Swiftly (Shane Koyczan/Cecilia Velasco)

An animated collaboration with spoken word artist and poet Shane Koyczan. Originally directed for the live show "We Were Here" that took place in Vancouver in May 2009, Swiftly was completed in two weeks through a mixture of rotoscoping and hand drawn animation. It has been well received in animation festivals, and was selected for the Canadian Showcase at the Ottawa International Animation Festival 2009.

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Una colaboración con el poeta canadiense Shane Koyczan, este corto animado fue dirigido para el show "We Were Here" que fué presentado en Mayo del año pasado en la ciudad de Vancouver. Hecho en dos semanas usando tecnicas de rotoscopeo y animación tradicional, Swiftly ha sido bien recibido en festivales de animacion y fué recientemente seleccionado para el Festival Internacional de Animacion de Ottawa 2009.


©Cecilia Velasco

Swiftly
I dreamt once
That even though we're not related
Even though I'm a boy and you're a girl
I dreamt once
That we were siamese twins

We spent most of our days brushing each other's hair and playing scrabble
It was lovely
And then one day a doctor told us we could change our lives together
Filled our heads with ideas like privacy
So we said yes
Because we considered ourselves adventurous types
So they wheeled us into the operating room and put us under
And then I had a dream within a dream
I dreamt that I was running
swiftly
And with a grace I had never known
Ducking and rolling to avoid sharp branches
I took lessons from Jesus Christ lizards and learned to step lightly upon water
Then ran across oceans stopping to catch my breath on the backs of whales that came up for air
I ran so fast and so far I felt like a lawman trying to capture the escaped convict of my own breath

Later I woke
And discovered that we had been placed in opposite ends of the recovery room
You were sitting up in your bed, crying
So I asked you "what's wrong?"
And you asked me "why did you run away?"
So I limped toward you
Climbed inside your bed
Ran my hand through your hair and told you
"I didn't. I was running to find you"

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• poetry
• animation
• spoken word
• slam poetry
• narration
• canadian
• emily carr university
• ecuad
• hand drawn
• adobe photoshop
• collaboration

[degas]

@fiofossa listen?

[cronogeo]

Beautiful, cronogeo

[fiofossa]

how can i find the lyrics of the poem?

[thisismyvoiceheart]

Shane Koyczan is one of the reasons why spoken word is such a beautiful art.

And why teens like me still continue to write.

By far, my favorite collab. Ever.

[ivanjahzeel]

damn good!

[ssshrimpy]

let's keep them coming!

[elijahteitelbaum]

I heard this before on the album "Shut Up and Say Something", but it remains a wonderful poem.

The animation is great, and I especially loved it when he was running.

Great job on both parts of it! Both the poetry and the animation is sublime!

[LorenArtemis]

Great work, Shane... sound is good, the animation is great and, as usual, it has that synergy of heart and mind that leaves me feeling richer for the experience... thanks :)