process/concept
this is a project i had full creative freedom with. this way, i could solely focus on the theories and ideas about animated documentaries, and the representation of realities i was interested in during my studies.
my aim was to show an example of how animation can sometimes become a more accurate tool for representation, so eventually, the whole concept was built around this idea.

 

the lack of background makes olly’s character appear even more lonely and isolated. the way his uncontrollable size changes are taking up space on the screen, we can imagine how it is to not have all control over one's physical state or how his room, which is a protective safe space, becomes too small for him on some days.

during the ‘interviews’ with olly, i asked him to draw himself before he got ill and after. then, as a result we established the main design elements: dark contrast to the occasional white frames to create a simulation for photophobia (the sensitivity to light) - a scene i  actually had to fight for, given that using white frames can easily come across as a common rookie mistake with young/unexperienced animators badly matching shots during editing and missing a frame here and there. my tutors were very concerned about this possibility,
so they suggested keeping the frames on longer. but since having the unexpected/abrupt blinding effect was crucial for the story, i kept my original concept.

during the process of developing our shorts, our mentors encouraged us to hold screening sessions of our work in progress, where we all received written feedback from each other. i still keep these pieces of papers with me as they mean just as much to me as they did back then.