an ode to our forefather

AI didn’t invent the word ‘slop’.

Though, inadvertently, I might have.

The year was 2021, and the lockdowns were in full effect. Which meant any video production that didn’t involve postings of fresh sourdough would have to come to a full stop.

Like others, I played it safe. Yet as the weeks wore on, my itch to tell stories got itchier, and something had to be done. That’s when I discovered a way to continue to make film without putting lives at risk. A set of self-imposed restrictions that would do no harm by limiting both film and filmmaker (aka. me) to the most rudimentary digital tools available. Cheap stock resources, Keynote, and iMovie.

The idea of Slop Motion Production was born with a crudely animated, four-minute hodgepodge, I called “Tales of Big Oaky.” A story about a boy, a grandfather, one very vindictive deer, and the yarns we weave to make sense of this crazy world.

In addition to a few other acknowledgments, Big Oaky became an official selection at one Oscar-qualifying film festival. Which provided more validation than I expected, and just what I needed to prove a simple hypothesis:

Great ideas should never go unmade.
Not due to budget constraints.
Not due to a global pandemic.
Not ever.