"WSIM" animation: A message of invisible disabilities and life challenges

****UPDATE (Jan 2012):
To see more info, go to: http://ilivewithadisability.com/2012/01/13/wsim-what-suffered-inside-me/

"WSIM: What Suffered Inside Me" is a short drama about a character named Simon that sees himself as an incomplete stick figure with crossed lines (horizontal and vertical) on his face. He visualizes simple figures with only horizontal lines on their faces as unable to see his inner self. The feelings of loneliness, unhappiness, and falling into darkness, represented by black blobs, can form clinical depression. At the beginning of the film, Simon is having a meal with a dark figure. Simon doesn't have eyes to see the figure's inner self and doesn't understand him until the black figure begins to show his unhappy mood. Simon notices the way that this figure is acting and his eyes begin to open.

Different scenes take place such as Simon's flashbacks before and after his disability, and other suffering moments that he has experienced. Using his imagination to express his feelings and memories, he creates an artwork — hung in a gallery — to let people see, share, and understand his invisible disability.

Awards:
Best Film - Vancouver Island Short Film Festival 2009
Best Film - Hamilton Music and Film Festival 2009
Best Foreign Mini - Washougal International Film Festival 2009
Honorable Mentioned - 36th Annual Athens International Film + Video (Ohio) 2009

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• stroke
• invisible
• disability
• learning
• depression
• drama
• classical animation
• art
• artist
• cartoon
• aphasia
• music
• video
• videos
• 2D
• drawing
• drawn
• paint
• painting
• artwork
• short film
• Jennifer Hardy
• sad
• darkness
• film
• bullying
• students
• teasing

[coolzmonkey]

i want to like this video but it's taking me time to get it lol..

[JennHCK]

@coolzmonkey

oh, are there any parts that you're confused with? ^_^

[coolzmonkey]

@JennHCK ok so is the black figure himself? in its depressed version? (i've watched it like 4 times trying so hard to understand lol)

[JennHCK]

@coolzmonkey oh, the black figure was supposed to be somebody else.

The video's based on my invisible disability and other people that have had life experiences like clinical depression. Here are a few points that might explain a bit better:

-The black blobs/raindrops are like the negative objects that can fill a figure up with blackness when having anxiety, pain, etc that can cause depression.-

[JennHCK]

@coolzmonkey

(continue 1) -At the beginning of the video when it shows me sitting in front of the black depressed figure, the black figure's supposed to be someone that I met in real life in high school that looked depressed a bunch. I think one of the reasons was he wasn't taking his medication properly to focus in school.

-The crossed line figure (representing me with my half blindness) notices something about the black figure and the cross figure opens his eyes.

[JennHCK]

@coolzmonkey (continue 2) -the black figure that was taking pills in the video was still supposed to be the other person at the beginning, but it can represent me too since I did try taking pills when I was having anxiety.

-The homeless man at 1:42 under the blanket has a bit of black shadow that is shown (as if he's been hit by the black blobs too).

[JennHCK]

@coolzmonkey (continue 3) -2:35 : Me with no cross line on face. 2:39 : black blob attacks (example stroke). 2:48 : the figure's being rebuilt after a black blob attack. 2:54 : crossed line can't be removed (like my half blindness).

sorry that the video's sometimes confusing, I was thinking some time to make a longer description of the video.

Are there any other parts you're confused? ^_^

[hwangboel]

Wow. That was amazing........ Wow.