CROSSING
Crossing is our first independent animated short film in 2D hand-drawn animation, one of our favourite mediums to tell stories. The film is centred around two main characters, of a father and a daughter, following their relationship, particularly after a sudden accident. Crossing was completed in September 2019, and released on 12th Nov for public viewing on TotemPlay, a channel on YouTube dedicated to animated content from Totem. You can watch the film HERE.
The film is currently participating in film festivals across the globe, and has already been in the official selection at Goa Short Film Festival, The Monthly Film Festival (October 2019 Edition), and Viewer’s Choice Awards at Anifest India.
VISUAL TREATMENT
We were excited to explore the horror genre in animation (although somewhere along writing, the film became more of a suspense thriller). The Black and White style with hints of red gives a grim spooky feeling that one gets when confronted with one’s fears and imagination. The focus had to be on the story and the relationship between the two in a dark eerie setting.
CHARACTERS
The film centres around the relationship between a father and his daughter, having a clear tension between each other. The daughter is in her teens, mature enough to have her own understanding of things, yet sensitive and stubborn. The father is middle-aged, constantly trying to avoid conflict and confrontation because of a difficult past. We tried to get this through in the design and acting choices.
COMPOSITING
The most important thing we knew going into this film would be to capture the ambience right. Which was a huge learning for us. A lot of it was achieved in the compositing stage, which transformed the set in multiple shots. Here's a breakdown of one such shot and how it was built.