One day you get an email. It’s from the Guerrilla News Network and they tell you they’ve seen your short film. They like it. In fact, they like it enough that they want you to show them a couple more samples of your work because they’re producing the music video of a well known artist and they are interested in hiring you to animate for it. But they won’t tell you anything about the song and they won’t even tell you the musician. Yet.

Just a short time ago, this is exactly what happened to Classical Animation graduate Kevin Elam and it came as quite a shock when, after finally being hired for the project, he found out that the video he would be working on was Mosh and the artist, Eminem.

“It was amazing to get hired on this video and work for an artist that I admire so much,” says Elam. “I can really relate to the message.”

The video’s release was intended to coincide with the recent American presidential election, with both song and video targeting the lack of power that plagues many of the nation’s youth and minority groups. But the message is clear – the only way to effect change is to vote.

The original concept for the video was to have Eminem’s character created entirely in Flash animation, a style that is more cartoony and flat, but Eminem wanted his image to appear more realistic. Elam, who was working primarily on designing Eminem’s character, helped to pitch the idea of rotoscoping, a sophisticated technique where the artist traces over film footage to create an ultra-realistic model. Eminem and Interscope Records liked the idea and soon Director Ian Inaba was flying down to Detroit to film footage for Elam to work from. Because the five minute video was being completed in the hectic span of little more than five weeks, there wasn’t enough time to get all the footage so Elam had to incorporate a number of different means which included filming himself and creating images from scratch.

“I was working long days, usually at least twelve hours and always in close contact with the director. Whenever any footage was finished, I’d send it off to him. We were fixing and tweaking it right up until the day before it was released,” says Elam . “They did a great job of integrating all the different styles together. I’ve been getting a lot of feedback on my website. It’s a heated video so it provokes a lot of reactions.”

With the recent results of the election, Elam has just been hired back to work on an alternative ending to the video, one that is still in line with its original intention. “The idea was to give my generation and others hope in our country and the belief that if we speak up and get involved, we will have to be heard,” says Elam . “The new ending is aimed at sticking with that theme and core belief.”

After graduating from VFS in December 2003, Elam left Vancouver to move back to his native California . He cites the focus and discipline he experienced during the program that helped him to concentrate on improving his talent and developing his style. “Kevin is really well-rounded,” says Dieter Mueller, Head Instructor of the Classical Animation Department. “He has a lot of talent, a great drawing ability and he’s also good natured, and humble; just a really easy person to get along with. Kevin’s drawing style is very particular to him so I’m not really surprised to see him getting attention from it.”

It’s this style that made his student short film No Complyget into the Newport Beach Film Festival, Anima Mundi Festival in Brazil, and the Festival International du Film D’Aubagne in France. It’s what got him nominated for Best Student Production and Best Direction at the 2004 Leo Awards. And most recently, it’s what stood out enough to make producers from Guerrilla News Network contact him to be an integral part of this music video.

“I’m really open to the future,” says Elam. “I like the freedom and creativity that goes with working on projects like this. I was really surprised to get this video. Who knows what’s next?”