Catábase

A very abstract and loose take on the hero's journey, in which the protagonist undergoes one metamorphosis after another and is frequently overwhelmed by the strange encounters they have along their odyssey.

My first animated short film, it was made as my second-year project for the Animation course at the Federal University of Santa Catarina, in Brazil.

The film was animated using Krita, its soundtrack was assembled in Audacity and it was edited in Premiere.

The film was animated entirely by the director over the span of three months. Mixed media techniques, from digital animation to quasi-cut out animation using photographed drawings, were heavily employed in the film. These techniques, combined with the film's loose structure, help make Catábase a disorienting and surreal experience.

Its creative process, too, was just as chaotic: a stream-of-consciousness workflow was implemented. This eased the usage of different techniques into the film, and allowed the film to develop in an almost diaristic way. Real-life images were implemented in the film the day they were shot or recorded, and hardly a scene was put to waste. There was also very little storyboarding or pre-production made for the film.

Full credits: direction, writing, editing and animation by Bruno Medeiros. Soundtrack by Bruno Medeiros, Pedro Alux, Gabriel Guimarães, Owen Mauch, Will Graham, Utakemebackto99, No Curfew Kids, Alana Pongan dos Santos and Marquinho.