MUSIC TEAM
SAM CIRCLE - SONGWRITER
Sam Circle (aka Sam Saper) is a writer and video artist based in Jersey City, New Jersey. Their work involves chaotic systems and self-performance. They worked with Lynn Tomlinson as a creative advisor on her last three shorts, and co-wrote the story and wrote the song for The Elephant’s Song, awarded Best Music at Tofuzi Animation Festival and Excellence in Music at ASIFA East Festival. Saper is an MFA candidate at New Jersey City University and a graduate of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. In 2019, they wrote and produced You Gotta Live, a three-hour musical based on the true stories of avant-garde artists in the early twentieth century.
SHEA SPRINGER, SWEETFOOT STUDIOS - RECORDING & SOUND ENGINEER
Shea Springer is a multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, producer, and engineer. At the age of 15, he began recording his own music, quickly falling in love with the art of production. For years, he obsessively researched, and experimented with recording. In 2005, he began working as a freelance engineer and producer, often recording in repurposed buildings and other improvised recording spaces. Springer’s Sweetfoot Studios in Easton, Maryland has become a cherished retreat for artists – regionally and beyond – looking for a laid back, relaxing experience, and a warm, natural, and detailed sound. Lynn Tomlinson’s The Elephant’s Song was recorded at Sweetfoot Studios and mixed and engineered by Springer.
TRUCKER TALK - INSTRUMENTALISTS
Baltimore band Trucker Talk scored THE ELEPHANT’S SONG. They started as the house band for the episodic puppet show THE MOTHERLODE. In addition to scoring dozens of puppet shows, the band premiered an original adaptation of Modest Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition and has collaborated with Light City artists to produce large scale installations. Loosely styled as an experimental chamber group, Trucker Talk is the product of four artists/friends: Jessica Keyes (saxophone/flute/synth), Bowen (drums/keys), Rich Kolm (bass/pedals) Abby Becker (violin/vocal effects/vibraslap). The band’s debut album, Dreams and Nightmares, the story of a single night’s sleep, was released in 2023.
VOCALIST
We will select a vocalist to perform the song, and potentially a voiceover, which will serve as the main “voice” of the film.
VISUAL TEAM
LYNN TOMLINSON - DIRECTOR AND LEAD ANIMATOR
LUCY SAPER - ASSISTANT ANIMATOR
Lucy Saper is a painter and visual artist whose vibrant work combines figuration with abstraction. Her process leaves room for spontaneous choices and the beauty of outcomes that are slightly beyond her control. She received her BFA in Painting, Drawing, and Printmaking, and graduated from Towson University’s Honors College in December 2023. Saper directed and animated promotional spots for The Assembly Improv troupes in Toronto, Canada and South Africa. She has been assistant animator for Lynn Tomlinson’s previous productions, and is credited as animation assistant for the feature film, Haunting of the Queen Mary. She is currently teaching middle school art at the Jemicy School in Owings Mills, Maryland.
KAT NAVARRO - COMPOSITOR & STORYBOARD ARTIST
Kat Navarro is an interdisciplinary artist and animator. Her work combines digital and analog techniques to create vibrant, textural, and fluid animations with narratives that intercross personal history, identity, and a little bit of the fantastical. Navarro currently works as a Creative Producer and Animator at Early Light Media, where her work in documentaries and commercials received awards from the American Advertising Federation. Her animations and installations have screened in festivals and galleries in Baltimore and beyond. Past projects also include compositing Lynn Tomlinson’s animations Aqua Dome and Ten Degrees of Strange. Navarro is also a passionate educator, having taught and run workshops at the Baltimore School for the Arts, Towson University, the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA).
JENA BURCHICK - LIGHTING CONSULTANT
Jena Burchick is a two-time Capital Emmy-award winning filmmaker and an Assistant Professor in the Electronic Media & Film department at Towson University. She received her MFA in Film from Vermont College of Fine Arts. Her current research is focused in documentary and docu-narrative filmmaking and explores the complexities of family dynamics and community relationships. Additionally, she works professionally as an IATSE 487 Studio Technician and Gaffer for commercial, episodic television and feature films such as House of Cards, Veep and Jason Bourne, as well as lighting President Obama during his administration.
REBECCA HENSON — RACHEL CARSON CONTENT ADVISOR
Rebecca Henson is Founder and Executive Director of Springsong, a newly-forming museum in Silver Spring, Maryland, whose mission is “connecting community and nature through the words and wonder of Rachel Carson.” Springsong officially began in May 2021 as a deep-passion project of Maryland born, Silver Spring resident Rebecca Henson, a Maryland Master Naturalist & mom to two nature-loving boys. Henson works as an independent climate risk researcher and helps run the nature bookshop at Nature Forward's Woodend Sanctuary in Chevy Chase. She serves on the board of the Neighbors of the Northwest Branch. Rebecca has degrees in History (Vanderbilt University) and Politics, Policy, & Society, focused on comparative environmental policy (University of Bath).