Two Chief Sealth International High School students whose stop frame animation films were shown at the Seattle International FIlm Festival on Tuesday, May 17 came to the show through a program sponsored by the software company Adobe called Youth Voices.

Their films reflect their view of the world and are made simply (if not quickly) employing a kind of visual poetry that seems to come naturally to both of them. Neither of them are driven by the technology used to create their films. In fact they can't name the camera they used. They did use the Adobe Premier Pro software to assemble the final products and a tool called OnionSkin to permit them to see previous frames, but their primary motivation was to tell a simple story, each using animated clay figures.

Rachel Townsend, soon to be 17, is used to being prolific. She wrote a 50000 word novel in 30 days for National Novel Writing Month in November and a comic book in last year. She enjoys drawing, acting, and likes to sing too.

Her film “Technicolor Love” is a stop motion animation about two people who fall in love in a dream and then embark on a quest to find each other in reality. She used clay, cut paper, Swedish goldfish, dog toy stuffing, a toy car, beads and got a lot of help from four friends in the making of the film. She was anxious to give them credit so they are Jesse Tibbits, Cai Lu, Emily Follansby, and Bailey Marshall. The entire project took 18 hours to shoot and assemble for 2:53 of screen time (including credits). To prepare, Townsend watched "many stop motion films."
"I love movies that use that technique," she said.

Brooke Sarver, 14, has been acting since she was five years old. "I wanted to experience all different points of view in making the film." Her process was substantially more extended with her film "Love Stems", taking close to two months to complete. "I started out with my film and I didn't like it so I had to start a new one. Then the characters kept on falling over so I had to reshoot the scene, and it was horrible but I finally got through it. Then I had a lot of technical difficulties not being able to see my film." The story of her film is described on the Adobe site as "Having found, then lost, the love of his life, a man recovers by raising their child. He is then reunited with his love in heaven." Sarver was previously involved in a film project with Reel Grrls where she learned about claymation.

Both Townsend and Sarver plan to make more claymation films but Sarver has another script ready to go for a live action film. Sarver has some words of advice if you'd like to make a film of this type. "It takes a long time and a lot patience to do it." Townsend echoed that note by saying, "It's tedious, it's very challenging, it's also immensely rewarding and I recommend it to anybody that wants to pursue it.

A total of 23 short films were screened May 17, by youth from all over Seattle, focused on subjects ranging from love, wars and violence, to the dangers of underage drinking. You can see all the films in the program here.

About Adobe Youth Voices
Adobe Youth Voices is the Adobe Foundation's philanthropy initiative that is aimed at helping young people "Create with Purpose." The program is open to 13-18 year-olds and provides an educational experience that promotes, through the use of their software tools the creation of art including videos, animations photo essays, and/or web content about issues that matter to them most. The program gives the tools to global educators to integrate technology in their teaching to inspire youth. Through the process of developing and producing these works the program attempts to have young people learn critical technology and life skills and realize the power and influence of their voice.

More than $7 MILLION is invested via the Adobe Foundation annually to the Adobe Youth Voices program, through training, educational resources, and grants. The program also leverages software donations and employee volunteers from Adobe.