into the flame
Short Film
Life begins to unravel for Floyd — an overworked, unfulfilled businessman — in his wife’s sudden absence.
So many questions. So many seemingly strange answers leading him forward. Moths are appearing all around him and no matter what he tries, he can’t halt the visions. In a panic, he flees, running wildly for days.
Exhausted, there seems to be no escape for Floyd … but in the end there may be no end at all.
FLOYD WATERS
Even before his wife disappeared, he wondered if this was all there was to life. When she's gone, he struggles to understand, frightened by a growing plague of hallucinations.
ROSE WATERS
Rose had always sought out higher truths, sometimes driven to extremes to find it. It was part of what Floyd loved about her, but he knew it could also be her undoing.
PROCESS
Every shot presented a new artistic technical challenge. From getting a texture workflow that feels just right, to building convincing swarm behavior rigs, our work was cut out for us.
Often we found ourselves starting in 3D just to create reference images for the cel artists, so they could better visualize how the proportions in more extreme views would behave. Other times we would build an entire shot with shape layers over our pencil tests for vector smooth curves that could move with perfectly crafted ease.
CREDITS
Written and directed by
Sean McClintock
Executive Producers
Magnus Hierta
Whitney Green
Sean McClintock
Senior Producer
Jeff Bybee
Junior Producer
Cloie Leger Watson
Character Design
Timo Prousalis
Diego Abad
Sean McClintock
Design
Sean McClintock
Timo Prousalis
Diego Abad
Angie Yeun Son
Matt Deans
Lead Animator
Timo Prousalis
2D Animators
Diego Abad
David John Reyes
Travis Schmidt
Sean McClintock
Ryan Musselman
Reza Iman
Kavan Magsoodi
Lauren Detling Cash
3D Animators
Travis Schmidt
Ryan Musselman
Sean McClintock
Paul Wei
Anthony Palermo
Technical Director
Ryan Musselman
Travis Schmidt
Storyboards
Diego Abad
Timo Prousalis
Matt Deans
Sean McClintock
Concept & Story Assistance
Sean McClintock
Timo Prousalis
Matt Deans
Diego Abad
Ryan Musselman
Travis Schmidt
Magnus Hierta
David John Reyes
Angie Yeun Son
Mariah Hourihan
Jeff Bybee
Whitney Green
Cloie Leger
Giao Roever
Editors
Sean McClintock
Danny Reidy
Compositors
Angie Yeun Son
Ryan Musselman
David John Reyes
Travis Schmidt
Diego Abad
Richelle Son
Carly Johnson
Morgan Allison
Sean McClintock
Timo Prousalis
Drums
Niccoló Chotkowski
Cleanup Assistance
Symbiosys
Sound Design
Niccoló Chotkowski
Guido Montalcini
Final Mix
Overcoast