Laowai

The current edit of my 4th year graduate animated film, which unfortunately is currently laying in an unfinished state. Among the missing elements are closing credits, so the song in the middle part of the film is "Pink Cloud Tracing Paper" by Asobi Seksu

The genesis of this film came when I read about "Numbers Stations," which are real radio broadcasts found in many parts of the world that transmit on shortwave radio frequencies and are recorded voices reading out a series of seemingly random letters or numbers (it varies from station to station). These radio stations have been determined with some certainty to be one-way coded transmissions to espionage agents in the field in various places. More information and recordings of these stations can be found at The Conet Project

Anyway the plot of this film (I don't suppose I need to bother warning of Spoilers for a 2 minute film) used them as a starting point for a story that was intended to be about a seemingly normal foreign guy in Shanghai who has what looks like it will be a one night fling with a local girl, but we see intercut with it scenes of him listening to these radio broadcasts. In reality they are both spies, and the radio station is informing him through code that he is being hunted by the female agent. Hence the rather violent climax of the piece.

Do I have regrets about this film? I have to be honest and say yes, in its current state one cannot understand what's going on without prior explanation, and that really cannot be acceptable for a film. I was perhaps too ambitious, with a 4 page script and working in hand-drawn animation, which is a very time consuming process. If I were to do it again, I would simplify, simplify, simplify. As it is, I hope people can enjoy some of the finished visuals.

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• Student Film
• Graduate Film
• Animation
• Numbers Stations
• Spy Film

[RuthmcEvoy]

I really like the art style of this .

[Salmonleap]

@RuthmcEvoy Thanks, I just wish I had been able to finish it and get the entire script onto the screen, as it is the story is incomprehensible and very easy to misinterpret, so it just looks like it ends in violence for no real reason, which is not the intent...

[lucianovideo]

Very nice. Wich software did you use?

[Salmonleap]

Hand-drew the animation, then processed and colored it in Toon Boom Studio Solo. I also did compositing in Toon Boom, including the multiplane background near the end.

Backgrounds were inked by hand then scanned and painted in Corel Painter IX. The shots of the landscape racing past were live action footage shot out the window of a Japanese bullet train that I color processed to remove everything but red etc.

I then edited it in Final Cut Express HD.

[RuthmcEvoy]

@Salmonleap I think the story is really good ! .I didn't get it first time around but the person I'm watching it got it first time . Once I watched again and paid more attention I noticed he got the gun from her bag and it made sense. (")d

The train scene looks like Dublin . Did you study animation in colaiste Dhulaigh ?? :D

[JonnyNice]

kind of weird, but kept me watching till the end

[lucianovideo]

Thank`s for replying!

[dylanbeckett]

looks great! its a shame it didn't get finished.... here's to bullshit!!!!!