Guy Ben Shetrit had a pretty good summer. The Israeli rocker and animator finished a project that was more than three years in the making: a 3D animated music video for “Hey,” a killer track released by his very own rock band, Eatliz. Guy directed, wrote and served as supervising animator on the film, which he entered into The Babelgum Online Film Festival. Out of 12,000 submissions, it won the Spike Lee Award for animation. Ben crossed the pond to accept the award and got to meet the legendary filmmaker in person.

The music video for "Hey" is a darkly comic eye-popper about a little girl and her gargantuan pet toad. It shows a terrific flair for character detail, and is obviously the work of a delightfully twisted imagination. In addition to his success as an animator, Guy’s band is doing quite well. Eatliz’s debut album, Violently Delicate, was released to critical acclaim in 2007. You can download the album for free.

FilmNet spoke with Guy about winning the Spike Lee Award, the musical stylings of Eatliz, and the importance of dropping acid at the opportune moment.

Hey Guy, congratulations on winning the Spike Lee award! What was it like meeting Mr. Spike Lee?

Thank you very much! Getting the prize from Mr. Lee himself, knowing he personally picked my work, was mind blowing. Crossing the universe to meet him and get the prize from him was very exciting. I and the other awarded directors were told that he cherishes his privacy, so I managed to swat only a few words with him before the ceremony. It's really important for him to support young directors, so he is involved in some international film competitions. I was really grateful getting the Babelgum award from Spike Lee.

You have a lot of experience working on commercials, TV shows and videos games in Israel. Is the production scene a thriving industry there?

The Israeli production scene is very advanced and comprehensive. In addition, the Israeli Animation Industry is very big and wide, considering the size and the population of Israel. The professionalism is very high and there's lots of talent. For example, here is a sample of the studios that I worked with: One Wing Fly, Studio Aiko and Snowball. Regarding TV shows and videos games, I can say that we didn't quite “set the flag of the mountain top” and didn't conquer yet this target. I think that the local scene still hasn't produced a quality long term series, which has a couple of seasons, and has firm output and one that will be demanded out of Israel. I am not speaking of a children or preschoolers series, but a high quality series. We are still in a process of getting there and in the recent years we’ve been closer than ever. We certainly have some stable production companies that manage to survive and their future looks promising.

In terms of Israeli-produced animation, the big success story last year was Ari Froman’s Academy Award-nominated Waltz with Bashir. Are you a fan of the film?

I truly appreciate Waltz with Bashir, which really got me hooked from its look and flow. But as the movie got its recognition in the world, I got the feeling (not for the last time as I see it) that the world embraces Israeli cinema when it has harsh criticism of Israel's military activity. It seems like the movie industry really applauds when an Israeli director stresses his negative and fundamental criticism on Israel. In Waltz with Bashir the director, who tells the story from his perspective, testifies that he was and wasn't there, because he lost his memory regarding these events. It like getting caught with drugs and when being questioned about it you answer that you have a blackout exactly in the point when you bought the stuff. It seems that if an Israeli director wants to get recognition outside of Israel and compete and win international festivals, he should produce a movie about the Israeli army. I won't go into a political discussion because it's not the right place to do that, but that's what Folman's movie aroused in me as it went outside of the Israeli border.

Let’s talk about your band, Eatliz. How would you describe the band’s musical style?

I get this question a lot. The simple answer would be Eatliz plays rock. But the honest and complicated answer would be that I don't have an answer to this question, which actually makes me happy. I would like that in the future, when a new band sets up and its style isn’t so clear to itself and to its listeners - that you would be able to say that this music reminds of Eatliz.

The music video for “Hey” took almost three years to make with a 15-person crew. Talk about the job of an animation director. I don’t think it’s a process people understand very well…

Fifteen people were involved in the process of making "Hey", all of them top professionals in animation, art and 3D design in Israel. The production pipeline was set up following the principles and workflow of major animation studios, which was really important to me. No step was skipped in the process, from script writing to design, modeling and character development, followed by a painstaking animation process. All of the above was completed under my direction by art directors, model artists, and technical direction and rigging. The final stages of shading, texturing, lighting, look & feel, rendering, VFX and compositing were done by Aiko Studio.

I was the director, screenwriter, producer, executive producer and supervising animator. I was involved in the animation, modeling, technical direction and rigging of the film. This means I was managing both the creative and the administrative animation pipe line going on. I chose all the 15 crew members and managed all the production.

It feels really natural to me since all my life as an animator I needed to work in all these areas, until I got to the point that I was able to do only animation or supervising animation. My work demanded knowledge of every step in the pipeline, so for me it's was quite natural not to wait for the lightning to be ready, for example, and just feel the holes myself and do whatever I can in order to push the project forward. At the end of the day, this was my personal project and I had a very restricted budget I was able to afford to pay. So any assistance from my side was a blessing to the rest of the crew. Of course, that this format of work allowed me to be more involved and to monitor all the process, I could prevent future obstacles – especially in the crucial parts where if you made a mistake earlier, it takes a lot of effort to go back and correct it.

I’ve read that you’re a huge fan of anime master Hayao Miyazaki. Did you have any specific scenes from Miyazaki in mind when you made Hey?

Absolutely. Many things from Miyazaki's Spirited Away inspired me. Here is a specific scene that reminded me of the proportions between the girl and her huge toad in Hey. Here we can see the proportion between the girl and her "friend", this mysterious creature that enters the train.

By the way, one of the references that led me to the Toad's personality was an illustration by the French Illustrations artist Bengal, which also displays a situation of a little girl and a huge man. Here, again, we see a situation of a little girl and a giant inside a train wagon

Have you seen his latest, Ponyo?

Yes, I saw Ponyo and really enjoyed it. Miyazaki doesn't stop dreaming and hallucinating and continues to be a child for all of us, even in his age.

The video for “Attractive” is also amazing. When you’re not directing the videos yourself, what input does the band have on the look and story of the videos?

By now Eatliz has only two animation music videos; “Attractive” was our first animation music video. It was directed by animation mentor Yuval Nathan. I didn't have any intention to bother or advise him. Maybe apart from some editing and tempo, I didn't interfere. I and rest of the band knew we were in the hands of a master.

You’ve said an important event in your life was an acid trip you took when you were younger. How did that experience change your life creatively?

It changed a lot in me and in many ways, mostly in the mental aspect. I must say I was in a very good and free of worry stage of my life that was a good age to experience this. I don't think that today I would come out of such a thing so well, it might end up badly. Before taking it, I lived like a man with a half white-half white page in front of his eyes. During the experience, it was like someone came and removed this filter, which let me see clear, like a person who goes to the eye doctor and the optometrist fixes his glasses to the right prescription. When you have the right lens, everything is much more easy-going. On a creative level, I understood how far our brain can take us into an imaginary world I never dreamt I could perceive. Every time I enter to some kind of a trance of images and ideas, and don't hurry to say "Eureka!", but allow my fictional world to blossom and develop to the unknown directions. I try not to let my ego burst and interfere and take over the steering wheel too fast, at least not before my fictional world finishes its journey. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't work.

What else inspires you?

Tasty food and creative recipes; all sorts of interesting mixtures. You never know if they’re going to work out until you put them together on your tongue.

Hey official website: http://www.eatliz.com/hey

Eatliz Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/eatliz