LOVE STORY is an animated drama, short and funny, about the separation of Love and Sex, with a happy ending.
Filmmaker's Note: It was 1998, I had been in New York for three long years, and had made no films during this time. I was very frustrated. Creative juices were overflowing me spilling off in the most unexpected places. I was going crazy, like an unmilked cow. One reason I was stopped on my tracks was that I believed I couldn't make a film on my own. I didn't believe in myself as an animator or as a producer. I thought someone else had to give me money and a studio and hoards of animators and cell painters in order for me to make it happen.
All of sudden a strange illustration project paid very well. I had a couple of thousand dollars that I could buy nice clothes with, go to Caribbean, or give to a charity for starving children. I decided to make a film. Just a test to see if I could do it on my own.
The story came from a dream a friend of mine had - he said an alligator was pulling him into the water and he was struggling to get out of the alligator's grip. It reminded me of a series of photos from National Geographic I saw few years ago - an alligator grabs an antilope by its muzzle and pulls her into the water. Water fills with blood. I identified with that antilope very much. Every day seemed like a struggle to get out of the alligator's mouth. But I didn't have the skills to draw that fight. Also because of the budget and time limitations, I had to make as few drawings as possible. So I sat down and flashed out the story almost like a picture book. Then with my limited skills I animated what I had to animate. It came down to 200 drawings - for a 3 min and 30 sec film!
