Neighbour: The Short Film
Very personal project that took almost a year to finish.
August 2023
There are 5 feelings pictured in the video: melancholy, growing anxiety and panic, estrangement, acceptance and, finally, indifference masked by inability. The whole film is a visualization of anxious-depressive syndrome, and, probably, other mental issues. The beginning of the video feels like continuation of the last part, which echoes with the cyclicality of this condition.
This project was started at a complicated point of my life, back then I didn't realise why I'm doing what I'm doing, but now, after it's behind me, I can clearly see the reason of every pixel there.
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Let it be a reminder for anyone that is going through something that feels final and unsolvable, that in the end a human being is capable of absolutely anything. It may feel inevitable and terrifying, it even may feel like an end of the world, but it will be over one day, and this is the most important to remember. Every day, hour, minute there is an opportunity to break the cycle and ask for help, the only thing needed is the decision to do so.
Tech details
The jumping angles and compositions give a "far-close-far-close-far" points of view, which create dynamic and make viewer stay and watch till the end, because human brain wants to know what will be next.
As the parts create loop (starts with far and ends with far), most likely the video will be watched twice - the beginning feels like the continuation of the end.
Those techniques is often used in product photography and videos.
​All the particle systems (grass, plants, rain etc.) is optimized for the focal length and distance of the cameras, so the scene isn't overweighed, and some of the effects are added on post-process stage (less weight = faster render = faster production).
The glass is 100% procedural shader with animated texture map - using procedural materials reduces weight of the scene as well.
