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Some moments deserve a film.

An animated film with an original song, drawn by hand from your photographs. A parent's life, a wedding, one summer. About a week.

Start a film Watch The Street Cat

Thirty thousand photographs on a phone. The story behind them is told at dinner, shorter every year. A film sets it down: the street, the year, the people, and a song with their name in the chorus.

What a film is

  1. An original song.

    Written for this film and no other. Their name in the chorus, the places they lived in the verses, the line the family always repeats. You hear two and choose one.

    A frame from the film: the places of his life as stations on a red line, with the sung words written above it

  2. Every place, drawn.

    The street they grew up on. The house at the beach that summer. The kitchen. We draw each scene and animate it, in a look you choose with us.

    A frame from the film: the family home in Tenafly, drawn in pencil among the trees

  3. Your photographs, in the frame.

    The pictures you send go into the drawings at the moment they belong: the wedding, the first shop, the kids in the waves.

    A frame from the film: a koi pond seen from above, in pencil and watercolour, with the family's own photographs pinned around it

  4. Everyone who was there.

    Grandparents, parents, children, the dog. Drawn as they were then, from your photographs.

    A frame from the film: photographs of the family pinned to the red line of his life, Today and Tenafly, with the pencil cat on top

How a film is made.

  1. The story.

    The family's story becomes a shot list: 84 shots across seven stations, each with what is on screen and when.

    Shot
    C1-5
    Time
    1:21.6 to 1:23.4
    Lyric
    חזק ואמץ,
    Picture
    Chalk on the wall. חזק ואמץ writes itself huge in crimson across the whitewashed wall behind him, right to left. A small graphite gloss, “be strong, be brave”, fades in beneath. He turns to look.
    The finished shot: the Hebrew words for be strong, be brave written huge in crimson chalk across the sea wall, the cat sitting below

  2. The song.

    The song is written for him first. Every sung word is then timed from the recording so the pictures can follow it.

    1. A0:24.4
    2. street0:24.6
    3. cat0:25.0
    4. runnin'0:25.7
    5. with0:26.9
    6. a0:27.3
    7. gang0:27.6
    8. of0:28.7
    9. friends,0:29.1

  3. Design.

    The cast is drawn on model sheets before any scene: side views, poses, a kitten, the old gang.

    The street cat's model sheet: side view standing and sitting, drawn in pencil, with the left ear notched
    The cat's action poses: a leap in three stages, a standoff with the back arched, a stretch, a skid
    The cat's variants: a kitten, the cat wet in the rain, with a grey muzzle, and the coats of the old gang

  4. The look.

    Look boards settle the pencil, the paper and where colour is allowed. Here the koi are the first colour.

    Look board: orange koi in a blue pond beside a grey pencil cat, drawn before the film to decide where colour arrives
    Look board
    The finished frame: a pencil koi pond seen from above, everything grey except one orange koi
    The frame
    A rejected look board: flat 1950s cartoon cats on a yellow and teal street
    The direction not taken

  5. Lettering and the photographs.

    The lyric is handwritten on screen as it is sung, in both languages, and the family's own photographs are pinned into the drawings.

The week.

  1. Day one. You tell us.

    Photographs, a voice note or a page of the stories you tell, and the names of the people in it. About ten minutes.

  2. Day two. You hear the song.

    Two songs, written for this film. You choose one and can ask for one change to the lyrics.

  3. Day three. You see it storyboarded.

    Every scene, drawn out. You give notes on the drawings of your people and two rounds on the storyboard before we animate a frame.

  4. Day seven. It arrives.

    A private link for the family, the film to download, a vertical cut for phones, a clip of the chorus to share, and the song on its own.

The Street Cat from Tel Aviv

Made for a father in New Jersey. Born in Tel Aviv. Yeshiva, the army, Los Angeles, the refreshment stands in New York, a blind date, a house in Tenafly, the grandchildren. Seven stations of one life, drawn in pencil, to a song written about him.

It is the one film we can show. Every other film belongs to the family it was made for.

  1. So don't forget, Shmulik, where you've been,
  2. You've been down before and you rose again,
  3. חזק ואמץ, Abba, stand tall,
  4. The street cat from Tel Aviv who survived it all

For a mother's eightieth, to watch with her. For fifty years married. For the summer at the beach, the wedding, the baby's first year, the house you are leaving. For a father who has died, so the grandchildren know his story.

Questions.

What do you need from me?

Photographs, a voice note or a page of the stories you tell, and the names of the people in it. About ten minutes. If you have a date, tell us and we work to it. We ask for the rest as we go.

Does it have to be one person's life?

No. The film here is one man's life, and it is the film families ask for most. We also make the summer at the beach, the wedding, a baby's first year, the house you are leaving.

Can I change things along the way?

Yes. You choose between two songs and can ask for one change to the lyrics. You give notes on the drawings of your people, two rounds of notes on the storyboard, and one round on the finished film. Anything beyond that, we quote.

How long is the film?

Two to three minutes: the length of the song.

What happens to our photographs?

Only we and Claude, the AI we write with, see them. They never go to an image generator. We delete them thirty days after delivery unless you ask us to keep them. The rest is on the privacy page.

What do I receive?

A private link for the family, the film to download, a vertical cut for phones, a short clip of the chorus to share, and the song on its own.

Who writes the song?

We do, with AI drafting alongside us. We write the words and direct the music, and Suno, an AI music producer, makes the recording. Two songs are made for your film and no other, with their name in the chorus and the places they lived in the verses. You hear both and choose one. The recording is yours to keep.

The studio.

Heirloom Pictures is Max, working with AI. I write the words and direct the music, decide every scene, and check every frame. The AI draws, times and animates to my direction. I take a few films at a time and send yours when it is right.

Start a film.

Tell us who it is for. We write back within a day with the next step.

One film
$249
Two films
$399

Or email max@heirloom.pictures.

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