ZPZtudio‘s beautiful Luminaris has been shortlisted for an Oscar as Best Animated Short Film. The official nominees for the category will be announced on January 24th. The Academy Awards will be presented on Sunday, February 26, 2012, at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles, California.

Director Juan Pablo Zaramella speaks with us about making the film:

The complete production of the film took two and a half years, mainly due to the unpredictability of weather conditions and sunlight movement that changed shadows on the locations every day.

We used two Canon cameras, 450D and 7D, and Dragon Stop Motion, of course. Both the speed and the intensity of sunlight changed during the shooting of a take, so we had to modify the time-lapse frequency and the exposure of the photographs all the time. One of our favorite Dragon features, X sheet, is very useful, and the photography section is very complete.

Music was the main inspiration for the film. Also, of course, we drew from classic pixilation filmmakers- Jan Svankmajer, Norman McLaren, and the pioneer of cinema, Georges Méliès. The technique itself was inspiration for writing the story, trying to use all the possibilities that it provides.

-Juan Pablo Zaramella
Best of luck and congratulations on the well-deserved honor.