Firebreak

Brandon and Royal change lives through firefighting. The two men met fighting wildfires while imprisoned in California’s penal system. Now, despite institutional barriers, personal financial pressure, and mounting environmental dangers, they are training other formerly incarcerated firefighters to become professionals and join their new, self-owned department.

I served as the art director and animator for the documentary. I worked with the filmmakers to create an overall visual design style for the film, including title design, poster design, archival image treatments, and the design of the film’s website and promotional materials. The film also featured an animated sequence made up of archival image scans and oil pastel effects drawn by Miró Merrill and myself.

Role
Art Director & Animator

Client
Blue Chalk Media

Archival Treatments

In an effort to provide the archival material with more visual consistency, I came up with an animated treatment that required printing and re-scanning the photos. This allowed for the smaller and lower quality photos to have a bit more detail as well as gave each photo an animated grain and jitter to provide a bit more visual interest.

Animation

Website Design & Promotion

  • Kenzie Bruce, Director/Producer/Camera Operator
    Chris Janjic, Director of Photography/Producer
    Greg Moyer, Executive Producer
    Pam Huling, Executive Producer
    Eric Maierson, Editor
    Jesse Crowell, Editor/Colorist/Creative Consultant
    Ian Miller, Associate Editor
    Miró Merrill, Art direction & animation
    Conner Lee, Art direction & animation
    Amy Polansky, Supervising Producer
    Jessica Stewart, Supervising Producer
    Sebastián Weinberg, Supervising Producer
    Mariko Fujinaka, Post-Production Manager
    Sarah Bourscheid, Additional Editing
    José Márquez, Additional Editing
    Caroline Weaver, Additional Editing
    Jamie Francis, Camera Operator
    Fong Kuo, Camera Operator
    Rebekah Nichilo, Camera Operator
    Vassily Maximillian, Gaffer
    Justin Ward, Gaffer
    Jose Castro, Sound Recordist
    Jamie Scarpuzza, Sound Recordist
    Tenoch Aztecatl, Production Support
    Musicbed, Music
    Soundstripe, Music
    Th3rd Sound, Sound Design
    Chip Sloan, Sound Design
    Tristan Schmunk, Sound Design
    Melissa Burch, Editorial Advisory Committee
    Salomon Moreno-Rosa, Editorial Advisory Committee
    Riley Yuan, Editorial Advisory Committee
    Rob Finch, Creative Consultant