Gaia
A Animation focused on Sustainability
Gaia
Gaia was a independant Animation Project created during the second year of my BA Animation Degree with the core focus on spreading awareness of the nagative impact of human waste on nature. With the Theme of sustaiability, 'Gaia' is ultimatly a project designed to evoke emotions from the audience and inspire change towards the ever present issue of Climate change.
This 2D Frame by Frame Animation short film tells the story of Gaia - a living emodiment of the last remanents of nature. Set in a fictional future not to far from our current life, the world has decayed under the misuse of human, and nature has been destroyed. Every ocean is poulluted with the dead and rubish, the air no longer breathable because of fumes and every bit of quality life has gone. Humans, under their own actions, has succumbed to their waste, letting it corrupt and overtake them, turning them into mindless sludge monsters - beings of no form and who can only wander around aimlessly, full of regret and pain.
However, deep within a forest of dying trees and darkness, lives Gaia in her little santuriy. There, she lives and enjoys her life, using her flute of rejuvenation to slowly heal the area around her, her soul tied to the very health of the forest. Grass is green and flowers bloom, all under her careful and gentle care. One day, a lone sludge monster wanders into her little forest santurary. Though initially full of fear, Gaia sees he does not show violence unlike every other, but curiousity and longing for what has been lost.
Hopeful, she lets him in, keen to try help with her care. Slowly, it works, the human under the sludge wants to change, to feel fresh air and see nature once more. Unfortunetly, the damage is too great. The sludge refuses to leave the dying human underneath, even spreading further and polluting Gaia's home, turning violent and hungry. Injured, she can not heal the remaining nature and succumbs to the greed of the violent sludge monster - mirroying not only the fragility of nature against humans, but how right now, nature is fighting to even stay alive in our growing world of technology and waste.
Character Designs
Gaia
Inspired by the fantasy myths of Drayds - forest spirits of Greek history that lived in forests and trees, guarding their homes from humans - Gaia is a metaphor for mother nature trying to survive in a increasingly dangerous and polluted human world. Using appeal to heighten emotional attachment from the audience, Gaia is designed to be a embodiment of nature through not only her clothes of green leaves and moss, but through her young delicate appearance - a mirror to how trly young earth is compared to other planets - yet, it is the one that is speeding towards descruction. Her white hair symbolizes unsullied purity that changes later on within the films narrative at the arrival of the sludge monster, with her entire silouhette to be composed of circles and curves to show her gentle and kind nature.
A embodiment of human waste and regret of actions, the sludge monster has no distinctive shape. This allowed his design to be free to experiemnt with and portray depending on the interaction between him and Gaia. Having such a slimey and rather gooey form allowed me to play with the Twelve Animation Principals - mainly, Squash and Stretch. In the film, you would see him often able to reform himself such as collaping into a puddle when started and stretching himself like a spring over logs and greater distances. His initial portrayls mixed with this design that was heavily inspired by Studio Ghibli's Stink Spirit from Spirited Away (Miyazaki, 2001), almost gave him a harmless appearence that alloed comedic elemts to be played around with in the film. However, when he becomes more consumed by the waste, his form expands and loses any human shape, becoming a mountain of violent greed that swallows Gaia. Unlike the portagonist's bright green pallette and innocent whites, his pallette is all dark and murky, further eliterating the portral of the toxic waste that clings to him. Within his slushy design, you can see sharp edges and distuigishable shapes of rubbish from bottle to cans.
Storyboard - Gaia
Animatic Based upon storyboard
Final 2D Animation
