Would you like to collaborate?

Z for Zenith from Chad Simmons on Vimeo.

    Do you remember quiggly line drawings? It's when someone draws a random quiggly line and pases it on to someone else to create a drawing inspired from said squiggle. Would you like to participate in a similar experiment?

     I built an animation studio in my basement. I've got a couple of ideas, but I haven't really started yet. I'm asking you to send me squiggle material which I will use to jumpstart some animations.

     I’m inspired, but mostly I’m inspired to read books all day, prepare for spring gardening, listen to the radio, volunteer, shoot baskets, watch the rain from inside, feel sorry for myself since my girlfriend left me over a year ago, pretty much anything but try to open the studio up and use it.

     I’ve got few ideas I’ve been kicking around, but mostly I’ve been making excuses instead of going into the basement. I would love to encounter the unexpected to get me motivated. Send me something.

    Would you please collaborate with me? I am quite lonesome and would like to have someone give me a gentle push to start the ball rolling so I can make the most of this time I’ve been blessed with. I don’t expect to go back to work for several more months. I would love to never go back to work and I think I’ll be able to drag another year out of this situation but I’m sure the unemployment faucet will eventually run dry. In the mean time I’d like to dedicate myself to something that will stabilize my negativity and turn it into something more akin to cynicism instead of straight up nihilism.

    Won’t you please get involved?

    I’m asking you to reach out to me to provide inspiration to make use of this time. I’d like to make some animated short films with material you provide as the basis and springboard. Does that interest you?

I’m looking for script ideas, story ideas, anecdotes, poetry, prose, dreams, fantasies, fears, doubts, hopes, disappointments, or any other imaginative notion you can think up which you’d like to see created for the screen. It doesn’t have to make sense. It doesn’t have to be a story. It can be a written letter to yourself, to your mum, to your kitty, the cat food, the little bits of crayon. It can be avant grade. It can be a bad joke. A good joke. It can be a haunting memory.

    If it's easier to be inspired on a smaller scale take note that I’ve made over 30 short films which are no longer than 30 seconds in length. If it helps to get you to conjure a concept for me I suggest you think up something that can be summed up in roughly 30 seconds. However if you have an idea that is longer I welcome that too. I’m including examples of animations I’ve made in the past to give you an idea of my abilities. Please join me.

    If the idea of writing seizes you up maybe you will enjoy the following idea more?

    I’m not limiting my requests for collaborations to written ideas. Please, please,please, my musician friends, and audio or video geeks, please send me recorded songs, jams, noodlings, false starts, recitals you’ve recorded from the past, rehearsal recordings, audio or video of you making noise, strange sound effects, terrifying screams, endless recorded laughter, atmosphere recordings of street noises, recordings of water dripping, witty dialogue, bad dialogue between fools, good dialogue between lovers, electronic music, acoustic music, bottles breaking, babies crying, dogs barking, sing a song, life being lived. Do you have a smart phone? Then you can record something interesting for me to match with a visual component. Nothing is too weird! No length, no matter how short our long will be unused. I promise.

    After the short is finished I'll send you the finished product and I’ll give you half ownership of the film. For whatever that is worth. I suspect it may be worth as much to you, as it will be to me. If you have read this far then please take the next few days, weeks, months, to consider submitting something to me. Please submit as many things as you can imagine or share this request for collaboration to others who you think would be interested. I need someone to bounce off of and I want that person to be you.

Have fun, don't feel the need to "say something" just send me a slice of your life for a few seconds.

Please email me anything you would like to throw against the wall to become realized on screen at: chadarad@hotmail.com. Put collaborate in the subject line.