dolor!

It's here! If you haven't watched it yet, DON'T READ BELOW, SPOILERS. Some of you have asked if I can reveal all the little things about this short film, so I do below! Also happy to answer any questions about it re: practical filming, budget, creative, process, etc. Thanks for supporting!

---Dolor means grief in Latin. The entire short showcases the emotional journey from grief to acceptance using whimsical worlds and characters. The flower blooming at the very end shows that though life is so much pain and processing, it goes on and is beautiful. 

---The opening book pages, when looked at closely, are the story of Orpheus. This is essentially what dolor is based on: both Orpheus and Eurdyice and my relationship with my sister. 

---The woman in green is Death. She is a woman because women bring us into this world, so I figured women will bring us into the next. The little girl is my sister. And of course the older one is me. Her name is written on the tombstone at the end, as well as the dates of her birth/death.

---Each world symbolizes the stages of grief. The underwater world is denial and bargaining, hell is anger, space is depression and shock. 

---Clearly the protagonist is not supposed to be there because she's living. This, as well as her emotional struggle, is communicated by how much she is attacked by everything: the roots, the fish, the eyes of the trees opening etc. 

---There originally was supposed to be a poem recited during this piece by the characters, but my producers said speaking would end up costing me $100,000 more than our already sky high budget. I like how this creative constraint actually ended up making the piece more poignant.

---This is a proof of concept for a feature film. It's my dream to make something like Nightmare Before Christmas (that movie hella shaped me as a child), but instead tackling the idea of grief and acceptance and death. I want to make a kids movie that still teaches them about a very taboo subject, and is something that adults can enjoy. Who knows if I'll get to make it anytime soon, but this piece was something I've been wanting to make for nearly 10 years, and I chose to make it so I could show people that I CAN direct animation and direct it well. 

This would not be possible without you. <3 Thank you for watching