WO RM
A split worm searches for his bottom half.
2022
Plasticine, Dirt, Live Action Puppetry, Colored Pencil, Monotype Prints, Risograph Prints, Digital,
Pixilation, Paint on Glass, Ink, Charcoal
Created for my final year in RISD FAV.
WO RM was my graduation film from my senior year at RISD. I spent the year working on this film in a very fluid and iterative process. I didn’t plan out how this film would be, but rather animated something every week and slowly fleshed out an edit. If I saw any missing pieces to the story while editing, I would spend the next week filling that gap. It was a process that was heavily production and post production. Through the editing process, I was able to find the story I wanted to tell.
This film began because both my brother and I had believed our whole lives that when you split a worm in half, both the head and tail can regenerate. What would that be like? To be a worm who becomes violently torn in two? I wanted to tell the love story of the head and tail of a worm finding one another again. What do they both remember? Are they still the same worm? Who or what have they become? Can they connect again? I am unsure.
Plasticine, dirt. The tunnel shapes are actually based off of an aerial view of my childhood neighborhood! Suburbia looks like a ton of worm tunnels once you go high up enough.
This film was extremely difficult to work on! I was constantly doubting myself and this method of work. I felt that everything I made looked so disjointed and that I wasn’t focusing on the bigger picture the entire time. Though I knew I hated pre production (often when I make a thorough plan, the actual animation and post production begins to feel laborious rather than explorative), I kept thinking that it would be my downfall. I realize now, that the film works pretty well! And even if moments do feel disjointed, the whole film is dealing with this very idea! My process and materials relate directly to the content and themes I was dealing with. I need to learn to trust myself more!
Live Action House and Worms, Digital Rain, Painted trees, Acrylic and Colored Pencil Sky
Sand Animation Rain
Acrylic on Paper, Pixilated Grass, Acrylic Painted Textures
Scratched Dried Acrylic Paint on Glass, Colored Pencil Drawing
Marker, Colored Pencil, Acrylic Paint, Pencil, Dried Acrylic Paint
Acrylic Paint, Pencil
Monotype
Digital Animation, Pixilated Grass, Handmade Paper Textures Animated for Skin Textures
Colored Pencil Against Layered Sky (Acrylic and Colored Pencil)
Colored Pencil Against Acrylic and Colored Pencil Sky
Marker
Colored Pencil, Pixilated Grass
Dirt on Handmade Paper
Carved Plasticine
Live Action House, Colored Pencil, Acrylic Paint, Pen, Silicone Finger
Because I was so unsure of the final look of the film, I really let myself play with materials. Throughout the fall and winter, I just made shots that I thought looked cool and could fit in the narrative. As the edit slowly came together, I began to tailor and bridge gaps between mediums in the new shots I would create. You can read more about the puppetry here and here, but this whole film began in my head with that shot of the house. Watching those worms come out of the ground to feel that ecstatic rain, only to shrivel up and die the next day was very impactful as a child. Was all that joy worth the pain?
I believe that worms are very sensual and tactile creatures. The film begins extremely tactile, but once the worm is ripped in two, we begin to focus on the head. Because he's the head, he has all of the emotional memories of what happened. He wants to become whole again because he knows what's missing. He looks different as well, not exactly a worm, but rather some new thing.The tail on the other hand, has only the tactile memories from before the separation. Everything after is a new, autonomous life. It is only when the head finds the tail and is able to touch and feel him, that the tail remembers their life together.
From the moment the two touch again, the film becomes more tactile. There is clay and dirt and grass again. I tried to choose materials that felt extremely tactile and often dirty. The tail was a more raw and feelings-based character, whereas the head was trapped in his memories and ideations. For portions focusing on the head's thoughts, the materials were often more vibrant, precise, and electric.
Gift from Jaehee <3
Container for something very special! I don't know what yet
