Presented by the Melton Center for Jewish Studies
Directed/Produced/Edited by Phil Garrett
The Other Men In Black: The Hasidic Movement, Past and Present is the first production of the Jewish History Media Project, an enterprise of the Melton Center for Jewish Studies at The Ohio State University. The goal of the Project is to create a series of docu-drama films about Jewish history that will serve as ignition points for a curriculum of Jewish history studies. This multi-layered educational film that utilizes various styles, including narrative, documentary, and 3D and 2D animation.
Produced/Directed/Edited by Phil Garrett, Written by Matt Goldish, PhD.
Full credits are available on IMDb.
Film Clip “4 Minute Teaser”
“Above the Stars”
Additional Clips from The Other Men in Black
Film Clip Hasidim, Pious Ones
Film Clip The Yeshivas
Behind The Scenes/Production Photos
Portions of The Other Men In Black were shot on location at historic 
Robbins Crossing on the grounds of Hocking College in Nelsonville, Ohio, at Agudas Achim cemetery, and on The Ohio State University campus.
Photo albums hosted on Shutterfly include: Location Photos (Robbins Crossing), Location Photos: Cemeteries, Location Photos: OSU, and Behind the Scenes. http://meltonproject.shutterfly.com
Character Design
The character designs were created by Iuri Lioi, former ACCAD MFA student, now an artist in feature animation production.
3D Character Model Example
Turntable view of the 3D “Devil” character model.
Storyboard Animatics
The following are examples of storyboard animatics used to guide the development of The Other Men In Black. Storyboards by Iuri Lioi, editing by Phil Garrett.
Project Overview
The Jewish History Media Project was created by Matt Goldish, director of the Melton Center at Ohio State, and Todd Delman, a recent recipient of the Master’s in Fine Arts from Ohio State’s ACCAD program. The goal of the Project is to create a series of docu-drama films about Jewish history that will serve as ignition points for a curriculum of Jewish history studies. The films, each about a half hour in length, will highlight various aspects of Jewish history using a narrative style with actors, an engaging story line, high-quality computer animation, and computer graphics. After an initial exposure period in media and festival venues, they will be distributed to teachers together with curriculum material for classroom use. The films are designed to engage high school, university, and adult learners in history topics that are often perceived as dry or unrelated to contemporary life. Matt and Todd were fortunate to have the support of ACCAD’s director, Maria Palazzi. In partnership with writer/director/producer Phil Garrett, the Melton Center plans to continue to produce installments in the film series.
The focus of The Other Men in Black is the Hasidic movement in Judaism, which originated in eighteenth-century Ukraine and Poland. It seemed an ideal starting point because it has had an enormous impact on Judaism, it is still very much alive, and its musical and storytelling traditions are an excellent vehicle to showcase our multimedia format. Funding for “The Other Men in Black” has been generously provided by the Nathan Cummings Foundation.
Project Collaborators
Writer and Project Oversight – Matt Goldish, PhD.
Story and Animation Oversight – Todd Delman
Director, Producer, Editor – Phil Garrett
Director of Photography – Alex Esber
Animation Production Oversight at ACCAD – Maria Palazzi
Story Design, Digital Production and Character Design – Iuri Lioi
CG Modeling, Layout, Lead Animator, and Surfacing – Amber Cecil
Character Modeling and Rigging – Joshua Fry
CG Modeling, Character Rigging, Layout, Lead Animator – Mary Twohig
Philip R. Garrett 