Emelia - The Five-Year-Old Goth Girl

Emelia #1 Short on iTUNES

noreply@blogger.com (Sharktacos) — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 16:30:00 +0000

Emelia is the #1 Short Film on iTUNES!

Hours after its launch Emelia had hit the Top 10 of the iTUNES shorts which includes titles by Disney, Pixar, and the Oscar winning shorts. Emelia continued to climb the charts and now stands at the #1 spot, passing up (as you can see on the image to the left) Pixar's "For the Birds", "One Man Band", "Bounding", and "Geri's Game".

You can download Emelia to watch on your computer or video iPOD. Check it out here Emelia on iTUNES

Also don't forget that for those of you who would like to see Emelia on your big TV rather than on a teensy iPOD that the DVD is also available here at the store packed with loads of extras and making-of's. In fact, you can buy 100 and hand them out to Trick-or-Treaters!

Emelia on iTUNES

noreply@blogger.com (Sharktacos) — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 17:47:00 +0000

Emelia is on the front page of iTUNES!

For Halloween iTUNES has a bunch of scary shorts, and Emelia is the heading them up. She's on the front page of the iTUNES Store next to Barak Obama and Stephen King... If Obama is elected President I wonder if Emelia will get invited to the Whitehouse now? (She'd paint it black).

You can download the whole film there to watch on your computer or video iPOD. Also be sure to write something nice for Emelia in the reviews section. That would be dreadfully lovely. Check it out here Emelia on iTUNES

Emelia Nomined for Kid's First best Short

noreply@blogger.com (Sharktacos) — Thu, 21 Sep 2006 17:09:00 +0000

Kid's First is a touring festival that has shown Emelia in over 45 cities nationwide. Now Emelia has been nominated for the "Best Short for Ages 12-18" Award! In celebration of this, Emelia (along with the other Kid's First nominees) will be screening at the Los Angeles International Children's Film Festival on October 14 from 2:30-5 pm at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Throughout the day there will be costumed characters, photo ops, goodie bags for every kid, and surprise giveaways.

Emelia at Palm Springs Shortsfest

noreply@blogger.com (Sharktacos) — Mon, 21 Aug 2006 23:10:00 +0000

Emelia will screen this Saturday at the Palm Springs International Sorts Festival. Palm Springs is known as the "Sundance of shorts" being the largest and most important festival for shorts in the USA.

If you are in Palm Springs and want to get out of the unbearable heat, then come check out Emelia this Saturday morning (8/26 10:30a) as part of the family friendly show "For all Ages" In the nice air conditioned Camelot Theaters!

Chris Gore reviews Emelia in G4TV

noreply@blogger.com (Sharktacos) — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 20:48:00 +0000

Mr Indie Film himself, Chris Core (who was one of the judges at Comic-Con) reviewed Emelia - The Five Year Old Goth Girl on G4TV's "Attack of the Show" for the Comic-Con 06 edition of DVDusday.

You can see the review online on G4TV.com

P.S. Chris said that Emelia was not out on DVD. He was wrong!
You can get your very own copy here: Emelia DVD

Emelia's Comic-Con Adventures

noreply@blogger.com (Sharktacos) — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 03:41:00 +0000

can you find Emelia?

Comic-Con is sort of a mix between a trade convention and Halloween in the Castro. The place is insanely crowded on the exhibition floor as you can see! So in between festival screenings I waded through the masses to pitch Emelia to the different vendors.

Emelia makes a friend

I'm working on getting Emelia turned into both an Urban Vinyl Doll, and a Graphic Novel. So I was pretty busy. Nevertheless Emelia managed to make some friends in the crowd. For instance you can see here Emelia befriending a poor little orphan girl she found there.

It seemed like the only people who were not in costume were that poor lost girl and Emelia. The outfits ranged from cute like this little guy below, to the um... not as cute. But a good time was had by all!

