Hello!

I am John Brito and I work as an animation artist in an advertising agency in Vienna, creating 2D and 3D animations, storyboards as well as doing some compositing work.

My friends and my family often ask me what I am doing all the time, if I am still drawing and – “how is this movie thing going anyway?”

Well, I am working on it. I am currently in post production of my animated science fiction short film, Echoes. My little brother talked me into making a blog to keep crewmembers, family, friends and you, dear reader, informed about the creation and the progress of my films.

I love films. Always did.

But let´s start from the beginning:

In 2004 or 2005 I sat with a friend of mine in a café in Vienna and we were discussing the possibilities of online comics and interactive storytelling. I was dreaming of flat Star Trek pads on which you were able to receive content (back then iPads didn´t exist). Since the age of 12, I´ve been writing on a storyline for a comic series which unfolded in 5 chapters, each chapter consisting of 2 – 3 seasons, and each season having between 12 and 26 issues. Since I was a kid, I´ve always been drawing, creating landscapes and terrains, building destroyed cities and fortresses, making sculptures and building crazy useless stuff (like a pneumatic right hand with five fingers which needed my left hand to control it and my right to hold it, leaving me with just one functional hand instead of three) . And at this moment I was ready to start drawing my comic saga – taking a year off in Chile, South America.

But my friend´s suggestion sounded somehow surreal.

FRIEND: “Why don´t you make a movie instead?”

ME: “I´m talking about online comics, not movies. Movies are too expensive.”

FRIEND: “A movie has a far bigger emotional impact.”

ME: “We don´t live in Hollywood, nor even America. No way that will be ever possible.”

FRIEND: “Why not?”

I kept thinking….”Why not?”

He was right. You´ve got to remember, that these were the 2000s. Digital Filmmaking existed just for George Lucas and a few others. And analogue film (the one in the round cans) was extremely expensive. Nevertheless, he was right.

I´ve always been good at creating worlds.

And what if I can manage to create worlds that a ten year old would sneak into a cinema for? He would put on his older brother´s boots to look older in order get into a PG-13 rated movie. I want him to forget, at least for two hours, the other boys punching him at school or the quarelling adults on the street. No matter how harsh the world outside might be. For these two hours, this boy (or girl) will wander about my world.

I guess, that´s a mission statement. 🙂

And I invite you to join me on my journey.

John