Animation Director

Paper Tigers (Pre-Production)

Concept art of a beat up young man overlain with the text Paper Tigers.

Edward and Max, fresh out of beer, cruise empty Midwestern roads looking for trouble, but tonight, trouble finds them.

Best Damn Street Corner (2024)

The idea for this film came about when I was considering selling my house. I unexpectedly became wistful over the idea of having to leave my staircase behind. By all accounts an unremarkable staircase, yes, but it’s MY staircase nonetheless. I had traversed those stairs practically everyday for 14 years, but I had never stopped to consider them. I’ve fallen down them. My newborn once shot poop all over them when I was changing her diaper. I love the way that the early autumn light cascades through the window at the landing and down into my living room.

This film explores the idea that transitory spaces can themselves be destinations. What kinds of stories and life experiences happen in the places we often take for granted?

Detached (2022)

Detached was inspired by all those days that I woke up in an awful mood and just didn’t care about anyone else’s feelings. Those days when I barked at people who didn’t deserve it. Those days that made people ask, “What’s up with you today?” On those days, I felt different, but I looked the same. People can dress differently depending on their mood, can’t they? So wouldn’t it be great if we could switch our heads to match?

Typically, we experience emotion fluidly. Joy can turn into sadness can turn into anger. Or we can experience joy and sadness and anger all at once. While this is part of what makes living so wonderful, it can be overwhelming at times. At its core, this film is about the desire to control emotion instead of letting it control you.

The Door (2021)

This film addresses the need to realign your thinking when presented with a seemingly insurmountable problem. 2020 presented us with so many challenges. Personally, I had to tackle all of these new difficulties from my home because there was simply no where I could go. Which meant my home was not only a safe space but a sort of prison as well. I was stuck without a way to know how to move forward. It wasn’t until I adjusted my way of thinking that I was able to see the light at the end of the 2020 tunnel.

Meditate (2019)

My response to my therapist's suggestion to try meditation when life becomes overwhelming.

Her Mother's Eyes (2018)

For those of us without the gift of a green thumb, we can only standby, helpless as our beloved house plants fade away. If only there was an ER for our little green buddies!

Deskercise (2017)

A humorous take on the dangers of over-working.

Triolet For Laika (2015)

An introspective look at the connection between courage and isolation told through the viewpoint of our heroine, Laika, the first dog in space. Produced by MotionPoems.

Based on the poem "Triolet for Laika, First Dog in Space" by Ann Eichler Kolakowski originally published in Rattle #40, Summer 2013.

Emory Allen (1983)

Emory Allen's Headshot Photo by AJ Haines

Bio

Emory Allen is a Filipino American animation director whose work lives in the inbetweens. He explores transitory states and spaces through illustration-driven frame-by-frame animation techniques. Alongside his award winning commercial animation and illustration work, his short films have screened at international animation and film festivals. Additionally, Emory Allen is a recipient of a 2025 McKnight Media Artist Fellowship, administered by FilmNorth and funded by The McKnight Foundation.

Artist Statement

As a Filipino American who grew up moving from one Navy base to another, I grew up in between worlds. I had a good home, but it moved every two to three years. On my mom’s side, I am a first-generation Filipino American. On my dad’s side I am a fifth-generation Irish American. My parents divorced, remarried, and divorced again. I explore these kinds of in between places through the medium of animation, which comes with plenty of inbetweens of its own.

My films spring from personal experience and I use them to therapeutically poke and prod at the absurd extremities of subjects like identity, adaptability, and home. Through a delicate balance of tone and visuals, I aim for fantastical acceptance of, rather than outlandish escapism from, these issues and my insecurities surrounding them.

Comedy is the avenue through which I have been able to come to terms with these issues in my life. Because of that, I bring an authentic sense of humor to my work that allows me to make light of heavy topics while maintaining a reverence for them. Through comedy, I want to show people, and myself, that there is joy to be found in our insecurities. Thoughts that weigh us down can feel lighter when confronted with a laugh. The shadowy feelings we hide can be reexamined when brought into the light. Undoubtedly, finding the humor in subjects like these is a delicate balancing act. I mine humor from sensitive subjects because discovering their ludicrous aspects helps me reconsider the space that these subjects occupy in my life.

As an animation director, my practice focuses on frame-by-frame animation. Frame-by-frame animation is a technique in which almost every frame of a film is a new drawing. What I love about this method of working is that what you show in a frame is only limited by what you are willing to draw. This naturally lends itself to a surrealistic creative approach. This too is a balancing act. Too fantastical and you lose the grounded core of your message. Too restrained and you lose what makes frame-by-frame animation special.

Inbetweens in animation are all of the drawings that bridge one key moment to the next. In a single shot, you might have three key drawings, with ten times as many inbetween drawings. This of course means that you spend a significant amount of time working in a world of literal inbetweens. Initially I saw all of these additional drawings as a burden, a hurdle keeping me from getting from one keyframe to the next. However, I now see how important those inbetweens are. In fact, I celebrate them. They add context, character, and meaning to the moments that they connect. In a similar way, I no longer see myself as stuck in between worlds. Rather, living in the in between is what provides my work and my life with context, character, and meaning.

Recognition

Contact

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