Emelia Screens on opening night of Comic Con

noreply@blogger.com (Sharktacos) — Wed, 12 Jul 2006 17:08:00 +0000

Next week (July 20-23) is Comic-Con, the world's biggest comic convention, and "Emelia - the Five Year Old Goth Girl" has been officially selected for the film festival playing on opening night. I'll be there for the whole thing doing Q&A and then hitting the floors to talk to comic book publishers about making Emelia into a graphic novel. I already have several publishers interested, so I'm looking forward to making new contacts. The book would be full color and come with a DVD of the film so it would be a great chance to get Emelia out to a wider audience. I've prepared a few sample pages of the graphic novel that you can check out here : Look! an Emelia book!

I also think that Emelia would make a pretty nifty Urban Vinyl Doll, so I'm gonna try and talk to some toy companies there about that as well. Should be a busy time.

Click to check out the full schedule for the Comic-Con Film Festival. Emelia plays at 5:30pm

Emelia plays to packed house at San Francisco International

noreply@blogger.com (Sharktacos) — Sat, 06 May 2006 18:59:00 +0000

Emelia played to a packed audience of over 500 kids at the San Francisco International this week. The huge AMC theater spilled over into the balcony section. Afterwards I was swarmed by little kids asking me to autograph their Emelia postcards (I don't know about you but no one has ever asked me for my autograph before so I was quite tickled)

Yesterday as a followup I visited a middle school class in Oakland of kids with Asperger's Syndrome and spoke to them about Emelia's and their struggles with fitting in. The following is a write up by Kristin Cato the Filmmaker Liaison for the Schools at the Festival program of the San Francisco International Film Festival:

NEVER TOO YOUNG TO BE GOTH

A day after the festival, the Education Department was still busy taking filmmakers to schools. Derek Flood, director of the computer animated "Emelia: The Five-Year-Old Goth Girl" spoke to twelve kids in the Aspergers Syndrome Inclusion Program at Montera Middle School in East
Oakland. Evidently, Emelia is not the only one who feels left out. The boys and girls in the program recanted horrors experienced in the playground, which Flood likened to the site of a nuclear holocaust. One boy mentioned he had no friends during the entire year of third grade. Another recalled his elementary school days of remaining in the classroom during recess, and when he did go out, peforming endless numbers of somersaults by himself in the grass. Patiently listening to their fears of having to conform, Flood offered a profound suggestion: "Well, perhaps you can be different...but also be a part of the world." Which is what Emelia learns to do in Flood's tender fable about growing up different.

Emelia wins Honorable Mention at Nashville International

noreply@blogger.com (Sharktacos) — Sat, 29 Apr 2006 03:41:00 +0000

"Emelia the Five Year Old Goth Girl" won an Honorable Mention (1st Runner up) for Best Animation at Nashville International, which was awesome but also kinda bittersweet since if she had won (Emelia was the only film that got an Honorable Mention so I imagine it was neck and neck between Emelia and the other film) it would have automatically qualified Emelia for an Oscar nomination. So close, but yet so far...

Nashville was a really great fest though with a great and accommodating staff. Free food, free transportation, free films, free hotels, that's hard to beat! And the audiences were some of the most engaged and sophisticated I have seen. I had a great time!

Emelia wins Grand Jury Award at DC Indie Fest

noreply@blogger.com (Sharktacos) — Mon, 17 Apr 2006 17:37:00 +0000

Emelia has won the Grand Jury Award for Best Animation at the D.C. Independent Film Festival!

Interestingly Emelia was screened at the DCIFF not in the animation or children's sections but in the horror film section that played at midnight. I think its kinda funny how Emelia will sometimes be put into the kids matinee at 11am for little kids and at other festivals will screen along side splatter films.

This week Emelia will be screening at the Newport Beach Film Fest in both the "Animation-o-Rama" and the "Horror Shorts: Evil Kids" programs. The following week she will be at the Nashville International in the "Animated Expressions" program, and also at the San Francisco International in "Friends—Lost And Found"

Since I'm gonna try to go to all of them it should be a busy couple weeks!

