In this unusual romance, hand-tinted sand, becomes a metaphor for two souls as they join and separate.
A lonely fish, hooked by an angler’s line, encounters another in the same dire situation. As the two struggle, they develop an inevitable, entangling attraction. Is it love or merely a will to survive?

With a radical new approach to sand-animation, Corrie Francis Parks tells this fluid tale of love and entanglement.
+ more about the film

  • What’s Sand Animation?

    Combining the traditional techniques of sand animation with digital processing, A Tangled Tale, is unlike any animated short film.

    Sand animation was first pioneered in the 1970s by Caroline Leaf in an exquisite short film, “The Owl Who Married a Goose”. The technique involves moving sand on a backlit plate of glass, creating silhouetted animation that is captured frame-by frame by a camera above.

    Each frame is destroyed in the process of creating the next so the sand animator must plan her scenes carefully and pray she does not sneeze! Take a peek behind the scenes of “A Tangled Tale” and learn about my unique process.

    I have always found creative ways to incorporate color in this traditionally black and white medium. Take a look at some of my past sand animation films and you will have a better understanding of the visual history leading to “A Tangled Tale”

  • 01storyboards

    Storyboards

  • WEB_shot

    Footage before digital processing

  • WEBcomposite

    The beginning of compositing

  • WEBdeep

    Adding backgrounds and effects

  • 05surface

    Ripples

  • WEBswim

    Swimming

  • snow

    Snow

  • trails

    Tracks

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Upcoming Festivals

I’m thrilled to announce A Tangled Tale  is an official selection at Annecy 2013 as well as the Palm Springs ShortFest and  Hamburg International Shortfilm Festival.  (more…)

Hyden

Tricky Women Int’l Animation Festival

I’m on the ground in the beautiful city of Vienna for Day 1 of the Tricky Women International Animation Festival. (more…)

Hand-tinted DVDs

Why I care about craft…

Back when I made my first films, I had stacks of hundreds of drawings – one for each frame of the film – leftover after everything was shot and transferred to tape. (more…)

working

Making of…

I have mixed feelings about revealing my animation secrets. On the one hand, I’ve put in long hours of experimentation to hone my techniques and they are what set my animation apart from the crowd. (more…)

KS-thankyou-thumb

Thank You Backers!

A very big sandy “Thank You!” to all the wonderful people behind this film. (more…)

Spinning

Prints!

Lucky kickstarter backers get first pick of these limited edition 8×10 prints from the film. (more…)

Finish it

How to know when you are finished.

I recently attended HATCHfest in Bozeman, a unique gathering of creative minds from around the country. (more…)

Sliders and buttons and knobs! Oh my!

Mixing it up

This week I had the privilege of working with Gabriel Guy, from the Walt Disney Animation Studios. (more…)

Read more posts »

The Tangled Tale Store is now open! If you missed out on all the swag from the Kickstarter campaign, never fear! You can still order DVDs, prints and note cards by clicking the button below. Thanks for being a part of the film’s success!

Awards and Mentions

* Read Signe Baumane’s top picks from the Tricky Women Animation Festival.

* TT featured on Mid-Current’s Video Hatch

* Want to find out more about what goes into a Kickstarter campaign? You can read the full report on Corrie’s Blog: Reflections on a Kickstarter Adventure

Download digital press kit

(326MB)

Corrie Francis Parks

Director/Animator
That’s me! I’m an award-winning animator, creator of 6 short films and numerous commercial works. I approach each project from a fresh perspective of stylistic opportunity, aiming to strike a balance between communication and visual innovation. When not in my studio animating away, I’m out playing in the closest mountain range.
corriefrancis.com

Mark Orton

Composer
Mark is part of the San Francisco based group, Tin Hat Trio. In addition to his work with Tin Hat, Mark has a vibrant career as a composer, and frequently works with film. In fact, he was nominated for Best New Composer by The International Film Music Critics Association in 2006 and was recently a Sundance Institue Composer Fellow. I’m thrilled to be working with him on “A Tangled Tale”.
markortonmusic.com

Cole Pierce

Sound Design
Cole Pierce is an artist and videographer living in Chicago. He earned his MFA (2007) from Northwestern University, exhibits his work internationally and co-authors Field Mic, a sound art and music blog. He worked on the score and sound design of Life in Perpetual Beta, a feature length documentary and has produced numerous short documentaries of education programs for the Chicago Teachers’ Center of NEIU.
colepierce.com

Backers!

149 people backed the film during our kickstarter campaign and several addition people have donated! To see the support flowing in was such an encouragement. Thanks to everyone who pledged and shared the project! There’s still time to add your name to this list of fabulous people.