The Characters
Gianni
Shaky
Shaky and Gianni’s relationship is the core of the story, so I wanted to ensure they had an equal amount of time to both be the protagonists and antagonists of their own worlds.
Gianni’s backstory is that his owner recently passed away, so he took over his paint shop and became an independent business dog and world-famous painter. Shaky on the other hand, is a lost puppy who’s a bit more mysterious. One gets easily angered while the other seems relatively carefree. That is, besides it’s constant shaking. Gianni thinks they couldn’t be more different than one another, but they’re really both just dogs in a human world.
Writing Process
I had originally planned for the short to be 5 minutes. The script was a mere 2 pages! But as I started laying out the scenes I realized that these characters were more important than I had thought and that they needed more time to develop and bond with the audience for a more impactful ending. It became a game to fit as many character beats, gags, and anything to give the film more production value, which eventually ended up becoming 14 minutes. I didn’t want this to just be another YouTube video watched and forgotten, I wanted it to feel like a full theater experience meant to last. Many shorts have failed in the past by trying to be too hard to be a feature, but everything in this just came so naturally and it never strays away from the focus of the two central dogs. The story just needed to be told.
Production
The most difficult aspect of creating this film was making sure the pacing was correct. No moment of runtime could be wasted. My goal was to make every second entertaining which meant it had to be short enough to keep you on your toes but long enough to understand and satisfy. Since I was only 18 at the time and didn't have the technical animation skills as a professional, I wanted to make up for it by perfecting the timings of jokes, the ratio of happy to sad scenes, the level of music intensity, and overall story and flow which took forever to polish. This wasn’t just an obstacle with the movie as a whole, but one that had to be figured out for every single shot. Thankfully, I think I’m pretty happy with the way it turned out.
Inspiration
My two biggest inspirations for the style of Chihuahua Shake were La La Land and Ratatouille. They’re my favorite movies, both about art, life, and relationships. I also went back to many MGM classics from the Golden Age of cinema such as An American in Paris, The Young Girls of Rochefort, and Gigi. Plus, just about any movie that has ever taken place in Paris. The inspiration for the band that sang the title song was The Three Tenors, especially their final concert under the Eiffel Tower in 1998.
The Music
I’m extremely lucky to have a very talented composer for a father. I think this was one of his favorite projects too. It all stemmed from the song he had written years ago. We then fleshed it out and gave it a main chorus with new lyrics. It’s extremely catchy. The rest of the soundtrack is equally amazing. It’s full of Parisian accordion, jazzy big bands, saxophone solos, sad violins, and soaring cinematic themes. When he was finished composing everything we were able to get real musicians to play the parts! So when you watch, know that everything you hear is authentic.
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CREW:
Written, Directed, and Animated by Chase Olivera
Music and Lyrics by Chad Olivera
CAST:
Jonathan Hartzendorf as Luciano
Jonathan Nyberg as Antonio
Giovanni Pucci as Maurice
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MUSICIANS:
Romina Barba ... choir
Oleg Bezuglov ... principal violin
Davide Bonomo ... flute
Cristian Bortoli ... bass
Ibrahim Branch ... guitar
Andrés Del Puerto ... guitar
Sofía Durán ... choir
Kim Fleuchaus ... flute
Simon Thomas George ... piano
Francisco Grillo ... trumpet
Dmitry Karev ... accordion
Kyle Matthees ... trumpet
Jakub Niewiadomski ... piano
Leo Oliveira ... drum set
Hugo Iglesias Olmos ... guitar
Neleta Ortiz ... harp
Enrico Scarpa ... tenor saxophone
Pablo Schinke ... cello
Kateryna Sushko ... accordion
Elisa Vargas ... bongos & congas
Brandon Wilkins ... clarinet
EXTRA:
Lisa Olivera ... Portrait Artist
Additional Voices ... VoiceActorGuy
Eiffel Tower Model ... Johnson Marton
Fountain Model ... Michael Saari
Software ... Blender 3.6 (Rendered in Eevee), Photoshop, Final Cut Pro
Additional Elements ... Pixabay, Footagecrate, PolyHaven
Special thanks to Blender Studio for the old lady base mesh
©2024 Chase Olivera, Blue Phoenix Filmworks