The Chihuahua Shake (Trailer)

About the film:

   The Chihuahua Shake is a musical comedy about a famous Parisian dachshund who is tasked with painting a portrait of a crazy chihuahua who just won't stop shaking. Only a local band can help the chihuahua explain that there's more to his shake than meets the eye. This project is a completely original and fresh tale, made by an 18-year-old director/animator, told with beautiful scenery, an enchanting score, and knee-slapping visual gags throughout.

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1. How did you get the idea for The Chihuahua Shake?

     Well, there were a lot of factors that eventually culminated in the final film. My grandmother rescues and fosters lots of dachshunds, and my other grandparents had a chihuahua. And I would notice that the wiener dogs were very prim and proper and would often get angry at the other dogs, while the chihuahuas would just sit there watching and shaking. But the sprout for the story originally came from my father’s friend who has since passed away. She wanted to write a story about a shaking chihuahua and my dad wrote a few measures of a song for her. A few years later I wanted to make an animation inspired by the song and I figured that a shaking chihuahua would be a good obstacle for a painter. It all grew from there and the song was fully fleshed out as the finale to the movie. 

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2. What was your writing process like?

    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. 

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3. What research did you do?

    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. 

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4. What was the hardest part?

    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’m only 18 and don’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.

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4. What was the most surprising thing you learned when making it?

    The most surprising thing I learned was that I was able to make something so relatively long. 14 minutes is a bit unusual for an animation because it takes so much time to make. The first thing I made for it was the city environment in January of 2022 but I don’t count that as my start date since in-between I made another animation called Cloud Racers and didn’t restart production until March 15th, 2023. I finished the rough layout on July 1st and the full animation on January 12th of 2024, taking me only 11 months to finish, while finishing my senior year of high school and starting my freshman year of college. 

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5. What have you done previously to prepare you for it?

    I’ve been making films since I was 10 years old, and made after-school programs to direct my films throughout middle school. I also wrote a children’s novel until switching to animated films in 2019. My first major short was Beethoven vs The Bird was nominated at festivals around the world and in the top 30 of the All-American High School Film Festival in Time Square. It was fun and snappy, but with my second short, Cloud Racers, I focused more on improving the quality of the visuals. Now, with Chihuahua Shake, I hope I was able to form a more complex and complete narrative that can resonate with audiences. 

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6. What scene are you most proud of?
   It’s rare to say this about a short film, but there are so many to choose from! I believe openings in any movie are the most important part so I tried to make the chihuahua’s introduction as engaging as possible into the title reveal. The main montage is a large bulk of it that really gets to show the consequences of the chihuahua’s shaking while showcasing multiple locations throughout the city with an amazing soundtrack playing along. However, the final song is by far the standout, but I won’t say too much about it for spoiler’s sake.

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7. The film has a lot of music, what was your process for that?

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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8. What are your future plans for The Chihuahua Shake?
a   It’s currently in it’s film festival run where I hope it will have some success, and if any studios are interested, I do have plans for what a feature or episodic versions could look like.

8. Could you give a sneak peek on your next project?
   I hope to continue improving with the next one. Right now I am putting together a short prequel to Cloud Racers featuring an enemies-to-lovers sword fight. It’s mainly meant as animation practice for other things I’m planning, but who knows, it might grow into something bigger too!

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9. Any final words?

    The Chihuahua Shake is a film about accepting others and taking the time to learn from them. It’s a celebration of cultures and life and hopefully, a joy to watch. Thank you!