A film noir starring toys. Krudo, a lonely private eye, is seduced by Rosa, a mysterious doll, to investigate the obscure world of power and money.
KRUDO is an animation using real toys and puppets for each character. KRUDO was filmed in Chile and written and directed by Daniel Díaz. We Spoke to the creators about how they made this unique webseries.
What inspired you to use toys and puppets as your characters instead of humans?
We were studying at the university when we created the series, during the student mobilisations of 2012. We needed to communicate to our colleagues the demands that were maintained at an internal and also national level, so time and resources demanded an economic and didactic device.
What are some of the aspects of the 20’s and the noir genre that you wanted to highlight in the series?
The situation with the police in Chile has reached high levels of abuse because the State doesn’t respond to citizen’s demands. That’s why we wanted to build the figure of the private detective as a victim of police corruption. Krudo allowed us to show, from our point of view, the dynamics of political and economic power that Chile has come into since the dictatorship,which is what students fight against.
What was your target audience and how did you build a relationship with them?
Most of our target audience has seen during their childhood “31 Minutes”, a local children’s newscast made with puppets, but totally enjoyable for adults. It reminded us that puppets are not only a children’s thing. Also, it allowed us to build the noir with the sordidness that the genre requests, which is what people who watched Krudo grate us for.
How long did it take to produce and shoot the series?
At first, the series was recorded in two weeks during the protests of 2012. We couldn’t finish it because we had to go back to school. Since then, we rewrote the script and recorded some other parts, until we finished the series in 2015.
What is your background as a web series creator?
Actually, none. It was our first web series and the main objective was to show the student’s demands.
What did you learn from making this series?
Krudo was made by a group of friends who focused all their talent and energy on something that came out of the nothing. We understood that, at the end of the day, without affection and teamwork the audiovisual production is not worth it.
Did the series meet your expectations when developing it?
Regarding the realisation, the series fulfilled our expectations. Nevertheless, the international diffusion has gone way beyond of what we thought, because when we were doing it in 2012 we didn’t even knew that there were web series festivals.
How did you approach the marketing of your series?
We haven’t developed yet the commercial aspect of the series. For now we just want it to spread, because it is a necessary story that lets us meditate on the role played by the police in a neoliberal democracy.
What advice would you give to emerging creators?
If it doesn’t come from your soul, then don’t do it.
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