Crayon Box
Directed and Created by Breana Greene
Overview:
A colorful group of people enjoy their time outside a crayon box.
Q&A with Breana Greene
Q1: Tell us a little about your award-winning animation, Crayon Box.
My animated short film is about a colorful group of people enjoying their time outside a crayon box. It stars twelve colorful people in a blank white paper-covered room expressing their artistic nature in a fun and careless way. Freedom of expression is the key element here.
Q2: Where did the idea for Crayon Box come from?
So I have always had a personal love for crayons as my passion for art started with using them when I was around 3 or 4. For a long time I used nothing but crayons as I didn’t feel comfortable using any other coloring materials until around middle or high school. I was very loyal to using them to say the least. Furthermore, for me personally I have always enjoyed being around and making friends of people from different races and backgrounds. I have been fortunate enough to encounter and have these moments or relationships throughout my school life for sure. Society has historically and continues to place negative attachments and stereotypes just based on skin color. I think it’s terrible as what matters is your character and actions as a person not how you look. So sometime around late 2021, I just had this instant idea in my head to combine my childhood love for crayons and the thought of people together to make this fun creation.
Q3: Were there any funny anecdotes or interesting and memorable moments while making the film?
For me, it’s just the happy thought of having these twelve characters come out of the crayon box and enjoying their time together or individually. If you notice in the film, each crayon person is happy by seeing more and more of their fellow crayon friends outside the box and having fun coloring and drawing. Do you know how hard it is to have twelve happy colorful characters and try to give them all an equal amount of screen time? With a film that’s four to almost five minutes long and giving each crayon person around three scenes at least to feel like you’re not missing out on any of them is interesting enough to say the least.
Q4: As an independent filmmaker, what were some of the unique challenges you faced in creating this film? How did you overcome them?
My biggest challenge always is to fulfill my own personal deadlines when making my animated films. I normally give myself a year but 9/10 times I go over that. If I want to be honest, solely on its own, Crayon Box took about a year to make. It took a year and a half (as stated on my socials) because I was also working on my other now-completed animated film, Fallen Angel, at the same time. I tend to work on multiple projects at once. I overcome my own deadlines or projects in general by my own perseverance. While on the verge of completing one project, I always look forward to starting and completing my next one.
Q5: What brought you into the world of filmmaking?
Honestly, I didn’t plan on this short filmmaking route at all. I chose to be inspired by my thesis film I did in college, Agent X. I had so much fun applying everything I learned in college and using it on my senior project that I wanted to expand upon that and see if I could make more short films. Furthermore, I think short films in general or animated short films/ miniseries can be more effective as you have a limited time frame to focus more on your story or get to the point to capture an audience’s attention.
Q6: What films or filmmakers have been the most inspiring or influential to you and why?
Animated or anime films have always been the most influential for me, even when I was a kid. I don’t particularly have a favorite as I’m always inspired to work on my own animated characters and stories after I watch any one of them. I find them inspiring as animation at its core is visual escapism. I always love how they visually and mentally make me feel. They take me into a whole other world filled with endless imagination, adventure, and world building.
Q7: Do you have a favorite film project that you have done? Why?
Funny enough, Crayon Box is actually my favorite film to date. It’s so simple yet so colorful and effective that I already have plans in mind on expanding more of these characters in the future. It was such a fun and positive project to create and work on that I can’t wait to spread more of this as my own personal franchise.
Q8: What advice would you share with a new filmmaker about filmmaking or the industry?
The biggest and most honest advice I can give to a filmmaker is to build your own portfolio independently and don’t rely on any industry to give you what you want (i.e. career, job, etc.). I know it’s a harsh pill to swallow and it’s not something any art school will truly ever prepare you for or educate their students on, but take it from me personally. I have been on my own independent animator journey now for five years and I couldn’t be more proud and internally fulfilled with myself and my body of work so far. After being initially rejected from job applications or not “having enough experience” like every other animation or art student ever, I took it upon myself to search for independent outlets or anything that could inspire me to continue to pursue my passion, and by luck I stumbled upon Film Freeway.
I know even half of the success I have achieved with my animated films over the past few years wouldn’t be possible if I had worked in an industry where there are historically known toxic work environments and behaviors, and little pay or credit given. Go where you are appreciated, not tolerated. You’re better off building your own kingdom then settling for someone else’s anyway. You don’t have to sacrifice yourself, talent, time, energy, and overall well-being, just to job hop to make a living or work on projects you might not even like in the first place.
Q9: Do you have any future projects coming up?
Yes! My next animated short film will be called Rose Petals. It’s a romantic fantasy about two people connected through rose petals. I don’t have a current date or time when the project will start for right now though. In the meantime, I’ll be focusing more on making small animated shorts (a couple of seconds long) to add to my portfolio and promote it. I’ll also be working more on my children’s books as I want to self-publish more of them by this time next year.
Thanks for the support in advance if you do follow me on any of these [links below], it means a lot.
You can find out more about Breana Greene and her projects below:
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