I Want To Create Films From The Heart With Kind People Who Inspire Others To Do The Same: Keika Lee On Her Short Animated Film "Odd Dog"
Director Keika Lee has always had a special place in her heart for animation. Growning up, she dreamed of being an animator and creating stories and characters to share with children who also dream of being filmmakers. Her animated short, Odd Dog, which she wrote and produced, shares a story about a young boy who develops an unanticipated friendship with a dog-like cat. Lee believes and hopes that Odd Dog, which is a delightful 5-minute short about her son and their cat, will charm fans all over the world.
A young boy pleads with his mother to get him a dog but his mother prefers a cat. Years later, the boy runs into what looks like a cat on the street. Can the cat win the boy over with his crazy dog-like antics and become the boy's "odd dog”?
This quirky animation has already won three awards, including the 2020 Children's Choice For Shorts All Ages Award at Bay Area International Children's Film Festival, and it received an honorable mention for Best Animated Short at the 2020 Queen Palm International Film Festival. This film was scheduled to screen at the Los Angeles International Children's Film Festival and several other festivals, which were waylaid by the coronavirus outbreak. We had the opportunity to chat with Keika about her film, the inspiration for the story, her passion for animation, and much much more!
I love that Odd Dog is based on your son’s relationship with the family cat. Can you tell us a bit about their relationship and how it inspired the film?
Our cat had been with my husband and I for 5 years before my son was born so we were curious to see how they would react to each other when they finally met. After my son was born and we brought him home, our cat was curious but generally left him alone. Then one day while our son was napping in the bassinet in his room, we noticed our cat was nowhere to be seen. We checked on our son and there was our cat, sleeping next to our son in the big bassinet. The most interesting boy and his cat relationship was born and how could I not be inspired? Haha! After I left my last job a few years ago I started to draw cartoons about my son and our cat and then wrote a short story about them. It all started to get the ball rolling from there and the film started creating itself.
You’ve always had a love for animation, even at a very early age. What were some of the animators and cartoons that inspired you to pursue a career as an animator?
As much as I admire and respect the animators of the industry who bring the characters to life, I was more intrigued by the creators and producers of the ideas like Walt Disney and the Warner Brothers. They inspired me to look for enthusiastic and passionate talent who would make great teammates and could help me execute my vision. I want to create films from the heart with kind people and inspire others to do the same.
You collaborated with some very talented people on this project. How did you assemble such a gifted group?
I have to say I feel awfully blessed to have had the chance to work with each and every one of the crew members on Odd Dog. I was able to find them from being old college buddies to finding them through friends of friends to cold calling strangers after seeing their portfolio online. It didn't matter where they were in their career, as long as they had the talent and enthusiasm, I wanted to give them a chance! I learned so much from them and I hope they learned a lot from working on the project.
I really liked the design of the characters — particularly the cat, which is adorable. What was your collaboration process like with the designers and how did you eventually arrive on these cute and lovable characters?
Thank you! Yes, Cat is super cute! We had three character designers on Odd Dog. One designer started the initial designs of the Cat and Boy and then we were able to separate the two rough designs to the next two designers to finish them off. There were character profiles for the Cat and Boy describing their physical attributes and personalities which the final designer took into account for the final look. Genevieve Tsai, who designed our Cat, actually drew 20 variations of the Cat so I could choose from them. It was so difficult to choose because they were all so wonderful! After I chose one she created a character sheet showing the Cat with different expressions and in different views (front, side, back). From there the animators had a reference sheet of how Cat should look throughout the film.
I really enjoyed how the film played with color in a meaningful way. How did you discover this approach? Was it a concept that was part of the initial design of the piece or was it something you found though the collaborative process?
Growing up I fell in love with the silent film era and loved Charlie Chaplin films which was why I chose to make the film without dialogue and black and white in the first place. In the middle of production I felt the impact of the acceptance of Cat into the Boy's life needed to be stronger, more than just the dog collar being red. How could I emphasize this visually without having them speak? So I came up with the idea that the color from the dog collar radiates color to the rest of their world. This reveals acceptance and friendship in a more powerful way than speech.
What do you hope audiences take away from the film?
I created the film to make people smile, even for a moment during a difficult time in their life. I didn't expect there to be a pandemic when I made the film but I am hoping that whoever watches the film now can enjoy a heartwarming animation for 5-minutes without thinking about the sad current events happening in our world today.
Do you have any future projects in the works you can share with us?
Yes! I am currently working on a new short animated film called Oren's Way about a princess who comes up with a bizarre scheme to save her kingdom. It's a fun action adventure story about a strong female character that I hope will inspire the young ladies all around the world!
What do you think? We want to know. Share your thoughts and feelings in the comments section below, and as always, remember to viddy well!