The world is awash in the blues as the protagonist in Ryan McDougal's "Sonata" struggles with a decision that will affect his love-sick life one way or another.

McDougal is an animator/digital artist who recently graduated from Vancouver Film School (VFS) with a degree in 3D Animation and Visual Effects. He currently lives in South Bend, Indiana and is doing freelance for the time being. "Sonata" is his first film and was his final thesis project for VFS.

McDougal does a great job of quickly setting up the emotional center of the film so that we understand almost immediately what is going on. McDougal has used everything at his disposal to carry the story. The music and the framing, and the character's expressive eyes work very well, and the acting is very impressive and subtle.

"When I started writing the script for 'Sonata', I was just getting acquainted with filmmaking. So, honestly, I think some early decisions were the product of being extremely focused on animation and character development at the time. That said, I was enamored with the challenge of creating a character who had some complexity and with whom I could explore the subtleties of action, emotion and thought. With this in mind, I developed the character before I wrote the story… something I don't think I would necessarily do the next time around.

Once I did flesh out the character, the story kind of wrote itself as many of the choices for design, story flow and mood were informed by the character's life and identity. I think I was fortunate in this case, because the emotional references helped to shape the character relatively quickly. Woody Allen, Kevin Spacey and Paul Giamatti were my major sources of inspiration as I greatly admire each of their respective abilities to find something deep within their characters that is honest and palpable for the audience.

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"Woody Allen, Kevin Spacey and Paul Giamatti were my major sources of inspiration as I greatly admire each of their respective abilities to find something deep within their characters that is honest and palpable for the audience."         --Ryan McDougal

"To avoid the any copyright fiascos, I worked with some talented foks who created the music and sound design specifically for the film. I owe a big thank you to Walter Gutierrez, Dominic Popovich and Evan Joel for their great work. Without the lonely piano, I don't think the piece would be what it is.

In the end, it took 6 months to complete the film, all by my lonesome, and it was an amazing experience that I don't know that I will be doing again for a while. I'm focusing on smaller projects now while I recharge and make my foray into the commercial world. Stay tuned…"

       --Ryan McDougal, MAY 2007