FLANDERS @ ANIMA (3) - Anton Setola

'I started out from some drawings I made five years ago', says Anton. 'Somehow these drawings kept lingering in my mind and the idea for a film was drawn to them. What I wanted to do was to make a film that would put the material and the immaterial world in a bipolar confrontational setting. Jazz is the ideal playground to do so, because on the one hand it celebrates the power of the spirit and the uniqueness of the individual, like the music of Thelonious Monk and Charlie Parker... On the other hand it is a world that has a very cool and glamorous side.' Jazzed has a very specific graphic feel, with references to different elements: 'The graphics are inspired by the many transformations of jazz music to a rhythmical visual style, for instance that of Blue Note album covers, or that of the abstract paintings of Juan Miró and other great artists. I used this kind of style to convey a direct emotional feeling onto the audience.'Jazzed The dramatic aspect in Jazzed mainly comes from the music, composed by Frederik Segers, who recently recorded an album with Belgian singer-songwriter Sioen in South Africa. 'I have known him for a long time', says Anton. 'He also made the theme music for Plankton Invasion (an interactive animation mini series by Joeri Christiaen, ed.). I love working with Frederik because he is very talented and he knows different styles of music. He composed the music before I started working on it, somehow the film follows the lead of the music. Anyway, after two years of listening to it intensively I have not grown tired of hearing it, so I think it speaks for Frederik's talent'. Anton made Jazzed with software called TV Paint Animation. 'It is a 2D film but I have drawn it completely digitally. The software I used was indispensable, because it enabled me to work with lots of layers and to experiment with color combinations on the animation that was already finished'.Jazzed It was in Tilburg, at the end of a 2-year postgraduate scholarship in Holland that Anton started preparing the production of Jazzed. 'What I lacked a bit during my education at KASK in Ghent was the opportunity to play with film and animation. At the Netherlands Institute for Animation Film in Tilburg I grabbed the opportunity to experiment.' Did these experiments have an influence on how he took on Jazzed? 'Maybe... In the end I noticed that I made Jazzed in the same way as my previous experimental films. In any of them I tried to set up a narrative structure by means of contrast in shape, colour and intensity.' Currently Anton is preparing two illustrated books for children. 'I am also just drawing a lot just to let new ideas come up, to play with graphics. I have an idea for a new film but I will not start on it within this and a couple of years.'Jazzed LINKS Anton Setola Lumière Productions Les Films du Nord & La Boîte, ... Productions Frederik Segers Anima Festival/Dit is Belgisch Netherlands Institute for Animation Film