Balance

Balance by Mara Fradella, MA graduate from UWE, Bristol, UK. Mara discusses the film with us below…

Who
Since the short was my MA final project, I took care of most aspects of the film directing, designing and animating it.
During the production stage more people were involved: Ilaria Introzzi (a friend studying CGI in London) modelled and rigged the characters in 3D, David Muñoyerro Sesmero (who’s studying at Bristol University) composed the music, and three actors did the gibberish voice over.

What
A group of circus acrobats peacefully live in the desert. But their tranquillity is shattered when an extravagant and unreasonable little girl appears from nowhere and demands to see an amazing circus show. Balance is the story of this odd meeting filled with comical conflicts that create a surreal situation.

Why
I wanted to make a film about very different characters that don’t understand each other in a comic way, and I liked the circus/buskers theme and atmosphere. I mixed the this two things in the story.

I get inspiration from animators who are skilled in showing the personality and thoughts of their characters, something that will involve emotionally. Sounds very obvious but Pixar animators are really good at it and I try to learn from their films. I’ve been watching a lot of “Boo” from Monsters Inc. to get ideas for the little girl.

How
The film has been made with hybrid techniques. The characters and props are modelled and animated in 3D and they are composited with 2D backgrounds and effects. There are also few scenes with 2D animation realized in Flash and After Effects. It has a visual style similar to 2D but It doesn’t feel completely flat.

Next Project
At the moment I’m working at ArthurCox Studio so I’m not really thinking about future personal projects.

But I’d like to make some very short animations about cute imaginary creatures/ little monsters that possibly do stupid things. Something that would improve my animation skills but also make me have fun.

Which animated film would you like to have made?
I wish I worked on Disney’s Fantasia because of all that dancing going on, I would have especially loved to animate the little mushrooms and the Ballet ostriches.