Al Tudi Tuhak in digital format

At long last I have a digital copy of "Al Tudi Tuhak," my student film from Cal/Arts! For years I've only had the 35mm prints, and some old video tapes. This last January I was invited to show "Al Tudi Tuhak" at the Bay International Children's Film Festival. A huge thanks to Jim Capobianco, who offered to make the digital transfer from 3/4" tape for me. Jim is a really great guy, and talented director, animator, and artist. Check out his website . He and his group are doing some really interesting things.

"Al Tudi Tuhak", is an original story inspired by the art and culture of the natives of the northwest coast. The film was made under the guidance of my mentors Jules Engel (UPA, Cal-Arts), and Maurice Noble (Disney, Warner Bros). With narration by Maurice, and music by Bill Benson.

Jules and Maurice were both wonderful, passionate, designers; with two very different approaches to design. This film marks an amazing, yet confusing time for me. It was a huge step in helping me develop my own design philosophy.



Above: Development art presented to the board at Cal-Arts in order to get "Al Tudi Tuhak" approved as my thesis.

The art is a mix of latex house paint on cels, and cut-outs.

I shot "Al Tudi Tuhak" on 35mm at Stokes/Kohne in Los Angeles. Dan Kohne was nice enough to let me use his Oxberry camera on the nights they weren't using the studio. And he and Billy Robinson were extremely patient with all my late night camera questions. I learned that it's hard shooting on black! Dust, fingerprints, everything show up under camera! The water effects were shot using double exposure with a ripple glass. Maurice sat in quite a few nights as "camera assistant." He taught me how important it is for a designer to know the capabilities of the camera.

Ben Jones, and Mike Polvani were kind enough to help me out with a few scenes of animation.

Bernadette Gonzales helped supervise the ink and paint.

... and a big thanks to my friends in the Philippines who helped out along the way.

"Al Tudi Tuhak" toured the festival circuit for a few years, winning the student "Oscar", and receiving an "Annie" nomination.

To read more about the film, click here or here

Al Tudi Tuhak

Al Tudi Tuhak from Tod Polson on Vimeo.

A clip from my student film, made under the guidance of my mentors Jules Engel (UPA, Cal-Arts), and Maurice Noble (Warner Bros). With narration by Maurice Noble, and music by Bill Benson. Additional animation by Mike Polvani, and Ben Jones. This year marks sort of an anniversary for "Al Tudi Tuhak" so I thought I would put a bit of it up.

When I first moved to Los Angeles I saw a show of masks from the Northwest coast of the U.S. The power and simplicity of the design inspired me to create a short film using Northwest coast story and design as a theme. Several of the Northern stories I researched mentioned the "creator"... or "father of Raven"... but I found no stories specifically "the creator" himself. So, I wrote a story trying to capture the depth and feel of a story from long ago.


Above: Development art presented to the board at Cal-Arts in order to get "Al Tudi Tuhak" approved as my thesis.

My pal, musician Bill Benson and I traveled to Seattle for research. There we were honored to meet with Upper Skagit tribal elder/ storyteller Taqʷšəblu (Vi Hilbert). She really liked the story, and named the film "Al Tudi Tuhak"... which in the Lushootseed language means "... long, long, ago." I am not native American, and I had gradually began to feel more and more uncomfortable using native motifs. Taqʷšəblu encouraged me to make the film the way I felt it should be made. "We are storytellers, the stories find us... we don't find them. If you honor the spirit of our people, and yourself, you have done nothing wrong... the story must be told"

I shot the film on 35mm... using house paint, and cut-out paper... using a very simple style. Unfortunately at the moment I have no clean digital copies. Someday I hope to re-transfer the film using modern technology.

"Al Tudi Tuhak" toured the festival circuit for a few years, winning the student "Oscar", and receiving an "Annie" nomination.