Lil Emo's HalloweEmo

The inspiration for "Lil Emo's HalloweEmo" came to me while I was on vacation in Northern
Michigan where my niece, Emilia, was about to celebrate her 6th birthday.

She enjoyed waking me up each morning with "There are doughnuts" or "The sun's out" or "Wake
up Uncle Craig, let's play." As always, every greeting was followed by an infectious giggle. It
dawned on me one morning that Emilia's voice, her long black hair, her huge blue eyes and her
pouting tummy were the perfect model for Lil Emo.

I asked if she'd like to be the voice of Lil Emo and she enthusiastically agreed. I didn't have
anything written at that time, just a theme and a vague storyline. So I'd say some lines that I
thought I could use and Emilia recited them back to me while the video camera ran.

I wrote the story on the flight back to California. With only 3 weeks before the submission
deadline, a total 3D CGI animation would take too long, so I used a lot of 2D compositing. I animated
12 hours a day and rendered all night; everyday.

Some of Emilia's giggles and reactions were spontaneous yet very fitting so I created action to
include them in the story, but after a rough edit, I realized I was missing two important lines. I
emailed my sister-in-law and asked if she could record Emilia saying "I know you're home. Your
lights are on." Melanie really did a great job and emailed the file back.

I cut it in and discovered the background noise and ambiance was way off from the rest of the
audio track. After a few days of noise reduction algorithms and applications of warm reverb, the
problem was adequately resolved (I have a renewed respect for sound engineers).

The music was a rush job. I was going for Bruno Calais' "Cocobeetles" score for the movie
"Coraline". But my keyboard hadn't been turned on in ten years and the only instruments that
played were pizzicato strings. I decided to create an homage to "Psycho" and put in string stabs.
Four notes at a time and the first part of the score was done.

When I played the orchestral dance score Kimberley suggested I change it to a hip hop track. I put
together a quick clip and it didn't seem to fit. Kimberley wondered if I could blend the two types of
music. In a minor tantrum, I just played both tracks over each other…and well, it sounded pretty
good. I then went back and composed combined orchestral hip hop track.

With just a week left before the deadline, I hit my stride, adding in lightening, cloud movement,
and jumping candy. The day before the deadline, "Lil Emo's HalloweEmo" was completed...a short,
sweet, little HalloweEmo treat!