AN ANIMATED FANTASY MICRO-SHORT
by Joseph Daniel Rodriguez
Synopsis
A father and his daughter travel through a dark ravine when they encounter an ancient entity, the archway man, a being known as an All Soul from a time long forgotten by man.
CHARACTER DESIGNS
the Archway man’s design I had already envisioned before I even started writing the script. but defining the two main characters would take time. So I played around with the designs to try and create a cultural garb that felt organic, and yet somewhat scholarly and elegant. the only thing I knew going into it, was that whatever culture these two came from, it wasn’t war based.
designing the costume gave me insight into the world that these characters occupy, not the other way around. It was definitely a fun exercise in seeing where my pen stroke would take me.
As I designed, I realized my subconscious influences were definitely Mayan/ Aztec. The Dreamworks animated film The Road to El Dorado was definitely a film I watched many many times growing up, and now I can take a step back and look at the final result and see the impact those designs had on what I created here.
ANIMATED SHORT FILM STILLS
Background Design
The backgrounds were created with kitbashed elements form the STORY-stone pack that were lit and rendered in Blender 3d, and brought into Clip Studio to create a hand-drawn aesthetic.
I also really like thick atmosphere, so I used a pretty heavy volumetric node in Blender to create a very hazy feel to the backgrounds. It really helped set the tone for the story.
The Archway Man Poem
I am the Archway Man.
I Rend the Earth of Flesh and Sand.
Through Hollowed Bones, Like Blood Red Wine.
I Drink the Chaff, of Hallowed Time.
Origins of the Poem
It’s hard to say what the inspiration was. I remember sitting on my coach watching some sitcom, and those words just kind of popped into my head. I had to refine it once I got it down on paper, but it was all there from the start. Once I had the poem down, I started thinking about “who would be saying this?”, “what would they look like?” and then the story developed around that.
I could hear the cadence immediately too which was wild. so it was a blast to see Qu Griffin bring out exactly what I had in my head for the voice.
