Afterimage
Music and words by Delta Sleep
Animated and edited by Filippo Morini
Written and directed by Filippo Morini
Animated with Harmony Toon Boom and Adobe Photoshop.
Afterimage is the last song from Delta Sleep second album titled Ghost City.
The album concept centres around a female protagonist living in a world operating as one city in a collective consciousness. In this world, organic nature and wildlife are a thing of the past and the girl exists as a cog in the machine.
Starting from this information, I developed the characters and the scenario depicted in the animated video.
- Story -
The girl protagonist of the video lives in a dark and gloomy place that looks and functions like a living prison city: it's surrounded by a high wall and monitored by sentinels.
At some point a cross-shaped crack appears in the sky.
A very bright light and a strong wind filter through it.
The girl decides to try to reach the opening in order to escape from that place.
The black sun that controls the prison city notices she's trying to do something and uses a lighthouse to show the sentinels where she is.
The sentinels find her but she manages to escape thanks to a pink umbrella the strong wind carried away from the top of her house.
She reaches the opening in the sky and floats through it, the camera zooms out: all the story was set inside a tulip bud.
The cross shaped light was just flower petals gradually unfolding, letting sunlight filtering through.
The girl floats away in the wind, together with thousands of tiny spores.
The album concept centres around a female protagonist living in a world operating as one city in a collective consciousness. In this world, organic nature and wildlife are a thing of the past and the girl exists as a cog in the machine.
Starting from this information, I developed the characters and the scenario depicted in the animated video.
- Story -
The girl protagonist of the video lives in a dark and gloomy place that looks and functions like a living prison city: it's surrounded by a high wall and monitored by sentinels.
At some point a cross-shaped crack appears in the sky.
A very bright light and a strong wind filter through it.
The girl decides to try to reach the opening in order to escape from that place.
The black sun that controls the prison city notices she's trying to do something and uses a lighthouse to show the sentinels where she is.
The sentinels find her but she manages to escape thanks to a pink umbrella the strong wind carried away from the top of her house.
She reaches the opening in the sky and floats through it, the camera zooms out: all the story was set inside a tulip bud.
The cross shaped light was just flower petals gradually unfolding, letting sunlight filtering through.
The girl floats away in the wind, together with thousands of tiny spores.
- Setting -
The main reference for the setting design is brutalist architecture. Its bold and sharp-cornered shapes outline a still and stone cold place that contrasts with the vibrant and colourful outside world.
The main reference for the setting design is brutalist architecture. Its bold and sharp-cornered shapes outline a still and stone cold place that contrasts with the vibrant and colourful outside world.
- Characters -
The diamond-shaped sentinel is a re-designed version of the bacteriophage. The black sun appearance comes from “The Sun” tarot card and old drawings.
The diamond-shaped sentinel is a re-designed version of the bacteriophage. The black sun appearance comes from “The Sun” tarot card and old drawings.
- Girl -
The protagonist is a mash-up between English model/actress Jane Birkin and the character Yorda from PS2 game ICO.
The protagonist is a mash-up between English model/actress Jane Birkin and the character Yorda from PS2 game ICO.
- Process -
The video was produced following 4 different steps.
- Step 1
Storyboarding and production of styleframes for each shot, as reference for the final appearance of the animation.
- Step 2
All sequences were hand drawn frame by frame and animated using Harmony Toon Boom animation software.
The video was produced following 4 different steps.
- Step 1
Storyboarding and production of styleframes for each shot, as reference for the final appearance of the animation.
- Step 2
All sequences were hand drawn frame by frame and animated using Harmony Toon Boom animation software.
- Step 3
Each frame was digitally hand painted using Adobe Photoshop and custom brushes
Each frame was digitally hand painted using Adobe Photoshop and custom brushes
- Step 4
Sequences were post-produced and edited using Adobe After Effects.
Sequences were post-produced and edited using Adobe After Effects.
- Conclusions -
The video direction and edit is based on the song “Afterimage” but is intended to work as an animated short film that narrates a range of situations described along the song lyrics of the whole “Ghost City” record.
The final shot of the flower field is meant to say that sometimes, even things that seem suffocating are less oppressive if looked from a different perspective.
Help can come up in the most unexpected ways (i.e. the pink umbrella) and versatility is the most important skill.
The video direction and edit is based on the song “Afterimage” but is intended to work as an animated short film that narrates a range of situations described along the song lyrics of the whole “Ghost City” record.
The final shot of the flower field is meant to say that sometimes, even things that seem suffocating are less oppressive if looked from a different perspective.
Help can come up in the most unexpected ways (i.e. the pink umbrella) and versatility is the most important skill.
