THE LONG AND SISYPHEAN JOURNEY OF BILLY
OUTTAKES
The little girl
Early version of the little girl Shot
Nitsots preparing Oran for the filming
The little girl in the orchard scene was originally filmed in live action, Acted by Oran Sheinman,
and with the help of his girlfriend, my cousin, Nitsots Sarnaga, who dressed him up.
It has been interpreted to 3d animation, in order to save the element of suprise
(SPOILER ALERT!) of Billy waking up in the real world at the end of the film.
Narrator / Singer
Original Naration track
The Original narration / singing in the film, was performed by Ofir Marcovich. which was more current to the film's older version, that had an heroic feel to it.
Photo of Ofir Marcovich
The Gatekeeper
Early version of the "Gate Keeper" scene
The most frustrating part in the making of the film, was when Billy is reaching the orchard, but being blocked by a guard.
this is one of the versions of Billy's trial to get inside the orchard, in which he meets the Israely host of "who wants to be a millioner?" show.
Other versions included:
A witty, floating, white whale called "Moby dick" (wearing a mobster hat), O.S Login screen with a cute cat profile picture, the Angel Metatron, and Jesus.
O.S Login screen's Cat avatar
Worms
Originally, in the freakout sequence, Billy's empty head was supposed to be filled with living worms. After discussing with classmates that expertise in stopmotion, I figured that I'll have to film them and Billy separately. otherwise the shot will come out "flickery" (due to their movement, between camera's captures), and also they would die from the heat of the lighting :^(
I came to my parents home, and we looked for worms in the garden, afterwards I puted them on a cycling plate and videotaped them, in order to embed them into the animation. Eventually, it didn't look convincing, and I had to drop the worms idea.
Left to right: Stopmotion Animation, Shot Compositing, Worms footage
Full disclosure, passionate to include the worms in the film, I capt them for potential filming, Unfortunatly they didn't make it. Even though, writing about them here, makes sure they didn't die in vain.
Billy's stunt double
An important part of the Live action sequence was Billy getting out of a gate, since i didn't find one at the first time I got to the location I decided to shoot it apart, And since I didn't want to bother Amit for more then one shooting day, my mother gave me a hand, literally, I colored my mom's hand and filmed it opening our garden's gate, deeply hoping that I'll be able to mix it together.
Footage of Dina Gilboa with her arm colored with makeup
Fortunately, on the filming day with Amit we came across a gate in the orchard, which is the gate that got into the final version. but still, thanks mom!