“Trees”
Synopsis
Voiced by the incomparable Tom Kenny (Sponge Bob) with Jill Talley, “Trees” serves as a comic warning about the devastating effects of deforestation of our rainforests. As the story unfolds, we move through a lush deep green pastoral jungle inhabited with exotic creatures. “Welcome to the oxygen factory! We breathe in the old CO
2 and breathe out the O
2. I tell you, though, a lot more CO
2 these days,” barks a tall, skinny character who calls himself the “green collar guy.” “Yeah, lotta CO
2,” confirms his leafy companion, Donny. Suddenly, a chain saw starts up, followed by the sound of another tree crashing to the ground. “The rain! Tell them about the rain!” our fallen friend gasps. Green collar guy happily demonstrates what he calls “transpiration – how the trees water each other downwind with their “breath.” As the situation spirals downward it seems clear: our long-limbed neighbors are not the only ones fated for the endangered list.
Director’s Statement
“When I first heard about ‘Deep Green’ and saw the scripts for the animated shorts, I was instantly attracted to ‘Trees.’ It had a wonderful feel to it and conveyed an appropriate sense of urgency, while still communicating crucial information about the importance of trees and forests. As a hiker, rock climber, cyclist, and all around nature lover, I crave the outdoors and like to spend a lot of time among trees. I felt like I had a vested interest in using animation to get the point across.
“The first thing I worked on was the character design. Huy Vu made these wonderful characters, based on rainforest trees where the branches and leaves created expressive faces and arms. The style was flat and graphic and felt like they were created using woodcuts, which added a nice texture to the leaves and bark. Huy and some other designers also created a lush rainforest of birds, insects, plants, flowers and monkeys to show the diversity and life that are at risk from deforestation. “These designs were imported into an animation program and I spent a good amount of time creating the controls for the characters to ensure that they moved and talked and emoted correctly for the story. The designs were a ton of fun to work with, but once they had a voice, I was in love.
“The brilliant Tom Kenny (Spongebob himself) came up to Portland for a day and recorded the voices for the trees. He was amazing to work with. He came up with 10 character voices in 10 minutes and could remember all of them if we wanted to go back and re-record a line. Tom and Clark Taylor had a great rapport, and watching them explore the characters was a highlight of the whole process.
“I began animation in earnest to make the trees come alive and showed works in progress to Matt Briggs and Clark. They were great to work with, we all seemed to respect each other’s creative visions and they let me run with some fun ideas about the story.
“For final color touches, I enlisted the help of Tarn Fox who had a background in painting. I loved the color progression he created, beginning with a lush green in the opening scene and ending with browns and oranges of a burnt out desert. The subtle shifting of color throughout the film was designed to make the viewer feel like the humidity and life were slowly being sucked out of the environment.
“In the end, seeing it projected on the big screen was such a treat. The colors and textures all popped off the screen and I think the characters really help communicate the message. I am so happy to have been a part of the Deep Green project, and look forward to seeing the film go far.”
Randy Wakerlin
