The Story

This short film touches on the common struggle of overwhelming burnout, but does so through the lens of a young artist who in desperation to tame her ADD, attempts to manage multiple mediums and hobbies. With hopes that her life motivation and passion can be manufactured through busy work.

During a moment of trying to force her way through artist block, she manages to summon a small creature of flame that merges with paint from her canvas and through a beautiful contemporary ballet dance and reflection, helps our protagonist discover the true meaning of what it feels to be inspired.

This project will be told without dialogue, but instead focus the nuisance of the small beauties of life and love through captivating visuals, satisfying sound effects and alluring music.

Meet our characters

Bea is a quiet soul in her mid 20's. An artist of many mediums, but preferred painter.

She’s typically overzealous and is very quick to want to hop to a new hyper-fixation like

puzzles, knitting, sculpting, etc. She’s patient, but a heavy over-thinker and happy to help whenever needed. But this also is what drains her of creativity and leads to her burn out.

Zola is a female tabby who has been with Bea for 8 years and was adopted at the age of 9 months. The cat is spunky and absolutely obsessed with Bea. She follows her around in every room and enjoys watching her work. Named Zola, she represents the literal manifestation of peace and tranquility that never leaves Bea’s side.

This dancing paint creature spawns from the spark that jumps from a candle wick

lit by a beam of sunlight. It forms by merging a sparked flame with a glob of paint. And in changing colors leaves trails of gentle flames behind it. It has the appearance of a majestic ballerina with a feminine form. Its existence is birthed through frustration, heart ache, and determination.

Why this story matters

All artists struggle with the familiarity of artist block and burnout. We're also all familiar with what it feels like to keep trying to dread the effort because of delayed gratification and or failure. I want to make a story to speaks to them in a way where we can remember how important it is to look back at appreciate.

Art Style (Film's Look)

We're generally aiming for a 3D animation with a stylized 2D look. I've always been a huge fan of stylized animation and given the story is told through the eyes of a painter, it only seems logical to have it told with brush strokes. Similar to films like "Wednesday with Gramps" "Into the Spiderverse" & "Entergalactic". (Referenced left to right)

Mood (Film's Tone)

Tonally, we're looking to capture the hardships and beauty of a slice of life. Where we even told through a short moment in life, we can learn how real our fears may seem and how overcome them. Just like films like "Twenty Something", "Hair Love" & "Us Again". (Referenced left to right)

Donation Incentive for $500+

For those able to generously donate $500 or more, here's what to expect along with the listed items in the "incentives" tab. Each painting will be a different pose with our dancer of paint, that will be handed painted on a mini 4x4 canvas, with it's min easel. These gifts will be 1 of 1, meaning there won't be any others available.

What to expect from this "Proof of Concept"

We're going to show a full 1 minute sequence that takes place during the story it's self, and show exactly what leads up to the moment our dancer spawns. And through this one minute piece, we'll introduce all of our characters and be able to display a little moment for their personalities to shine through. But the dance sequence it's self will be reserved for the final film.

What is a "Proof of Concept"?

Right now we're in the testing phase of our project. Testing our team, testing our workflow and testing wether we can produce a small portion of the film, that'll hold up to the expectations for the rest of the entire short. So first we're working on only a single minute of the animated film to see what we're able to create with the team we've built so far. The dance sequence will not be included, but will be released upon the start of the main production to finish the rest of the short.

This "Proof of Concept" will also help us pitch the project to grants to help possibly cover the funding for the remainder of the work to be done. Having a tangible product to present helps a lot more than simply pitching a concept of an idea.

Funding our Production

What happens if the "Proof of Concept" is successfully funded?

A celebration will be had! As well as the versions of the gifts for our backers. Of all a lot of the backer incentives are expected upon completion of the short. (Like the screening and digital copies of everything)

What happens if the "Proof of Concept" fails at funding?

This unfortunately will severely halt the production. I'm unable to pay for all of our artists hard work on my own, so we'll spend a lot longer to get the funding we need to compensate them for their time.

Seed&Spark will generously allow us everything if we reach at least 80% of our funding goal. But if we don't achieve the amount we need, we'll still be asking for those who wanted to support to just help us else where. Following our socials will allow us to share more updates on where we would go about continuing out campaign. We're not giving up!

Why can't I recieve a Producers credit for pledging?

This is actually something the Producers Guild frowns upon and they've made a statement letting others know how they feel about it. That info can be found here. Essentially, I'd like for this project to be taken seriously by all guilds, knowing I've taken all their concerns into consideration.

When can we expect to see the finished "Proof of Concept"

If successfully funded, we're aiming to have things finished by late Fall of 2026