Going from a 100-page graphic novel, which can be easily read in about 25 minutes, to a more elaborate dreamscape, meant not only expanded supporting characters’ story arcs, but also significant changes on the stylistic front. “The biggest change was the color. The graphic novel is black-and white, line drawing, and is very minimalist. It’s almost like writing; it’s simple. We thought about making the film in black-and-white, but we felt we would be wasting the opportunity to use color. Color in the film is used in an absolutely expressive way; the color is not naturalistic at all. The sky is not blue, and the trees are not green. It’s all in a very limited chromatic color scheme that provides expressiveness,” says Vazquez about the decision to bring new hues to Birdboy’s dystopia.
Aside from redefining the palette, a significant amount of the production time was utilized in translating the handmade feel into this larger venture, and the only way to truly do that was to, obviously, do it by hand, as Rivero elucidates. “Something that was very important from Alberto’s artistic direction—that was also right in terms of budget and the look—was that we wanted to give the art an aesthetic that resembled illustrations. We want it to have that texture of illustrated books. That was worked on in the production design and the backgrounds, so that there wouldn’t be any dissonance, like it exists many times in movies where characters are finished with very flat and electronic color, while the background is much more pictorial—like in old Disney movies.”
To avoid that dissonance and so that there would be more integration between the figure and the background, they had to apply a texture that wasn’t electronic. “We wanted to see the brush strokes. You still can’t program brush strokes,” he continues. Once they had committed to going this laborious route, the co-directors discover that not many of the most venerated animators working today put themselves is the strenuous position of adding details and a palpable finish to their work. For a piece of Birdboy’s scale, it was a significant advantage.
“It was curious because we realized that what we were trying to do, the majority of the films that we love and admire, don’t dare to do it because it’s a lot of work to texture by hand. If you see a film by Miyazaki, he doesn’t do that shading in the characters throughout the whole movie. We were crazy doing it in every sequence. Maybe we gave ourselves a very tall order in that sense, but we were also aware that the film was small, and we had to do everything possible so that it turned out as best as possible with what we had,” concludes Rivero.
Repurposing limitations into assets is the mantra that carry Vazquez and Rivero from the moment back in 2008 when they first envisioned turning pages into cinema, to stateside release of the film this month—a major landmark for their shared ambition. Musing on his appreciation for his debut feature, now two years after its completion, Vazquez indicates he has made peace with both was satisfying and what he wishes could have been more successful. There is pride in his words for sure.
Feedback wasn’t always as flattering as it is today now that the film has proven its infinite worth. Given its tone, there plenty of voices that doubted it could be accomplished. “There were a lot of people that told us, ‘It’s not going to work. Why are you trying to do that?’ In the end we achieved it. It’s very satisfying. When you have ideas about what you want to make, you don’t know what’s going to happen,” says Rivero. Thanks to their rebellious resolve, the movie exist today, and if that’s not enough validation, be certain that global animation fans have already taken one of Birdboy’s happy pills and fallen for him. “In the end, this movie has been made. In the end, this movie has won awards. It has been realized with a screenplay that’s atypical. You have to believe in what you do and not think about anything else. You have to fight till the death for what you are,” says Vazquez emphatically.
Like a dream that’s simultaneously gorgeous and terrifying, which defies logic about eclectic elements that exist within the same story, Birdboy: The Forgotten Children is an allegory filled with strange characters and situations that subconsciously reflect our collective fears, personal memories, and relatable everyday occurrences. There is a Birdboy in your life or you are the Birdboy of your own story. We’ve all felt the need to fly away—by whatever means necessary—to turn our backs from what’s too daunting. Yet, like Birdboy, we persevere knowing that, as the film’s tagline proclaims, “there is light and beauty, even in the darkest of worlds.” MM
Birdboy: The Forgotten Children opens in select theaters December 15, 2017, courtesy of GKIDS.
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