Animation

Remembrance

“Remembrance” is a digital 2D animated short film I created for my Sophomore Studio project at the Stamp’s School of Art & Design. For this project I used automatic writing based on randomly chosen objects in my home to resurface underlying memories. At the time of its creation I felt extremely isolated due to the pandemic and harsh winter weather. The purpose of this project was to find a way to connect my current surroundings with spaces and moments that I no longer had access to and no longer existed. The objects I focused on were an abandoned floral dress, a pile of snow, a cup of coffee, an old paisley pillow, and my violin. This free-writing led to the resurfacing of memories, respectfully, of a tense family reunion, time spent with my medically complex brother in the hospital, moments of relaxation from the last summer before college, the stress of performance pressure when I played the violin, and the memory of finding out my mom had cancer. I then created and animated individual collages using photos of each object, and rotoscoped a prominent sensorial element from each memory on top of them. I then connected these memory clips together using a narrative following a self representational character as she unearths, and ultimately leaves behind, these fragmented memories in a snowy landscape. Stylistically, the animation makes use of less refined line work and watercolor brushes to capture the transient quality of memories. I created the soundtrack for the project using my violin, and focused on light bow weight and harmonics to add to this ephemeral and retrospective feeling. The project was created with a workflow consisting of Photoshop, After Effects, and Premiere Pro.