Je De Glace

Untitled from amy brutton on Vimeo.

And here is the finished product. Well, not quite finished, I'm looking to get a soundtrack composed for it, as although I am very fond of Chopin's Prelude to raindrops, having spent so long on this thing, I would really like it to be free of any restricting catches. And there are a few elements of composition and post-production that might deserve some more attention when I have recovered from the initial production in itself, but all in all, it is finished. Thank Heavens. Any comments are most welcome. Please scroll down to see the initial sketches and get a synopsis of the film and stuff.

Work in progress

Untitled from amy brutton on Vimeo.

An untextured, bald version of my wretched dancer. But the essence is there.

Character design

This year's main task is a one-minute animated 3d short on the set theme of dance. I've chosen to translate a young dancer's obsession with her reflection, an obsession which will eventually draw said reflection from within the mirror, and entice it to take on a more concrete form, thus gifting it with ubiquity. As this is a rather psychological theme, I've chosen to leave the dancer unaware of this new presence in the dance hall; her reflection haunts her movements, which become increasingly circular and broken, as it were. Sweeping around her, folding over her, never quite seen, the reflection eventually closes in on it's prey and draws it into the mirror, as the dancer's obsession climaxes and consumes her.

As always when I undertake the design of a new character, I try to base myself on the animal that best suits the specific character's basic traits. In this case, my dancer is a prey, she is vulnerable, and yet I wanted to give her a beautiful delicacy; naturally I chose a doe, which explains the long nose, large eyes, sensitive nostrils and low-set mouth; the ears are the only thing I changed to the original design, because they were too low to my taste, and lacked the alertness which is characteristic for a prey.