The Box Assassin – Interview with Director Jeremy Schaefer
Following his amazing success at the Rookies, Jeremy Schaefer releases his action-packed graduate film – The Box Assassin. In just under 3 minutes, the short film features action, comedy and some stellar animation. The film won 3D Film of the Year at the Rookies, with Schafer winning 3D Rookie of the year.
We caught up with Jeremy to talk about the film.
Hi Jeremy, congratulations on all your success with the short. What was it that attracted you to animation to begin with? Especially 3D animation?
There were a lot of animated movies I grew up watching that definitely had an impact on me. Cinderella and Toy Story were two of the biggest when I was a kid. Later though, Killer Bean, The Mega Plush, and even Minecraft animations got me really excited about 3D animation. I was fascinated that most of the animations were created by one or two people. At this time, I was getting more into live action filmmaking with my brother, Jon. Even though we were doing that, I felt animation allowed me to achieve more without having a big crew of people, fancy lights, and lots of camera equipment. As I learned more about the animation process, and was able to experience some of it in college, I learned just how much goes into the making of an animated film. I realised the importance of the fundamentals of drawing, colour, and just an appreciation for art in general. The craft, thought, attention to detail, and purpose behind everything on screen is what really amazes me now. Animation gives you the opportunity to exaggerate and stylise things even further. The Box Assassin isn’t highly stylised, but also I’m not sure how well a man popping out of boxes would work in live action.
Your short film The Box Assassin just won film of the year at the International Rookies, with yourself receiving 3D Rookie of the Year, on top of a lot of attention on social media. Were you prepared for this level of interest and achievement?
It’s really humbling to be recognised by The Rookies because there were a lot of amazing students submitting work. I can’t say I was expecting anything, but I am happy people see people enjoying the film!
The story packs in so much action in such a short space of time. How did you come up with the story?
I had stumbled upon some stories I was writing back in high school. The original concept was something along the lines of a man getting revenge on a mobster boss for threatening his family (much more dramatic, haha), but the way he assassinated the boss was by hiding in a box. The title and rough idea stayed the same. With the help of my professors, Andy Welihozkiy and Paul Downs, I was able to refine the story. They saw some potential I didn’t originally see. They were huge in helping me get the story working, and just encouraging me along this long process.
The film does pack a lot in the short time that it is. The school had a very strict time limit, which was definitely a challenge. In some ways it was nice because it forced me to condense everything down to the bare minimum and work on cutting any fluff from the film. Although, there are a few things I miss from the longer cut, but that seems to be how it goes sometimes.
Who or what are your major influences?
That’s a tough question cause I’m constantly being influenced by different artists, animators, filmmakers, and creators to this day. I think one of the biggest influences is my older brother Jonathan. We love bouncing around ideas, and just joking around with each other. He’s always been a huge inspiration to me.
Other major influences are the YouTube channels Corridor Digital and Freddiew. My brother and I began making films in our backyard because of them. Those guys have always pushed the boundaries of high quality filmmaking with a small crew, and little to no budget. I’ll always appreciate them for teaching me the basics of filmmaking.
Since I’ve studied animation more, I really appreciate Brad Bird’s work. This is because I’ve heard how he emphasises animation as a filmmaking medium and not a genre. His animated films are always an excellent representation of that idea.
The voice acting in this film is great, which seems to be a rarity amongst student films. How did you go about casting and recording these? Was it scripted exactly as it came out or was there a little room for improv?
For casting and recording voice overs, I resorted to doing it online. I used voices.com to set up casting calls for free. It was a really neat system where you could give a description of what you’re looking for, and voice actors would submit test reads of lines from your script.
It took a lot of searching to find the voice for my main character.. I wanted to cast a younger black guy, but there weren’t many on any of the websites I was using. I actually used LinkedIn, and typed in “voice actors”. I then scrolled until I found some people who I thought could fit what I was going for. I stumbled across Jonathan Myles, and everything fell into place. Also, the other kid talking to Jonathan throughout the film is me. This just kept things simple so I didn’t have to get another voice actor.
As for how the film was scripted. It sounds kind of crazy, but I would get in a sound booth, or even at my desk in my room and just improv it. I’d see what comes to my head. Often when I got into character and started talking, I would say something that would spark another idea or action. It actually felt like a really organic way to work vs. writing down lines on paper. I kept doing this, and eventually found a rhythm to the script and the film as a whole. That being said, I was still swapping out dialogue until the last month of production.
You previously interned at Disney Animation. What did that involve and what did you gain from the experience?
Being at Disney was a great experience! Everyone I met there was super kind, professional, and willing to help. I was able to work on a short 30 second film with four other CG interns, and four story and visual development interns. I hadn’t experienced that level of collaboration at school before, so it was really great to have that experience. The mentors over there were super generous with their time, even when they were crunching on Frozen 2. I feel like I learned a lot!
What has your overall experience been like at Ringling?
Ringling is a really great school overall. There’s a lot of great professors who taught me a bunch, and I enjoyed being able to work on my own film in my senior year. The school has a more generalist approach which I felt was really great for me being able to learn about the whole pipeline. Some other programs are more focused on just animation, modelling, visual development, or story. So I would just encourage people to look into different programs so you can make the choice best for you!
What’s next for you?
Now that I’ve graduated I’m just looking to learn more in whatever role I take on next. My main focus is on animation, so I’m hoping to get a job as a character animator!
Follow Jeremy on twitter or on his Vimeo channel.