"When I listen to music I see colors and shapes and when I watch visual art I hear sounds. I wanted to express my sensing of shapes colors and music in this short movie." These are the words of Michal Levy, an inspired visual artist and musician. What began as a graduation project, became a world renowned short film, winning 'Honourable Mention' at such prestigious events like the JVC Jazz Festival Juried Exhibition in New York (2002) and a 2004 animation event sponsored by Hazira, Bezalel Academy of Art & Design, and The Israel Film Archive. Even though the film has created several years ago it is still winning over fans. In 2005, Giant Steps won the Animation Award from the BehindTheCurtain.org community. We recently caught up with Michal and asked her the question we all want to know; 'How did you do it?'   Michal, this is a beautiful short film. What inspired you to create this movie in the first place?   When it was time to choose what would be my graduation project of my BFA degree, I knew that it should be about the relationship between music and visual. I was playing saxophone since a very young age, and music was always very visual to me. I chose a tune that I couldn’t ever really play. I decided to understand it and “deal with it” in my own way. I have never done an animation film before. I never worked with a 3D software before. But I thought that I must take a chance and just go for it.     Your love of jazz and art shines through in all your work. You studied jazz for several years in school and have been playing the saxophone for quite some time now. How did your musical background influence this project?   My musical background gave me the ability to analyze Coltrane’s tune and solo, before starting animating it. My ear could isolate each note. And I tried to feel what each line of notes meant. Where it goes…     The music track is a jazz classic and works very well with your visual art. What prompted you to use that particular piece? Did your semester in New York at the School of Visual Arts in 2000 have anything to do with it?   As I mentioned before, I was unhappy for sometime that I couldn’t freely play this tune and I decided to try working with it in another way. But still it was hard for me to choose it. I realized that there are not many picks in this tune, and I was afraid that the people watching it would get bored. The semester in NYC inspired me to follow my heart and the things that I find interesting. In NYC, for the first time in my life, I saw so many different approaches in art and design, so I felt that I could also do what I wanted. It was my call.     John Coltrane's classic "Giant Steps" was a major break through on his album of the same name back in 1959. It was the first time in the history of jazz music that someone based their music on symmetrical patterns, which stemmed from a mathematical division of the musical scale. The animation in this film follows symmetrical patterns as well. Were you trying to "draw the music"?   I remember listening “a hundred times” to the tune, trying to SEE it in my mind. Trying to understand what Coltrane felt when he played it. I believed that I don’t have to invent anything. I believed that all the answers were in the music. I only needed to listen carefully and find it. And that’s what happened. I just decided that I was going to work with very simple shapes and colors, but all the rest is Coltrane… A few years after I finished it, I was lucky to meet John Coltrane’s son, Ravi, in NYC. He told me that his father really liked math and architecture. I was very happy to hear that of course….     What software programme was used to create it?   I used Maya. But the real breakthrough of this film on the net was only after I rendered it into vectors, and made it into a Flash film.     Did you storyboard the movie or simply let the music move you?   I didn’t have a full detailed storyboard. Some scenes I made more than one time, deleting and changing. But I had all the lines of notes, written like lines of little squares, on a piece of a squared paper. It was like a diagram of the note’s height. It led me to the basic shape of the “master building”. And you can see that in the beginning of the solo, I was using the diagram as is, and later on made it more like real buildings and less like little cubes.     One of the most amazing aspects of the film is that the animation fits so seamlessly with the music. Your storyboard consists of 20 screenshots showing different moments in the film. For the "highs and lows" of the music to be captured visually, did you work on a small piece at a time or work on the entire film as a whole?   I was analyzing the whole tune before animating, and I knew the heights of notes before starting. But I was working on each part at a time; trying to make each part more developed architecturally.     How labour intensive was it to build and how long did you work on it?   I worked on this film from morning to night, doing only this, for 4 months.     Though the movie was created using the 3D software programme Maya, you exported the movie in SWF format which allows it to be played from inside Flash player. Why?   I wanted as many people as possible to see it. Flash's format is light in size and very easy to use on the net. I was lucky that my art in this film was so simple… only cubes and solid colors, and that was just right for Flash… also – now it can be watched larger on screen, with no ‘file size’ problems.     Can we assume you got a good grade for your graduation project?   What I had in mind while making this film wasn’t the grade but having a deep process of work. This means that I wanted to be able to create and then delete, make things twice and more. Not be afraid of erasing and starting again. I know now that this attitude was an important thing that helped me get through this project. When I find myself focused on a good grade or a good outcome, it might paralyze me. Finally the grade that I got was great and the academy decided to give me the '2001 Sandberg Award, for an outstanding work'.     In 2001 you graduated from the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design with a BFA in Communication Design and went on to pursue professional graphic art projects. Yet the short film "Giant Steps" seemes to almost have a life of it's own. It has been showcased in numerous film festivals literally all over the world for several years now. Were you expecting your animation to be so well recieved?   I hoped that the name that Coltrane picked “Giant Steps” would refer also to the steps that this film would take around the world. But I didn’t have a clue that it would do so well… I still get even today (5 years later) – emails and requests to screen this film.     How did you get involved in these festivals?   After graduating, I sent this film to the Annecy Animation Film Festival, in France. I had found out about the deadline a bit too late. My school had already sent 10 films to that festival and hadn’t included mine. I didn’t know if I could send my film by myself to the student films category. So I remember one sleepless night of making nice stickers and letterheads… I wanted the staff at Annecy to be curious about this nice looking package, so they would watch it anyway…And after that I didn’t do anything. It all happened by itself. Other festivals heard about this film and asked me to screen it. People forwarded the web link to one another, wrote about it in their Blogs (last March it got the second place world wide, as the most watched Flash file that day). It still surprises me each time anything like this happens.     In 2002, Giant Steps received an 'Honorable Mention in the category of Electronic media' at the JVC Jazz Festival Juried Exhibition in New York City. Your movie was also presented at the Savacou Gallery, Fire Patrol No.5 Art Gallery, and the H&M Art Gallery of Harlem. You seemed to have captivated the New York art scene, which is no small feat. How did it feel to be so well received in such prestigious company?   I have no idea. I don’t feel that way… I was far away in Israel when my film was shown in those galleries…It was a part of the JVC Jazz Festival Art project. I love NYC so much and dream of living there once again for a while.     Do you have any advice for beginning animators who want to enter their work on the film festival circuit?   I’ll give one advice from a point of view of a graphic designer. Your film is completed only after you make well-designed titles & credits, and a good COVER. Your film is a product, that needs to be treated with respect from the moment one’s holding it’s box…     Michal, thank you very much for taking the time to speak with us today.   Thank you very much for having an interest. I wish you and all the readers, lots of creativity that comes from joy and happiness. Peace."   home   about us    membership   contact    articles    tutorials    online classes   animation    games   free downloads