planet, we decided to design the machines with eyes and bodies like animals, we also decided that this planet has two moons, and we decided that anything else we wanted to do was allowed. It was a new perspective to make the film.” ChildrenTwoBodyEyeWantedFilmAnimalKnowingDesignPlanetsPerspectiveMoonDecidedMachinesNew Perspective Author:Alex Abreu
“On another level this film talks about that. We had tremendous freedom while making this film. We never thought about marketing. It wasn't a film made to sell merchandise or products or to reach millions of people around the world. It was a film made to say what I really felt.” PeopleWorldMadeFilmFeltLevelsMillionsProductsSellsMarketingAround The WorldMerchandise Author:Alex Abreu
“It's a film made in a very radical creative manner. It was possible because we didn't have to pander to capitalism. I think the film is also a humanistic cry for help for animation. It's a film [Boy and the World] with sensitivities completely opposite to what the market wants to sell.” ThinkingWorldWantMadeHelpingFilmBoysCreativeCryCapitalismOppositesSellsRadicalSensitivityAnimationHumanistic Author:Alex Abreu
“The film [Boy and the World]gave me the possibility to create a new language. Animation is a very rich medium but hasn't fully been exploited by artists. Often artists are trapped by words.” WorldFilmArtistLanguageBoysRichPossibilityMediumsTrappedAnimation Author:Alex Abreu
“Films are born from screenplays and they are guided by words. They are born very limited and there is no space for real creation: graphic creation, pictorial creation, or audiovisual creation. If we really want to use the art of animation with all its strength, we have to rethink the processes by which it's made because the medium is the message.” IfsWantArtMadeRealUseFilmProcessBornSpaceCreationMessagesMediumsAnimationGraphicScreenplaysPictorial Author:Alex Abreu
“The way a film is made tells you about its message. The processes are the same as the products. We made the film starting from processes that allowed us to find these complex ideas.” WayMadeIdeasFilmProcessProductsMessagesComplexesStarting Author:Alex Abreu
“Director and producers have to take all the risks they can. We developed this film with the possibility to create departing from a blank page and to discover things as the process went along and as we understood the things that at first we couldn't understand in words.” FirstsFilmProcessRiskPossibilityDirectorsPagesUnderstoodProducersBlankBlank PagesDeparting Author:Alex Abreu
“Each film has its processes. It doesn't mean that all animated films have to be like "Boy and the World," but creators have to have total freedom. There are films that are born with the purpose to sell. They are still admirable films with great artists and great visuals, but we wanted to use a more radical approach to create art. That's what we tried to do.” WorldMeanArtStillsUseWantedFilmPurposeArtistProcessBornBoysApproachSellsCreatorRadicalVisualsGreat ArtAnimatedAdmirableGreat ArtistAnimated Films Author:Alex Abreu
“During the entire process of making this film I never thought about whom I was making it for. I always thought that the film was for me, but I didn't think of any of that. I just did what I thought I had to do. I didn't think, "This is what children are going to think" or "This is what adults will understand."” ThinkingChildrenFilmProcessAdults Author:Alex Abreu
“At the end of the process we called a market research company to find out whom the film was for or what was the target audience. We didn't have a lot of money to release the film, so in order for it to play in cinemas, which are dominated by films with much larger marketing budgets, we had to discover whom the film was for.” EndsPlayFilmOrderProcessCompanyAudienceResearchMarketingReleaseBudgetsCinemaTargetLots Of MoneyMarket ResearchTarget Audience Author:Alex Abreu
