Disillusioned

This short film displays the surreal journey of a troubled young girl trapped in a nightmare representing her repressed trauma. The story begins in a bedroom, detailed with intricate floral patterns and whimsical decor. Lit by the soft glow of moonlight, the room’s safe and innocent appearance symbolizes the comfort in familiarity, which in this case shows denial in the toxicity of a household. When the protagonist enters the long hallway, she is faced with painful reminders of her reality. She endures the horrors of her memories throughout the hallway, reliving scenarios involving her overbearing and neglectful mother. Reaching the door, the heroine believes she is ready to move past this cycle of abuse and exit this psychological prison. Woken up by the book falling out of her bookshelf once again, she is back in the illusion of safety in ignorance. The film ends ambiguously, posing the question of whether or not the door could actually be reached, or if the seemingly unending effects of childhood trauma are inescapable. “Disillusioned” is a stop motion animated short film created by Emma Arutt, Sara Friedman, Breanne Holt, Shreyas Somasundaram, and Charlotte Yang in the Experimental Animation Workshop class at the University of Central Florida. This film showcases a completely fabricated set, character, and props created through various mediums. The story is brought to life through 3D puppet animation and cutout animation. The set is made of plywood and embellished with wallpaper prints. All furniture and props were created from balsa wood, clay, paper, pipe cleaners, beads, and foam. The character puppet consists of a wire armature, needle felted hair, a clay base covered in fabric, and hand sewn clothing. The paper cutouts and portraits were drawn digitally. Furniture was primed and painted over with acrylics. The film was animated in Dragonframe and edited in Premiere Pro and After Effects. All sounds provided by Envato Elements.