Emelia chosen for 3 Academy Award qualifying festivals

noreply@blogger.com (Sharktacos) — Mon, 20 Mar 2006 22:04:00 +0000

Emelia has been chosen for the Official Selections of three Academy Award Qualifying festivals:

San Francisco International Film Festival
Stuttgart International Animation Festival
Nashville International Film Festival

That is of course still a long road to get that little golden statue. To be nominated for an Oscar, you need to win Best of Show at one of the Academy Award Qualifying festivals. But this does mean that Emelia is getting attention at some of the biggest festivals in the world, which is already pretty exciting!

Emelia featured in Washington Post

noreply@blogger.com (Sharktacos) — Sat, 11 Mar 2006 02:22:00 +0000

Emelia Wins Sedona International

noreply@blogger.com (Sharktacos) — Mon, 27 Feb 2006 00:36:00 +0000

Woohoo! Emelia has won the Audience Choice Award for Best Animation at the Sedona International Film Festival in Sedona AZ, which is of course where Warner Bros. filmed all those Roadrunner & Cayote movies.

Bummer I couldn't make it, it's a beautiful place and I hear the fest is great to filmmakers! Next week Emelia is off to Washington DC for the DC Indie Fest where it will play in the late nite horror block (this cracks me up because Emelia is really a rather sweet film).

Emelia at San Francisco Independent

noreply@blogger.com (Sharktacos) — Sat, 28 Jan 2006 18:52:00 +0000

Come check out Emelia next week at the SF Indie! She is screening two times as part of Cartoons Etc

Saturday Feb 5th at 4:30pm
in the funky arthouse Roxie Cinema

Friday Feb 10th at 2:15pm in the Women's Building
which is that groovy building with all the mural on it.
I'll be there for both screening, and also plan on doing a talk on indie filmmaking at the Apple Store as well Saturday Feb 3rd at noon.

I also just heard that Emelia has been selected for the
Stuttgart International Animation Festival which I am really excited about!

I've been trying to go to all the festivals I can because, now that I've made Emelia I need to find out who I made her for. I made Emelia for lots of people I have never met and it is now my job to get Emelia out to them, to find Emelia's audience. That's hard work, but as I do it I think I learn from them and their responses to Emelia a lot more about what my film means than I ever could have on my own. Sort of like how a band can't really know what their song is about until they play it for people and see how it effects them.

Emelia is a pretty intense little story about our own darkness inside, and about our own struggles to figure out who we are and where we fit in. And it seems that people are able to see their own stories reflected in the story of a little five year old goth girl. After screenings, lots of people have come up and told me how they connect to Emelia's quirky little tale of redemption in ways I never could have imagined. Getting to hear that at festivals, I learn stuff about my film I never knew was there.

Even though it's hard for us artist types, connecting with an audience, getting your stuff out there in the world, is not some extra "marketing" thing, it is a big part of what it means to be an artist. Otherwise you end up as one of those sad guys who cuts off their ears, and then 50 years after you die, they find all these paintings in your attic and wonder "My word, these are quite lovely, I wonder why he never showed them to anyone and died sad and alone. What a pity."

So there you have it: attend festivals or die sad and alone with no ears.

Emelia DVD available worldwide

noreply@blogger.com (Sharktacos) — Thu, 29 Dec 2005 01:48:00 +0000

The Emelia DVD is now available wherever you live in the world! Just go to the STORE and click through to your country!

I'm excited that people across the world will be able to see little Emelia. For me as an artist this is really important because I learn about my art by how people respond to it. It's kind of like a song - a band wont really know what the song they wrote means until they see what that song means to their audiences. Its the same way with a film. Going to festivals it has been really cool to see how different people will bring their own stories to Emelia and find new aspects in her story I never saw before. Now I can learn how people in Poland and Brazil and Japan all relate to Emelia. Isn't the Internet awesome?

