Synopsis:

One little elephant has been roaming Barcelona and Madrid's streets for months, relentlessly looking for his one good friend after his sudden disappearance on a Mediterranean beach one tragic afternoon.

Traces of the small chicken anywhere, yellow spots everywhere, is it him or is it just his hurt mind and imagination? Struggling against the elements of nature and the passing of time, he will do everything his tired body can do to find him, for as long as he can.


ONE IMPORTANT NOTE for ENVIRONMENTAL concerned individuals:
the beach was not polluted as the little yellow chicken doll was later retrieved from the water (pulling a long string, no less) but unfortunately the yellow plastic bottle was already far floating on the sea by the time I got there, so I just took advantage of its appearance to incorporate it into the story.

ONE LEGAL NOTE:
all recognizable faces have been blurred for privacy reasons.
all foreground noticeable brands have been blurred for copyright reasons too.


Production Notes:

This video was born out of love, no really! See I bought this adorable little elephant hand puppet in one trip to Budapest, Hungary where my grandmother lives. He was all by himself waiting for a friendly hand to bring him to life!
I figured it would be very neat to show it one day to my beloved girlfriend who lives in NYC while we would Skype.

But before doing that I found myself thinking larger, and so I began taking this little fellow and my camera to the streets, whenever I could. During months and by chance I would come upon great sightings and then I would make sure I would capture them, always using the little elephant as a witness. I had to learn not to feel embarrassed in public for moving a puppet with my left hand and shooting with my camera on the other, and pretend that what I was doing was perfectly normal. I would be going out to work with the Elephant in my bag in case I would come upon something great. The idea was to make a huge video-love letter during the times we've been missing each other. It was an adventure and a riot.

I did come upon something great when I found out about the contest via Moby's mailing list. It wasn't until later that, after going through hours and hours of footage I saw that there was an inherent melancholy in many of the shots I made, and so it could encompass with the mood of the music and the content of the lyrics. (Before that I was thinking of shooting something from zero)

I decided I had to write a simple story based on the footage I already had and make that my contest entry, but there was something missing: the Elephant's goal was not clear. That's when the little yellow chicken came into the story, so I had to go out and shoot several new shots, this time deliberately with the purpose of the video in order to create a story arc. In the end when I see the final cut I say to myself I really really love this video. And so does my girlfriend.

I loved the experience and even if I don't win, I've already won so much, as I've already created something I truly adore, and share what began as this little display of love, proudly to anyone in the interwebs and beyond.

Credits:

Directed, written, shot, "puppeteered" and edited by Carlos Opitz

Cast:
My Left Hand wearing an Elephant Puppet …..as..……Elefantísimo
Mechanical Little Yellow Chicken…..as..…Megapollito
Random surprised strangers looking curiously at the dolls….. Real Life citizens and visitors of Madrid and Barcelona, Spain