Hello everyone! Today I would like to share a big project that I worked on this year: Grimsey, a dark fantasy animated short film. It is my most ambitious project to date, featuring a combination of 2D and 3D animation, an original score, and new voices performed by two incredibly talented actors.
Grimsey tells the cautionary tale of a man named Adam, who has passed away and is now a skeleton. He rises out of his grave, unaware that he is dead, and finds a spooky mansion in the distance. There he meets Mr. Grimsey, who reveals to Adam that he is dead, and that he wasted his life seeking personal gain, betraying those around him. Now, Adam must choose a room in the mansion to stay in forever. Adam, still blinded by greed, picks the wrong door, and is sucked into a void. The story ends with Mr. Grimsey awaiting another skeleton to test and see if he will succeed or fail.
The most important element of any film is the story. The seed for this story was planted back in 2016, when I drew a skeleton named “Skelly” (who would later be renamed to “Adam”). The initial idea was for him to appear in a short film heavily inspired by the 1929 Disney Silly Symphony The Skeleton Dance. However, it wasn’t long before the idea shifted into a tour of a spooky old mansion, guided by a new character named Mr. Grimsey. The name came from an old English paper that I wrote in high school, while his appearance was based on a character I saw in a dream. Overtime, the story became more complex, and the medium in which it would be told shifted from short film, to video game, to short story writing, and finally back to short film again. In September of this year, I determined to finally bring the idea to life, and began storyboarding, auditioning for voices, and animating.
The most important element of any film is the story. The seed for this story was planted back in 2016, when I drew a skeleton named “Skelly” (who would later be renamed to “Adam”). The initial idea was for him to appear in a short film heavily inspired by the 1929 Disney Silly Symphony The Skeleton Dance. However, it wasn’t long before the idea shifted into a tour of a spooky old mansion, guided by a new character named Mr. Grimsey. The name came from an old English paper that I wrote in high school, while his appearance was based on a character I saw in a dream. Overtime, the story became more complex, and the medium in which it would be told shifted from short film, to video game, to short story writing, and finally back to short film again. In September of this year, I determined to finally bring the idea to life, and began storyboarding, auditioning for voices, and animating.
Concept art of Adam and Mr. Grimsey
Once the story was settled, making the film took around 2 months. The characters were designed in a computer animation software called Blender, and have three-dimensional bodies with two-dimensional faces. They are animated and rendered, then layered on top of three-dimensional environments. The result is a combination of 2D and 3D animation that brings the story to life. The animation process is one that takes a lot time, attention, and work, but the fruit of that labor is pure magic. The characters come alive on the screen, and through this marvelous medium we can feel their joy and their sorrow, their triumph and their failure. We can relate to the characters, and that is such a key element in storytelling.
The 3D model of Mr. Grimsey, ready for lip syncing in Blender, a computer animation program.
Mr. Grimsey and Adam in the final film.
The 13 minute long film was released on November 23rd, 2020, and is now available to watch via my YouTube channel: AaronCarothersShow, which you can visit here. I hope you enjoy the film, and that it will inspire you to bring your projects to life. If you make it a goal, and put your mind to it, you will accomplish it.
- Aaron
- Aaron
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