The Emelia DVD is finally here!

noreply@blogger.com (Sharktacos) — Thu, 15 Dec 2005 19:45:00 +0000

You can order your very own Emelia DVD here:
Emelia Store

Be the first on your block to own Emelia on DVD, jam packed with extras and insight into what went into making the independent short film.

Bonus Features Include:

5 production featurettes with in depth scene by scene looks into the film with director Derek Flood

original storyboards & animatics

concept art, sketches, maquettes, art development & spin tests

art lessons and how-to’s

the music of Emelia

making monster sound FX

Emelia trailer

A special guest appearance by Emelia herself!

"Emelia" tells the story of a five-year-old goth girl and the world as seen through her eyes. This dark and quirky story of redemption takes us into Emelia’s head, letting us see in wild and fantastic images what Emelia feels and thinks internally. Along the way, in seeing Emelia's insides, we just might see some of what's in our insides, too.

Emelia wins California Indie and Creepfest

noreply@blogger.com (Sharktacos) — Tue, 06 Dec 2005 17:32:00 +0000

Emelia has been doing great on her festival tour. She won Best Animation at both the California Independent and at Creepfest in LA, and has been selected for the San Francisco Independent (which I'll be sure to attend) and Kids Fest which will tour to over 45 cities across the country! Sweet.

Check out the festivals page for details and the latest showtimes. Maybe Emelia is coming to your town!

Emelia blog

noreply@blogger.com (Sharktacos) — Mon, 05 Dec 2005 02:18:00 +0000

I've converted Emelia's diary section to a blog, which means that with a blog reader like reader.google.com you can import Emelia's RSS feed and get the latest news about Emelia on your frontpage the second it is published along with all your other favorite blogs. Or you can add the same RSS feed to your personal homepage like My Yahoo! so that you get Emelia news next to weather and CNN news. So if you ever wake up and think "will it rain today?" and "My goth, what is Emelia up to?" you can find out all in one place!

Cool huh?

Lots of Festivals

noreply@blogger.com (Sharktacos) — Tue, 04 Oct 2005 17:10:00 +0000

Lots of great updates for you this month! First of all I finished making all the extras for the DVD and am sending it off to be "replicated" (which sounds like something from Blade Runner) so it should be available veeeeeery soon! Thanks to all of you who have written in an expressed interest, I'll send you all an email letting you know the very second it's ready. I packed it with all sorts of really cool stuff, so I'm sure you'll love it :)

Emelia has also been doing really great on the festival trail. It just won BEST ANIMATION at the Chicago International Reel Shorts Fest! And if you live in California like I do there are lots of chances this month to catch a show:

Emelia will be playing at the prestigious Mill Valley Film Fest on October 15th as part of their creepy animation block "A Toon for the Misbegotten"

She will be screening four weekends in a row (Oct 15,22,29 & Nov 5-6) at the Alameda International Film Festival in a funky little theater filled with bright colored couches as part of the "Kids Show".

Emelia is playing Oct 26th in a Wine Vineyard for the California Independent Film Fest where it was nominated for a Slate Award for Best Animation! So you can sip something dark and red while you watch the film on October 26.

And for a complete change of pace from the winery, Emelia is playing at Creepfest in a Goth Industrial Club called Das Bunker on October 28 the Friday before Halloween. So put on something spooky and head on down for the party there!

Festivals Page

noreply@blogger.com (Sharktacos) — Sat, 20 Aug 2005 15:09:00 +0000

Emelia is taking off, playing in tons of festivals. So I've made a festivals page for you. Just click on the MOVIES link above and from there you can go to the Festivals section (as well as all sorts of other fun stuff).

God on Film

noreply@blogger.com (Sharktacos) — Sun, 17 Jul 2005 08:07:00 +0000

So I've been working really hard as of late - I'm working full time on some commercials to pay the bills, and on top of that developing the extras for the Emelia DVD, designing an Emelia graphic novel, and an urban vinyl Emelia doll (whew!). If that wasn't enough I've also been flying to festivals where Emelia is showing.

