Staff Pick Premiere: "Charlotte" by Zach Dorn |

This episode of Staff Pick Premiere, forgotten folk musician Lena Black discovers her fifty-year-old song "Charlotte" has been re-made as a hit pop song. Following the album's release filmmaker Zach Dorn explores how the impact of the song's original is felt by Lena as well as her daughter Diane and her eleven-year-old grandchild, Eli.

In her letter to the famous performer, Lena writes: "There is nothing worse than to be forgotten or be confused." The theme is prominent throughout the film, as the track's recent triumph reveals some past wounds. In a series of all-but-one conversations , including Lena's letter Eli's phone call, and Diane's cassette recording - Dorn creates a touching portrait of a family starting to talk to one another in the midst of music.

When asked about his distinct style for the film Dorn stated: "I loved the conceit of exploring these bonds without ever seeing the family members interact. Through the use of separate monologues, I wanted the audience to be as if the characters were each creating their own versions of the song. Generational differences exist in physical, emotional and geographic gaps, but, hopefully there's something at the root of all their worries that can be merged into the same music."

This is a tune that's familiar to viewers who have witnessed their families break up However "Charlotte" differs from other family drama we've shared on the . With hand-crafted puppets and stop-motion animation Dorn explores their lives, memories, and dreams to provide emotions.

     In the lead up to publication, We spoke to Dorn to get more information about his inspiration and methodology and his design. Watch the interview below for more information about "Charlotte. "

 The film's source of source of inspiration

"In 2019 I made a puppet show based on the world's largest sponge and the TV show Gilmore Girls. Recently, as I was shopping for miniature items at the faux flower aisle of a Michael's craft retailer the cover by Carly of Joni Mitchell's "Both Sides Now" appeared on the speaker. The song is extremely upbeat an excellent bubbly pop track that is a bit unusual considering that the original track is a bit more complex and sad. It was a wonderful feeling as I loved this Carly Rae cover so much. For me, the most popular cover, though less slick was still filled with the emotional depth and emotional complexities of Joni Mitchell's classic. I was a bit embarrassed and conflicted at this thought, but I was able to envision Carly Rae jepsen as well as Joni Mitchell's version of "Both Sides Now" when they spoke. The conversation was later to become the basis for "Charlotte ."

 In the process of creating this script

"I imagined"Charlotte," the first"Charlotte "Charlotte" to be a radio-based show that was like a version of the Joe Frank voyeuristic drama, set inside footage of miniature worldswithout the use of puppets. I composed the story through the eyes of eight characters who all were involved in a professional or personal relationship , which was built on the theme song "Charlotte." After spending time getting get to know them, Diane and Eli were the ones I found most intriguing, and so I kept these characters around with Lena and pop star T.Y.M. The moment I noticed this, it was time to spend a great deal of time trying to figure out how to best combine their lives."

On the music collaboration:

"When I wrote "Charlotte," I always had the singer Jenna Caravello in mind. As I composed the lyrics I recorded my fictional Rolling Stone interviews featuring Lena Black and some of faux-diary entries. From this, Jenna wrote the folk tune.

     Jenna's tune was sent to Zhenya Golikova who I met online. The year was 2020. Zhenya covered these voice notes that I wrote to a friend, silly and silly songs about marshmallows and cats and missing someone in the country of another. And the following year, Zhenya changed my lyrics into amazing ballads. Her music has that old Magnetic Fields feel, as though it was written by the sea by some horny marine mongoose.. I sent her Jenna's song and she had the pop version one week later. . "

on the talk-show program:

"So numerous female folk singers during the 1960s and 1970s were not given the respect they deserve. Artist such as Vashti Bunyan Karen Dalton, Linda Perrhacs along with The Roches, were either ignored or relegated to categories such as "freak folk" and weren't treated with the same respect as male counterparts. I think there's this fascinating contradiction in that folk music is a part of contemporary ideals, but it is entangled in a particular kind of subtle gender-based misogyny.

     As I thought of these artists I could not think of Lena at this strange moment in her career. To stay relevant, her professional career, she'd have to participate in the 1970s Laurel Canyon lifestyle, party with the right crowd and take the proper drugs - a world made and governed by males. In my opinion, she'd like to be in that situation. Perhaps because she's a mother and maybe she saw the whole thing. It's hard to decide. Yet, I was greatly affected by her grief - spread over an entire lifetime of grief over a long career. What happens to the anger of her? What happens to her sorrow? having a conversation to her little girl? Thinking about these questions I decided to try writing Lena's interaction with Sam as a prelude to the bond she shares to her child. "

On developing his unique visual style:

     "In my early 20s, I trained as an actor. Unfortunately, I wasn't good in doing it. I'm missing the eighth of my brain , which I think has resulted in a complete lack of spatial awareness. The idea of manipulating or making things in three dimensions was completely out of the question. However, it was my luck that I discovered Toy Theater, a type of two-dimensional puppetry which was extremely popular in the late nineteenth century England. I began building small dioramas using the matte boards and acrylics including pop-up book. I made use of live-projection digital cameras inside of these, and told stories about my landlord or my dog who had died.

     I get obsessed over the little details in things such as the barcode of Doritos' bag, or the look of the McDonald's Happily Meal box. Perhaps because of my missing brain, I'm not able to cut in straight lines, or design something that is realistic - hence I'm in this mode which is a combination of a thing that's falling apart, and obsessed.

     To create the puppets, I collaborated with stop-motion animators Oliver Levine and Lily Windsor to create a slightly gritty and textural style suitable to the hand-painted film's world. When I made the film during the period of the lockdown, we needed to work on a long-distance basis. Lily came from Chicago and Lily from Chicago, sending tiny boxes of llamas in addition to Oliver dropping head-sculpts off in front of my house Burbank . "

What's next?

     "Currently I'm independently developing a documentary about The CGI Livia Soprano from the third season of The Sopranos, as well as this genetic condition known as BRCA2. I grew up in an Italian American family filled with a bunch of eccentric traditions and characters, however at the end of my 20s the BRCA2 mutation caused the disintegration of these family bonds by leading to the deaths of family people in the family.

     In 2020 I watched The Sopranos for the first time. Each episode felt like I had a the conversations with my entire family. In the present, I'm making an film of this event that recreates old home movies in slow motion, then analyzing Livia Soprano's posthumous performance connection to my personal grieving experience. . "

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