Please contact us
with corrections
or breaking news
Young Animator Does Old Testament by Karl Cohen
The suffering soul in 'Psalm 90'. image: courtesy C. Corriea
“PSALM 90” (2013), BY CHARLES CORRIEA IS
a cinematic poem about a person with a terminal illness who offers a prayer to live another day. Corriea’s animation features moments of animation that are at times reminiscent of the giant explosive images seen in Franz Kline’s abstract expressionist paintings from the 1950s and ‘60s. I found it a meaningful and moving experience, a powerful and memorable work of art.
Charlie told me that several months ago a producer approached him about creating something, but he wasn’t told what it might be.
“Then two months ago the producer told me about a project he thought I would be good for. He had loved my film 'Fu-de' (The Brush), so he asked me to work in watercolor again. After hearing the audio we came up with a series of visuals that would work with the voice track."
Corriea at work on 'Psalm 90' which was painted on 3"x5" cards. image: courtesy C. Corriea
"We agreed that the words where so powerful that they needed to take center stage, so I made my paintings minimalist and lacking a lot of detail. I relied on the natural texture indicative to the medium."
"After over two months of making watercolor and Sumi paintings on index cards my project for The Center for Jewish Literacy was finally complete. It seems to have paid off nicely!”
He later said he painted most of the art on the blank side of index cards and used the lines on the other side to maintain the registration of his images. “I could just line up the lines with the aid of a light box. Using small cards cut down the amount of time it took to do one frame of art."
"I took full advantage of the textures that are created from water marks that you can only see in water color paintings close up. Additionally I did some animation in Flash and later layered and re-timed everything using After Effects.”
He also shot footage of himself working on the film for a possible 'making of' piece about the project for his website. Charlie explained that while the film can be considered as a "religion based work," he is not a religious person.
He is however, a student of Zen Buddhism. “As such I have committed myself to not creating work that perpetuates hate or violence. Since this work deals with healing and actually questions the motivation of a supreme being, I thought it fitting use of my skills.”
The protagonist's residence in 'Psalm 90'. image: courtesy C. Corriea
The producer of the project was Jeremy Shuback of Studio G-dcast, a media developer dedicated to the telling of Jewish stories. Sarah Lefton is the producer of the series while the film was funded though The Center for Jewish Literacy, the Koret Foundation and by other institutions.
Charlie graduated in 2010 from SF State’s animation program. His first film, “Fu-De (The Brush)”, 2010, received a Princess Grace Award and other festival honors. He has done commercial animation for Google and other clients, see his excellent demo reel. One of our youngest animators, Corrriea is a talent to be watched.
Karl Cohen is an animator, educator and director of the local chapter of the International Animation Society and can be reached .