My favorite festival so far was "God on Film" which was at the Manhattan Center’s Grand Ballroom wher Emelia won Best Short!

Godonfilm deals with films that capture the transcendent in ordinary life, and since Emelia is a film that deals with seeing our insides through the eyes of a little goth girl, it seemed to be a perfect fit. I hope a lot of people got in touch with their inner goth.

Really if you ask me, good film is by nature spiritual, because it communicates on a heart level. Whether it makes us cry or laugh, when a film stirs us, it is touching our insides and connecting with us on a deep level. It lets us see our good parts, and our dark parts. In our world of over commercialization we seem to have lost sight of that and tend to think of films in terms of how many Happy Meals they can sell (in Emelia's case maybe McDonald's could sell "Unhappy Meals"...wait no, I'll never sell out!...well only for the right price).

I was really happy to be a part of Godonfilm and overwhelmed with the reaction it got there. My favorite part was when a group of teenage girls came up to me after the screening and told me how much they loved the film and how several of them were crying. When I gave them a copy of the film they began jumping up and down and shrieking with joy. I felt like a rock star :)

If you want to try to see Emelia on the big screen, here are some places you can catch her at
Anima Mundi - Brazil (July 8-24)
where it has 6 screenings all in the category "infantil" (I love that)
GiRL FeST - Hawaii (Sept 3-9) Go Grrrl power!
Mill Valley Film Festival Mill Valley, CA (Oct 6–16) I'm planning on going to this one
Great Animation Convention Lille, France (Oct 21–23)
In French its called "Fete de l'Animation" which I think means
"Greek cheese made from animation" but I could be wrong about that...

There are a lot more festivals coming up, so I'll try and make a page for that soon.

Emelia Wraps

noreply@blogger.com (Sharktacos) — Sun, 15 May 2005 01:05:00 +0000

Emelia is finally done! Emelia is finally done!
Two years of hard labor makes a 9 minute film. Whew!

Right now the film is on its way to festivals, and I'm slaving away making the extras for the DVD. You can send me an e-melia and let me know what kind of delightful little thingies you would like to see on the Emelia DVD extras. Maybe you will be the lucky child who's idea is chosen. Gee willikers, that would be grand!

You can follow all the latest updates of the film as it develops by clicking on the MOVIES section above. I've added in several new pages and updated others with oodles of Emelia info. You'll find an all new trailer pages, a press kit with lots of scrumptious hires production stills, and info about the Emelia DVD.

Now that the film is done, the real adventure begins as it goes to festivals, and I try and see how I can get Emelia to be seen by you, dear reader! So keep your ears and eyes perked, cause I'll be updating these pages as all of that develops.

Music

noreply@blogger.com (Sharktacos) — Wed, 09 Mar 2005 10:04:00 +0000

I've added a brand new section with samples of the music from Emelia that we've been laboring over for the last month or so. Go check it out in the ART section (just click the ART menu at the top of the page)!

8 Minutes Animated!

noreply@blogger.com (Sharktacos) — Fri, 07 Jan 2005 17:03:00 +0000

Jan 7, 05
BIG FAT UPDATES: I've been plugging away and now have 8 minutes animated! My computer is rendering away day and night.

I've added a brand new section to show you some of the stuff I've been up to from the "Wild" sequence. So click on the ART menu above and knock your socks off!

Barnyard Animals

noreply@blogger.com (Sharktacos) — Sat, 23 Oct 2004 02:02:00 +0000

Oct 22, 04
Thanks to everyone who has sent in a DVD request so far! I'm keeping track of all of you and will be sure to let you know as soon as it's ready.

UPDATES: I've added some new character designs from the film. Barnyard animals! Go take a look at them in the CHARACTERS section on the menu above

Also in the MOVIES section I have a brand new animation of all the kids in the school bus!