Fear of death does funny things to people. It can be channeled in good, bad, or completely unexpected ways. This week’s Staff Pick Premiere, “Wildebeest,” is an absurdist tale of a woman’s grief manifesting as an obsession with elephants — a fixation that ultimately causes her dreams to manifest into reality. Directors Nicolas Keppens and Matthias Phlips’ ingeniously funny tale of misadventure during an African safari may be packed full of jokes, but it shows an equally inspired reverence for their carefully observed characters.
Following the death of her mother, elephant-obsessed Linda and her husband Troyer go on safari in Africa. In the vast and dangerous savanna, the pair trades their suburban odd couple schtick for the kind of tourists that get groaned about: clueless, constantly on devices, self-interested, ignorant, and inadvertently destructive.
Visually, “Wildebeest” employs a playful mixed-media approach that sees animated characters interact amongst live action footage. Taken mostly from a German documentary about wildebeest migration, the footage can be jarring or surreal when juxtaposed against 2D animated cartoon characters. These moments provide some of the film’s most inventive comedic gags. Whether it’s Linda filming a cheetah with her iPad or Troyer shooting a beloved impala with an arrow, the directors use every opportunity to subvert the original films intention of the footage to compliment their narrative. The only thing more surprising than the film’s inventive humor, running fun facts, and sight gags is the profound emotional transformation of its two protagonists. The ending is nothing short of pure unadulterated joy.
Ahead of the exclusive online release of “Wildebeest,” we reached out to directors Nicolas Keppens and Matthias Phlips to learn more about their inspiration and process.
On the film’s inspiration:
“The idea was to use found footage and have animated figures interact in these images in order to arrive at new situations.
Animals and their unpredictable behavior lend themselves perfectly to this. And we both love humans with their small character traits, so a safari was the perfect playground. We love awkward situations and the way people deal with them.”
On the characters’ design:
“Both are based on a type of citizen we often met in the streets of our hometown near Ghent, Belgium. They could have been neighbors.”
On the writing process:
“We had some rough ideas for a long time, but after we decided to go for the safari, the writing process involved a long series of brainstorming sessions where we came up with one joke or situation after another (sometimes there was also Rum Cola). Ultimately, the trick was to transform a sequence of situational humor into an exciting story. Almost everything was scripted except the voiceovers, they were added after the animation.”
On the mixed-media style:
“The style originated from a series of comics that we had already made, drawn figures on photos. Technically we worked with Toonboom, After Effects, and Premiere to make the magic happen.”
On challenges faced:
“Getting the tone right between making a comedy short, but also making it work storytelling-wise was the biggest challenge, I think.”
What is your best piece of advice to aspiring filmmakers?
“Just make a lot of stuff. Never put too much pressure on yourself that it has to be a masterpiece. Just do the thing you want to do.”
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