MSPIFF MN Filmmaker: Tom Shroeder

Name:  
tom schroeder

Your Role:
director

Film Title:  
the yellow bird

Synopsis:   
A young man flees the draft for World War I and finds a job on a cattle ranch in eastern Montana.  He accidentally shoots himself and takes a horse drawn cart to try to reach Havre for medical attention.

What inspired you to make your MSPIFF accepted film:
The film is adapted from a short story, “Bear Paw,” written by a local author Jay Orff.  I also wanted to try combining my drawn character style with Lindsey Testolin’s collage cut-out style (she did all the background environments in the film).

Where/how did your filmmaking path begin:
In a barn in Western Wisconsin, shooting animation experiments all night long with two Super 8 cameras.  I was collaborating with my friend Dave Herr.

Who are some of your major influences:
Jacques Tati, Robert Bresson, Yashujiro Ozu all for the humane and precise detachment of their staging.  Norman McClaren for his inventiveness.  James Joyce for the idea of “style and subjectivity.”  ee cummings for his “subversive smallness.

How much prep work do you put in before production:
I like to work improvisationally without a storyboard.   But I often work from an analysis of a soundtrack, so that provides a structure.

What is your favorite part of the process and why:
I used to like the monastic isolation of working long hours alone with a pencil and paper.  But now I really like collaborating with other people.

How do you determine if a project is a success:
If I finish the film.  Animation is so labor-intensive, an 8 minute film I made when I was younger took five years of my life to finish, that it’s not a given.

What advice do you have for those starting out:
Know what’s enough.

Are you currently working on any projects:
In 2000 I made a film called “Bike Ride.”  It’s an animated documentary of sorts, animating off of a voice track.  I added a drum improvisation from Dave King (Happy Apple, The Bad Plus).  The film worked well and I decided I’d make a trilogy of films with the following elements:  bicycles, difficult love, documentary audio , a graphic white on black look and Dave King.  Now it’s time for the second film “Bike Race.”  I’ve edited the audio, recorded Dave and now I’m ready to start animating.

Where can we find more of your work:
I need to make a website, but in the meantime.  The people that represent me for commercials in Los Angeles have a little section on their site for me: http://www.kachew.com/work.php?director=25

Now through August four of my films are playing at the Walker Art Center.  They are playing on the Best Buy Video Bay installation.