What is the film about?

Klementhro may not have it all, but at least he has his paddle. A cautionary tale.

What influenced it?

More than any of my other work this film was made as an exercise in simplicity and not overthinking ideas, an approach perfected by such indie animation stalwarts as Bill Plympton and Don Hertzfeldt, as well as more recent talents such as Christian Larrave.

A little background information...

The film was made during a two-week gap between freelance contracts and alongside the writing of the manuscript for my book Independent Animation: Developing, Producing & Distributing Your Animated Films.

As the main thrust of the book is to encourage auteur filmmakers to pursue their animated film projects through whatever resources are available, I was keen to do so myself in order to have a more up-to-date firsthand awareness of the world of indie filmmaking, promotion and distribution as my previous film The Naughty List had been completed in 2010, a time since which the festival and online distribution landscape had evolved significantly.

Since its initial release Klementhro has gone on to 100+ screenings and be sold to several major European touring programmes, later selected for Short of the Week shortly after its online release. Festival screenings have included ITFS Stuttgart, Anima Mundi, Interfilm Berlin, London Short Film Festival and Fantoche.

How was the film made?

The animation and rudimentary compositing was put together using ToonBoom, with additional bells, whistles and final edit tweaks done in After Effects.