Ageless Animation

Stop-motion studio offers a new twist on an old fish tale

LEHI — A stop-motion DVD distributed by the people who created LDS missionary films "God's Army" and "States of Grace" have released a new movie about another missionary — Old Testament prophet Jonah.

"Jonah, A Great Fish Story" created by the young stop-motion film company, Ageless Animation, and distributed by Main Street Movie Company, targets children as it tells the story of Jonah and the whale. It uses an interesting convention not in the Bible, a hermit crab named Sartan who is more conscience than crustacean.

Like Pinocchio's Jiminy Cricket, this little crab attempts to direct Jonah to follow God's command and travel to Nineveh to preach repentance.

Of course, Jonah follows his own course and heads out to Tarshish instead. When a storm threatens to sink the ship where he has booked passage, the sailors throw him overboard in their belief it will calm the seas. A whale swallows Jonah and his sidekick and deposits them on the shore. Jonah then follows God's instructions, much to the delight of Sartan.

Only a half hour long, sculptors created each frame in Jonah by moving heavily costumed foam figures into position for the camera — stop-motion animation. Visuals that cannot be created through stop-motion animation, like fire, smoke and water, are created in a computer. The script by Platte Clark is all in verse.

Brothers Chris and Nathan Smith's Ageless Animation company is next to the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point. The studio offers a tour so the public can watch the stop-motion animation being created. Just in July, 40,000 people took the tour, producer Cliff Miles said.

Miniature sets are built of wood and foam. When production is in full swing the Ageless Animation studio hires about half a dozen artists, Nathan Smith said. Once the doll-house size sets are constructed they can be used again with cosmetic changes. Even the furnishings are built on site.

The Smith Brothers began the business eight years ago when they contacted long-time family friend and local fantasy artist James C. Christensen to assist them with the artwork. The inspiration for the film was based on a fantasy painting Christensen did of the fish that swallowed Jonah.

Before Christensen would sign on with the brothers he wanted them to prove they could create a film. So they put together a three-minute piece, "Bird Bonkers," which is included in the Jonah DVD.

"My input was visual," Christensen said. "It was their story ... Jonah is a good little story. It has great morality for kids."

The artist has published 11 books of his fantasy art and sells limited edition prints from some 500 galleries throughout the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. Jonah was created five years ago, but since it was their first movie, it took time to solve distribution problems, Nathan Smith said.

Now the brothers are finishing up their second movie and are leaning heavily toward self-distribution, Miles said. Based on the Bible story of David and Goliath, the movie, "Davie and Golimyr" is due out before Christmas, along with their first holiday DVD, "The Light Before Christmas," based on the classic "The Night Before Christmas" poem. The films are short, only about 30 minutes, and targeted toward television audiences.

A Halloween holiday movie is in pre-production, the second in what is to become a series of classic holiday films, Nathan Smith said.

E-mail: rodger@desnews.com

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