My new short, "The Cow Who Wanted to Be a Hamburger"

I’m very excited because I’m just finishing a new short film called “The Cow Who Wanted to Be a Hamburger”. It’s a very different film from my usual shorts for a number of reasons.

1.It’s a children’s fable
2.Its has a very different look
3.It has no dialogue or sound effects

It’s probably best to discuss its origins to help explain why it’s so different. The idea sprang from a drive through the Oregon countryside I made a few years ago. I noticed a herd of cows grazing on the grass. One cow was particularly intent on some serious grazing. It was like he actually wanted to make himself the perfect steak or the perfect hamburger. Voila! I had the idea for my next short film.

I visualized it as a sort of a fairy tale gone bad, almost like “Ferdinand the Bull”. I wanted to use a more child like design and colors. So I went to the Vasily Kandinsky show at the Guggenheim and was amazed by the brilliant colors with bold black outlines of some of his earlier children illustrations.

So I ripped off Kandinsky! So what! I’m always ripping off artists I admire. I admit it. I then thought I might use a farmer Jones type voice over for the storyteller. But the more I got into the storyboard, the more I realized that a voiceover would be superfluous and then when I began to think about the sound and I had the idea of using musical instruments for the animal sounds and even the sound effects.

As a kid I loved the Disney film “Peter and the Wolf” and the way they used different instruments for the different animals. So I challenged my music team of Corey and Sharon Jackson to use their musical repertoire for all of the sound effects.

Another interesting quality about the film is the use of a sharpie for the finished art. In fact the field was quite small, a 3 to 4 field. Thus the sharpie line is very bold and kinetic. And of course my production team of Biljana Labovic and Kerri Allegretta did a masterful job with color and design.

Our plan is to have the world premier of the film on March 2nd at the Hill Country Barbeque Market at 30 W26th St. in NYC. There will be live music from Maureen McElheron and Nicole Renaud. So put on your cowboy duds and come join us from 6-8 and have a burger and be at the premier of “The Cow Who Wanted to Be a Hamburger”.

Oh I forgot everyone who comes gets a free cow drawing. You don’t see Tim Burton Burton doing that!