Q:     Where did the idea for Felt Love start? Tell me about your team’s initial inspiration for this film. Was working on this film something very personal?

 

Angeline :   Our initial inspiration was to tell a heartwarming story about family and what a parent-child relationship meant to us. 

 

Arlene :   In terms of the look of the film, we were really inspired by stop-motion animation and handmade crafts in general! Story-wise, I think everyone has moments in their life where they realize that everyone shows their love differently. This exact story didn’t actually happen to any of us on the team, but we all had similar stories of familial love such as our moms cutting us fruit, or reading us bedtime stories. 

 

Q:     I think having no spoken lines in this film made it very relatable to anyone. Everyone is aware of the expression of anger or sadness as opposed to a particular language. Do you think that adding characters with lines would have hindered the film? Was that ever considered? What was your intention behind having no spoken lines?

 

Angeline :   I don’t think we ever really considered having spoken dialogue because we were taught to show, don’t tell in our classes at San Jose State University. We just figured that if we could tell this story without dialogue, it would just make the story that much stronger and concise, as well as more relatable to audiences everywhere.

 

Arlene :   I think a big theme in our film is that you don’t have to verbally say that you love each other to show your love. We really wanted to show that you can be there for each other together in silence, but still love each other. 

 

Q:     Tell me about your directing process. Did the vision for this film stay the same throughout? If not, what were some changes?

 

Angeline :   We went through many different stories before we got to this final one. We took about 6 months to finalize the story.

 

Arlene :   Our first few story drafts were completely different - there were drafts about pillow forts and snowmen! A lot of things changed but we always knew that we wanted to keep the heartfelt feeling, handmade look, and we always wanted it to be a story about family. 

 

Q:     I love this animation style. I’m very curious about what it is like to have a team of animators. What was the animation process of your film with more than 20 animators? Is it easier to have a lot of creative minds?

 

Angeline :   We had a lot of skilled animators helping us out, for which we were so grateful; we couldn’t have finished the film without their help. It was a great experience to work with all of them, since they all had new ideas and suggestions to make the characters’ acting more believable and true to character. 

 

Arlene :   We are so thankful for every animator we had on our team. It was definitely easier since we were able to split up tasks and have an animation pipeline going. 

 

Q:     What is the biggest takeaway you would like an audience member to take with them? What do you want an audience member to feel at the end of the film? What social value did you want your film to have?

 

Angeline :   I hope audiences will reflect on their own relationships with their parents or children, and realize that you can spend quality time with your family even when they may seem busy. Everyone shows their love in different ways. You don’t have to take a vacation together or go to an amusement park just to have fun together and enjoy being with each other.

 

Arlene :   I think I’d like people to remember to appreciate the people in their lives and to cherish even the smallest moments together. 

 

Q:     Congratulations on being recognized by more than a dozen film festivals! What is next for the Felt Love team? 

 

Angeline :   Thank you! We made this film as our senior project, so everyone in our main team has graduated. I hope that one day our team will reunite and be able to work together again to make something amazing.

 

Arlene :   Yes, thank you! Now that we’ve graduated, we’ve just been working on our craft and hope to start working in the industry soon!

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- Alan Cervantes