When the moon rises in the sky, dreams come to visit the most of us in our beds. But some special people leave the bed to visit their own dreams and thus make them happen.

After recently abandoning a four-person collaborative project, student animators Heui Won Jeong and Justin Murphy were striving to find an idea to kickstart a new work. The day they went to see Roscoe Mitchell playing at the Vancouver Jazz Festival, Heui Won remarked that he sounded like a wild animal when soloing. Well, it wasn’t a moonlit night, but their dream began its existence that day.

Nine months of grueling work with After Effects, Final Cut, Photoshop and Premiere led to the birth of JumpTrumpRumpBump, a lovely animated short film telling the story of six year-old Mooney. By day, she is an over-achieving little girl living with her Grandparents at their junkyard in the forest. By night, Mooney is a member of a secret jazz band with a group of ex-convict animals.

The use of (digitally animated) cutouts and hand drawn figures, showcase a delightful depiction of Mooney’s fantasies working to “earnestly to give people a positive view of the future and the world”, in the words of the creators. The combination of different media gives the short a look that is childish and “smart” at the same time.

With the concept being inspired by jazz, the music clearly plays a significant role in JumpTrumpRumpBump, and serendipity played a huge role in finding the right tune which matched the intent of the filmmakers and the personalities of the characters. According to the filmmakers they worked with student musicians for nearly 4 months trying to nail down a piece of music that fit their vision for the project, to no avail. Only after scouring the afro-cuban jazz scene in Vancouver were they able to find a bassist to help them. He allowed the use of a song he had written 14 years ago, and recruited a who’s who of the scene to accompany. In 3 hours they hammered out what is heard in the film. The importance of the music to the film is further explored in a great essay by the Sound Designer Hank Shih.

Also, as suggested by the spinning symbol in the end, recycling (in a broad sense) is a theme that permeates throughout the movie. Mooney builds lamps out of a cooking pot; she and her grandfather build wind turbines to generate power; even on a human level—the jazz band is formed by ex-convicts. A lesson then, that even though we feel surrounded by things we don’t want to live with (just like Mooney’s house is surrounded by a junkyard) it’s possible to make it all into something useful, or even beautiful.

While the first half of the movie is almost silent, Mooney is finally able to join her friends, at which time the jazz sextet kicks in and they keep doing their thing while everyone joins in on the jam. And just as the radio captures their music and brings it to people far (and not so far), for their joy and amusement, fulfilling a dream, such as seeing a remarkable project like JumpTrumpRumpBump through to the end, can inspire those around us to take a step forward themselves.

And even though there is no real ending to this simple story which you’re about to enjoy in a colorful (or should I say soundful?) way, we can just keep dreaming with Mooney, can’t we?