Private Project

Derivative

The Yin-Yang planet’s history is like Earth’s. As it progresses from cave dwellers to world wars, the people live under various ruling powers, just like on Earth. But this is not Earth. There are differences. And if history is written by choices, can their choices right history?

  • Gary M. Sanner
    Director
  • Gary M. Sanner
    Writer
  • Gary M. Sanner
    Producer
  • Gary M. Sanner
    Musical Score
  • Gary M. Sanner
    Editor
  • David C. Greene
    Artist and Videographer
  • Gary M. Sanner
    Artist and Videographer
  • Project Type:
    Animation, Music Video, Short
  • Genres:
    Fiction, Sci-Fi, Social Science Fiction
  • Runtime:
    10 minutes 50 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    June 19, 2020
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Gary M. Sanner

Gary M. Sanner is the director, producer, writer, composer (his passion), editor, and secondary artist and videographer for the animated short DERIVATIVE (2020).

A musically illiterate emotional outsider, he makes up music in his head and matches it to sounds produced by a scorewriter app, which generates the audio. This years-long process often evokes narrative imagery in his mind, hence the video short.

Other creative pursuits include lyrics, essays, and graphics.

He was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1956, and left for California as soon as he turned 18.

For more background information and additional attachments/links, see the Director's Profile: https://filmfreeway.com/GarySanner

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

DERIVATIVE is a musically-inspired animated social sci-fi short which unfolds in two contrasting parts: the intense main narrative (8:35) is followed by a contemplative epilogue (2:15). It is my first motion picture effort.

Although certain scenes seem to reflect current events — religious zealots oppressing dissenters, a plague that preys on ignorance and denial, government declaring protests to be illegal, the military targeting domestic civilians — I conceived the plot in 2014, when I thought hostilities in Washington couldn’t possibly get worse. I sought escape in composing music I called "Derivative"', and became aware of a story which seemed to be developing itself as I was developing the music, and which offered unity in the face of a divisive government. When I mentioned it to a talented friend, David C. Greene, his eagerness to provide most of the main narrative's artwork and animation made the project feasible.

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DERIVATIVE was created using two Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15" laptop computers running OS X 10.10 Yosemite and 10.11 El Capitan, and their bundled apps Keynote, Numbers, Preview, Safari, QuickTime, iTunes, and iMovie; a Hewlett-Packard ENVY 17t Notebook computer running Microsoft Windows 8.1; two LaCie Rugged 1TB portable hard drives; a Hewlett-Packard Color LaserJet Pro MFP M277dw printer; a Huion H610PRO V2 drawing tablet; Anime Studio Pro 11; Pixelmator 3.4; Finale 2014 scorewriter; and Internet access for public-domain images, historical information, and Morse Code instructions.