“Sita Sings the Blues” by Nina Paley

I was recently asked what was my inspiration behind starting up Legends Animated: I think after watching Sita Sings the Blues by Nina Paley I began to fully appreciate how moving, hilarious, and visually stunning animation can be. I’ve enjoyed watching cartoons for as long as I can remember: many of my childhood memories were about my siblings and I watching shows like Tiny Toon Adventures and Rescue Rangers. But it was Nina Paley that made me realize that animation could be so much more than entertainment, so from then on I started exploring this whole new world of independent animation by attending animation festivals like LAAF and visiting websites like Indie Animator.

I believe what got me from simply being an animation fan to actually producing animation was working at Stop n Go Productions to create a claymation short film for the 168 Hour Film festival. Due to the nature of the festival, we only had a week (168 hours) to complete and submit our film Dragon Season, so needless to say the production process was bananas (it’s difficult enough for live action films, but to do an animated film in one week is virtually unheard of). Thanks to producers Michael Mitchell and Sarah Abel as well as their wonderful production crew, we were able to not only submit the short film on time but also win the Best Animation award. I’ve worked in indie filmmaking a few years before joining Stop n Go Productions, but after that experience I knew animation production was all I ever wanted to do.