Introduction
Un Perro en La Oscuridad (A dog in the dark) is a short animation I made in attempt to create a linear narrative through animation.
This is a short film which tells the story of a dog that is obsessed with the moon, and by chasing it the animal continually finds itself unsatisfied. The story is music-driven and the animation was set to follow the pace of the music.
Context
I had just finished a project in which the narrative was abstract, so I decided I’d like to put some work into something more logical narrative-wise for my next movie.
Idea
Okay, so the outcome you saw above is the result of a mix of random things that led to that video. The very first thing is the soundtrack. Once I was listening to music on Spotify (they didn’t pay me to say this *sadface*) and through my discoveries I came across Amend by J^p^n.
From the moment I listened to that song I knew that would be the soundtrack for my next project.
I had that track in my mind as I was sketching some simple dogs in Illustrator (fig.1).
I was creating a series of posters where a pink dog would chase the moon. At that point I had’t connected the music to the sketches I was doing. Then when I finished the sketches I realised: “I want to make more animated things.
So, why don’t I just animate this dog going after the moon?” and that’s how I decided to put both music and draw together. The last random thing was the title: I used to live with this Argentinian guy and we would call each other Perro (dog). One day he was watching something on his smartphone and all the lights were off, so I said “Un Perro in the Dark”.
He started laughing because I didn’t know how to say “in the dark” in Spanish. So he taught me “Un Perro en la Oscuridad”. I heard that and like a rock had hit my head I knew the video I was planning should be titled like that. Un Perro en la Oscuridad. That’s how I got the idea. Now let’s talk details.
fig1: early sketches. Here we can see I was in the stage where I had added the vinyl player.
fig.2: Igor by Tyler, The Creator
Style/Shape and Colour
The final outcome is pretty much what I first made when I was just sketching the dog. I was trying to create some deep, spacious and simple environments with a character in very simple lines and shapes.
The reason I choose a dog was because I though would be cool (as far as I remember). The colours were picked to create contrast. I’d seen a few nice references with black and white, but instead of white I wanted to add a bit of character to the story so I choose a very soft pink which was trendy by the time I made the animation and also because Tyler’s album -Igor- has that colour (fig.2).
Style/Animation and Timing
Initially my storyboards were very logical, but when I really started animating I decided to pop in a few things to make the whole thing more surreal (fig.3). The surreality would come across in small things like the vinyl player by the shore in the beginning and also how the moon and the sun (fig.4 and fig.5) were animated.
When it comes to style of animation, I tried making it more traditional at the start, but it just made me frustrated as I wasn’t very good at that, so what I decided was to use the sad and nostalgic environment set by the music and draw a style led by the way I’d animate it.
fig.3: vinyl player by the sore
fig.4: moon at night
fig.5: sun in the morning
When it comes to style of animation, I tried making it more traditional at the start, but it just made me frustrated as I wasn’t very good at that, so what I decided was to use the sad and nostalgic environment set by the music and draw a style led by the way I’d animate it. I have lots of references on how to create pauses and tell a story, but the way I decided to follow with the short-film was mainly inspired by a scene in the anime Neon Genesis Evangelion (fig.6) where the characters stare at each other and do nothing for a good few seconds.
That scene in the anime created not only momentum, but also leaves whoever is watching very unsettled. So keeping that in mind I made the scenes quite long, with relatively long stretches without much action to create feelings of nostalgia and contemplation.
fig.6: Neon Genesis Evangelion E24 22m
fig.7: strokes with moving noise
fig.8: sun with repeater and twirl effects
Wrapping Up
At the end, it was quite simple to put all together because I had thoroughly thought through the overall idea. To finish the project I just added a few effects like noise (fig.7) and repeaters (fig.8) to the elements so it wouldn't look poorly executed.
