Rotoscope Fairytale

Year of the Fish is a modern take on the Cinderella story set in a massage parlor in Chinatown, New York. Independent filmmaker David Kaplan has taken a low budget approach to rotoscoping. The film was shot on miniDV. Each frame was then converted to a high definition frame, processed and ‘artistified’ using Synthetiks painting software Studio Artist. (read all about the animation process on the film’s website). Kaplan’s economic production process allowed him to work with a small team of animators, thus retaining a high level of creative control over the end result, which looks – judging from the trailer – quite impressionistic. Year of the Fish is currently playing at a small selection of cinemas in the US.