DESOLATE

A girl wakes up alone in the cold, surrounded by concrete superstructures fading to white as far as the eye can see.

DESOLATE is a short film that began production in January 2024, and premiered on May 3rd at the Syracuse Computer Art and Animation BFA Showcase. It is the culmination of work over the Spring 2024 Semester and was brought to life by a team of 14 talented artists and animators and our producer / professor Jason Eppink. Credits can be seen on the YouTube video's description. I directed the short film, and this was the first directing experience I have had. Directing the team was challenging but exciting most of all, and helped me learn extremely valuable skills in communication and critique within the setting of an animated film's pipeline.

Below are some highlighted frames from the final animation.

These are the complete storyboards we made for the first iteration of the story. Although particularly the ending of the story has shifted direction, lots of the key ideas were translated to the animatics. I did work on boards 1-6 and 8-9. They were done in one week.

Below are some initial concept art pieces for the film, as when I was initially planning this short I created the environment first. Much of the tone and feel of this story rely on subliminal feelings of hopelessness, insecurity, fear, and uncertainty. This environment perpetuates that feeling.