(compiled by Skye Lobell)

Fernanda Frick is a Chilean animator, illustrator and director.

Frick started to pursue a career in animation at the age of 13, after seeing a making-of of Sprited Away, realizing that if human beings created animation, so could she. She started learning animation by adapting other people’s comics, until she got a job from an independent US band to make a music video for them. She created a story for the music video, which made her realize that she wanted to tell her own stories instead of adapting those of others.

She studied at university for two years before signing up for the character animation course on Animation Mentor, from which she graduated in 2013. Afterwards, she won a scholarship to attend the Gobelins summer program, and after that completed a one-month animation internship at the Chilean studio Punk Robot on the short film A Bear Story (2014), the first Chilean short to win the Academy Award for best animated short film.

She created her first short film, When I’m Scared (2013), out of fear of creative stagnation. Her fourth short film, Here’s the Plan (2017) – a story about a recently married couple who put their dreams on hold and must rediscover what really matters to them – was born out of her frustration with how negatively mainstream media portrayed long-term romantic relationships, which she has found personally harmful, as well as the wish to portray a relationship where the characters work as a team and go through hardships without it having to end in separation.

Frick found it difficult to relate to human characters in live-action films as a child because they lacked flaws. She finds it easier to connect with characters if they are anthropomorphized or abstract, which is why she felt drawn to animation. As a teenager, she became intrigued with the styles and subjects of indie cinema. She was insecure about her art style until she discovered the graphic novel Goodbye, Chunky Rice, by Craig Thompson, which portrayed characters with cute, simple designs and complex relationships and emotions. This became her major inspiration for her own style of storytelling.

One of the most distinctive aspects of Here’s the Plan is the visual style which borrows from indie cinema in its tone and cinematography, but has cute and simplified character designs which remain faithful to her original illustrations. To help keep the tone naturalistic, she cast real-life couple Lindsay and Alex Small-Butera, animators from the studio Smallbü, as the voices of the two main characters.

The film took two years to complete and was financed by Chile’s National Council of Culture and the Arts and Frick’s own savings. The production faced several issues, including the lack of qualified CG professionals, and the inability to compete with the budget of advertising and video games, where the most skilled CG crews could be found. She was however able to complete the production through online collaboration and with the help of Punk Robot, Estudio Pintamonos, and a render farm in China.    

Frick is currently working on a graphic novel called Strokes (Trazos), and is developing an animated TV series. She also freelances and teaches at local universities.     

References:

Amid Amidi, Netflix To Develop Fernanda Frick’s ‘Raise The Bar!,’ A Series From Chile: https://www.cartoonbrew.com/internet-television/netflix-to-develop-fernanda-fricks-raise-the-bar-a-series-from-chile-160504.html

Fernanda Frick, About Me: http://fernandafrick.com/about-me/  

Samuel Locuviche, Watch The Trailer Premiere of ‘Here’s the Plan,’ A Sweet Film About Relationships: http://www.cartoonbrew.com/shorts/watch-trailer-premiere-heres-plan-sweet-film-relationships-147728.html

Danny Paez, CB Fest Premiere: ‘Here’s The Plan’ by Fernanda Frick: https://www.cartoonbrew.com/cb-fest/heres-the-plan-154171.html

Entrevista con Fernanda Frick, guionista y directora de “Here’s the Plan”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wROiAPPr8PI

Fernanda Frick Studio, About: https://www.ffrickstudio.com/about/  

Further Reading:

Mauricio Neira, “Here’s the plan”: Fernanda Frick cuenta cómo nació el nuevo corto animado chileno que busca un Oscar: https://www.publimetro.cl/cl/entretenimiento/2017/10/25/heres-the-plan-fernanda-frick-cuenta-nacio-nuevo-corto-animado-chileno-busca-oscar.html   

Jorge Rodriguez-Jimenez, This Short Animation By Two Chilean Women Is Making Waves In The Industry: https://fierce.wearemitu.com/fierce-boss-ladies/these-two-chilean-women-are-leaving-a-mark-on-the-animation-world-with-heres-the-plan/

Constanza Troncoso, Este es el Plan: una cinta chilena llega a la Comic-Con de San Diego: http://culto.latercera.com/2017/07/03/este-plan-una-cinta-chilena-llega-a-la-comic-san-diego/

External Links:

Website: http://fernandafrick.com/

Fernanda Frick Studio Website: https://www.ffrickstudio.com/

Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/ffrick

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJuLdFlj1ZQZfRdWhh9uHag

Behance: https://www.behance.net/FernandaFrick

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fernandafrick/?hl=en

Tumblr: http://ffrick.tumblr.com/

IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm7936210/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/fernandafrick?lang=en

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FFrickAnimation

Dribbble: https://dribbble.com/FernandaFrick

CTNAnimationExpo Profile: http://www.ctnanimationexpo.com/fernanda-frick

Here’s the Plan Website: http://herestheplanfilm.com/

Here’s the Plan Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/herestheplanfilm

Here’s the plan – Animated Short Film from Fernanda Frick on Vimeo.