✡︎
HOW SABA KEPT SINGING
Director of Animation Production
▼ANIMATION SCENES/ DIRECTOR’S CUT
A selection from approximately 17 minutes of animation sequence inserts.
The full documentary can be viewed on YOUTUBE.
“After 72 years, he had one question:
WAS SHE THE REASON HE WAS ALIVE TODAY?”
David and Zippi’s story is one of finding love, humor, and hope within one of history’s darkest abysses- the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. “There are few people left who know the details… How do you share such a story with your family?” David asked. I was honored when Retro Report approached me to direct the memory flashback sections of this story.
● BEHIND THE
SCENES/
From storyboards to final renders, we strove to balance the documentary’s photographic style while embracing the powerful theme of memory, with its emotional, imperfect and abstract creative freedom.
GALLERY OF FEATURED STILLS
The look ultimately came together through a bespoke mixture of photography, 3D modeling, projection mapping, After Effects puppeteering, cel animation, painterly textures, and illustration. Stock photography along with footage shot on location in Poland by the production team were treated, projected onto 3D planes and composited with texture, color & light effects to bring scenes to life.
David and Zippi’s narrative is told in three main eras: Warsaw before the war, in Auschwitz, and escape/liberation through their lives in America. We decided to give each section its own color story to reflect the emotional experience of the time.
Scenes from before the war were given a warm, yellow glow to to both emphasize youthful innocence and serve as a stark contrast to future tragedy.
After the death of David’s family, everything dissolves into a gloomy, monochromatic space. The bleakness is broken by the color of David and Zippi’s skin tones and the bright blue elements that represent their connection and acts of rebellion.
Zippi, for example, was a mandolinist in the orchestra and a secret distributor of contraband material like clean underwear. She was also a high-ranking graphic designer who was in the unique position to secretly manipulate transport records as well as undermine the permanence of the pigments used for marking prisoners’ uniforms. Being the only prisoner to have unguarded access to both the men’s and women’s camps, she would also arrange secret trysts with David by recruiting other prisoners to act as lookouts.
Color slowly starts to re-enter the designs after David’s escape and liberation. Everything always remains a bit muted to represent the impact Auschwitz had on their lives.
Working from the last months of the Trump administration through the early months of the Biden’s presidency, the film’s relevance couldn’t have felt more significant. I remember exactly which scenes I was working on when armed insurrectionists wearing “Camp Auschwitz” t-shirts stormed the U.S. Capitol Building. In the shadow of unimaginable death, distrust, economic crisis, increased tribalism, and reluctant reckonings of national identity, it is essential that we never forget what can happen when these shadows are allowed to grow.
It is my hope that David and Zippi’s story serves as a reminder that it is always possible to find strength & humanity even when all feels lost.
♥︎
◼︎CREDITS/
Executive Producers・Hillary Rodham Clinton, Chelsea Clinton, Christopher Buck, Kyra Darnton, Johnny Webb, Siobhan Sinnerton, Judi Krupp & Bill Gerber
Producer, Director & Writer・Sara Taksler
Animation Director・Sarah Orenstein
Animation・Sarah Orenstein, Rachel Arnold, Sean Lattrell, Elaine Lee & K Downs
Editor・Jackie Soriano
Cinematography・Wael Gzoly
Composer・Jacob Shea & Avi Wisnia