Filmmaker Hisko Hulsing spent over a decade on Danse Macabre, a four-and-a-half-minute animated short based on a symphony by Shostakovich. To achieve this, he painted 75 oil paintings as backgrounds, creating images of chaos, war, and death that blend historical references with current events. A work that defies the logic of modern production timelines.
Oil on canvas: analog technique against the digital clock 🎨
Hulsing used neither CGI nor digital shortcuts for the backgrounds. Each of the 75 oil paintings required weeks of work, with brushstrokes capturing everything from Soviet tanks to contemporary refugees. The animation was composed frame by frame, overlaying characters onto those paintings. The result is a dense texture that no software filter can replicate, even though the process nearly doubled the director's age.
The moral: paint 75 paintings and maybe you'll finish before retirement ⏳
Eleven years for a short that lasts less than a Ramones song. While Hulsing was painting his masterpiece, the rest of the world had already seen three generations of smartphones born and die. But hey, if your next project takes you over a decade, at least you'll have plenty of time to justify deadlines with phrases like patience is an art. Or to change careers.