Animation
When I was in 3rd grade, I made my first stop-motion Play-Doh animation about a fairy. Since then, I’ve developed a love for film and experimenting with different visual styles and video techniques. I love old-fashioned animations that use puppets and hand-made elements because of the physical human presence that digital animations lack. For the creation of my films, I was inspired by childhood imagination, storybook dreamscapes, and my desire to bring those childhood fairytales into the real adult world.
I am inspired by Franz Kafka, David Cronenberg, OK Go Music Videos, Jan Švankmajer, David Lynch, Akira Kurosawa, Tim Burton, Tame Impala Music Videos, Run Wrake, Hyper reality, and Peter Doig
A Twist On SteamBoat Willie
This is an animation I made by looking at the historical animation “steamboat willie,” the first animation by Disney to use audio in the animation. I wanted to make Mickey look like a tough and cool pirate as he is steering a boat.
Experimental Watercolor Animation
Dragonfly
Dragonfly is a hand-painted watercolor animation about a dragonfly who gets captured and packaged in a factory. The end product of the dragonfly is a supplement that enhances the vibrancy of the looks of humans. By showing the inner workings of how products are created, I hope to reveal to us the how nature and labor is exploited by modern consumption and the human touch.
Credits: All aspects of the animation done by me. Music by Tyler Stoner
Method: I hand painted all the watercolors and scanned them and animated them on After Effects. Some of the characters were animated with Character Animator. I did final compositing and color work in Premiere
Experimental Stop-Motion
A Better Mouse Trap
A mouse is placed in a a sequence of promotion similar to how human workers travel through the corporate ladder. In the mouse’s journey into becoming a manager, he starts out at the lowest position - as a factory worker doing physical labor. After working the most hours, the mouse gets promoted into a control worker where he must surveillance other working mice and spot the slackers. As he gets promoted to the manager, a newer, shinier mouse trap replaces him and becomes his downfall.
Credits: All aspects of the animation done by me. Music by Gabe Whitney
Method: I created my puppet by covering a doll with paper mache clay and sculpting it so it would look like a mouse. I animated everything using stop-motion in front of a green screen and handmade all the props and backgrounds using paper and cardboard. I collaged all the animation elements in After Effects and composited everything in Premiere
Hand-Painted Animation Experiments
I’ve been creating small animations every week as part of my animation sketchbook to experiment with different styles and animation techniques. These are purely exploratory and I hope I can explore some of the techniques more deeply in a longer, conceptual piece.
This is an animation of a self portrait painting I made when I was in high school. I am wearing a chindogu, or a useless invention, to capture rain as drinking water.
A Barbie Doll Animation
The Beauty Influencer
These are stop-motion tests for a horror animation I am making about mice becoming beauty influencers. I created everything by myself and am in the process of learning lighting and stop-motion techniques. These two scenes are depicting a lab mouse falling sick after the beauty influencers puts/tests out lipstick on the mouse’s face. This animation is inspired by the horror genre.
Motion Design
Videos
Film Noir Genre
My classmates and I took shots around the school and collaged together to form a “Film Noir” feeling. Everything was staged and fake. I did editing and videography.