Park City Local Nan Chalat Noaker Pursues Creative Passion: Stop-Motion Animation

Nan Chalat Noaker worked for a magazine publishing company in Boston before moving to Park City in 1977 and continued her career in media as a news reporter for KPCW for 5 years and for The Park Record for 35 years; 21 of them as the Editor.

Stepping down from her position in October 2017, Nan found time to pursue the rather unique passion of stop-motion animation. She has always loved special effects and eagerly experimented with new technology so this art was a nice blend of the two. “I'm definitely self-taught and have become a fiend for online tutorials,” Nan admits.

Last fall, Jill Orschel, founder and curator of the local Filmmaker's Showcase, knew of Nan's work and approached her to assist with poster design and create a trailer for the event. “Not only did she accomplish that, she produced the most original and creative 6 minute animated short Coyote's Dream to be included in the line up,” bragged Orschell. “Stop-motion animation is a meticulous and time consuming craft that is proving to be Nan's artistic calling.”  

Nan agrees it is time consuming but it is a good match for her because is uses so many mediums she loves. “I needle felt my puppets, knit costumes for them, build sets as if they were scrapbook pages and use special animation software to make the movies.”

Nan is grateful for the support offered by Orschel and Park City Film. “For more than a decade, they have nurtured local film students (high school and college) and countless up and coming Utah filmmakers. I feel incredibly lucky to have been included in the program.”

Here is a link to view Coyote's Dream — https://youtu.be/PPlLYak1bNM. Keep an eye out for future projects from Nanimation Studio!