For the past few weeks, I have been producing a 30-60 second animated film based on a location of my choice. My project started with Waterloo Station; I tried my best to take many pictures and videos when I was physically able.
While feeling ill, I brainstormed various concepts for my short film, experimented with multiple software like Live2D, and tried sound recording.
I found it helpful to use live-action footage for the hidden places to try out alternative approaches to storytelling, from using different camera angles and perspectives to experimenting with unusual pacing, like slow motion and time-lapse video.
I also experimented with editing techniques to get a unique look and thought of a narrative of what happened to me after that day.
The journey starts exploring Waterloo Station, and then the middle may seem like a train ride.
Still, I view it as a time of absence and the walls that I felt were closing on to me slowly opening to see the light of day where I thought I wouldn’t see it again, so for my ending, I deliberately picked a place that held personal meaning to me for my ending, which was the ending I was in West London on the day I finally was diagnosed with fibromyalgia and had a special Boba tea to celebrate.
But the ending to me shows the bushes’ and obstacles that was there can always can be seen different the more we move back.
I enjoyed pushing conventional narrative boundaries and have especially relished the challenge of developing a story close to me.