Embedded Files
The production was shot over nine weekends, with each day lasting approximately 10 hours. During the initial six weeks, the production crew had to assemble and dismantle the entire set before and after filming.
In the original script, The Fox had dialogue lines. However, through several drafts, The Fox became a silent character.
The VFX crew had around 30 shots and worked to remove rigs, fix lighting flickers, background replacements, floor blends, and even falling leaves.
The tree branches are real twigs and sticks.
In the original script, a whole human village scene was written. This eventually got snapshot in the introduction sequence of the film.
Madilyn Becker, one of the film's DPs, was hired a week before production and had a few days to learn the Dragon Frame software.
The film has an entire 2D animated storyboard for the purpose of timing and voice acting.
The film was shot in "twos", meaning that each frame was captured twice - doubling the films stop motion runtime.
Savannah Shelabarger, the film's production designer, is an architectural student who was familiar with creating small models.
Philip Riley, was the only crew member who has worked in stop motion before The Fox
Isaac Barrio Jr., one of the films DP and editor, took a stop motion class during production to learn and have more experience with stop motion and Dragon Frame.
Kayla Short, one of the films producers, and Isaac Barrio Jr., both worked on 2 other films the same semester of The Fox.
Joe Briones, one of the films producers, and Savannah Shelabarger both aren't film majors.
The roof broke a few days before production. This caused a schedule shift where interior shots were filmed first.
This is the first stop motion film at The Sideny Poitier New American Film School.
Daniel Teodoro, the composer, found The Fox online and reached out to us. Daniel lives in LA and the crew has never met him in person.
Daniel Teodoro, surprised the crew by having his friend and professional cellist, Adrian Narro, record the cellist parts of the score.
Merlin Porter, the other editor, was tasked to edit two animation films at the film school.
Aaliyas Thompson, was part of the special effects unit and later auditioned for the dragon. He got the part.
Production months ran from October 2023 - December 2023, with pickups and extras in January 2024.
Some shots would take over 10 hours to accomplish - sometimes shots would have to be redone hours after work.
The Fox's eyes were switched for mobility on the fourth week of production. Only one shot in the film clearly has The Fox in his original eyes.
Most lunch breaks on production, the team would watch stop motion films.
Bert the Bee was created by Savannah while she was knitting a little on set. Bert is shown in trees in some shots.
Tyler Bruun, who was responsible for the sound effects in the film, recorded his newborn nephew for some of the baby sounds.
The Fox was almost cut before production, with almost 6 months of pre-production work complete.
Demon Sad and Demon Smile are portrayed by actors, Michael Mase and Alain-Xavier Vincenot. Both recorded the same dialogue to create the character's voice
The tree's were finished the 2nd week of production.
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