Heaven

Animated Featurette (2022)

Cycles of change.

Created in our last year of college, Heaven is about change. The nine chapters of the film follow a girl dealing with grief in a strange forest. The length of the film contributes to its ambience, and we hope, a meditative experience.

Creating an A.I. aided featurette.

The project began in January of 2022. Filming began in February and screened in May. The completion of the film (from start to screening) took five months with a team of twelve. The filming took place in the Redwoods of Santa Cruz, California.

We collected elements using filmed and sampled video. Movement from our bodies and puppets turned into creatures, plants, and environments. This applies to sourced videos as well.

This 20-minute project refined and expanded the visual style of previous projects. Filmed on a 360-degree camera, Heaven proved to be an ambitious project to turn into an animation. Thanks to the tireless efforts of our crew, the final project premiered in IMAX and VR.

We showcased this process at the 2022 Digital Arts and Research Symposium. The University of Southern California and the University of California Santa Cruz funded the project. The film premiered at the A.I. International Film Festival in 2023, where it won “Best Animated Short” and “Best Art Direction.”

See our press kit:

PDF

Exihibitons

2023

• Munich New Wave Short Film Festival | Munich, Germany
• London Director Awards | London, United Kingdom
• Seoul International Short Film Festival | Seoul, South Korea
• Toronto Indie Filmmakers Festival | Toronto, Canada
• Madrid International Short Film Festival | Madrid, Spain
• Tokyo International Short Film Festival | Tokyo, Japan
• New York Tri-State International Film Festival | NY, USA
• Sogni Elettrici Festival | Milan, Italy
• Fantasmagorie Festival | Lombardy, Italy
• A.I. International Film Festival | Salt Lake City, USA

Winner of "Best Animated Short" and "Best Art Direction"

• What Is Happening Here Gallery | Amsterdam, Netherlands
• University of Southern California Thornton School of Music | Los Angeles, USA

2022

• The Robert Zemeckis Center for Digital Arts | Los Angeles, USA
• Digital Arts and Research Symposium | Santa Cruz, USA
• Directed Studies Program at John C. Hench Division of Animation + Digital Arts | Los Angeles, USA

Credits:

Sapwood played by Katherine Montes.

Directed by Kai Tattersall.
Animation Director: Valerie Jackson.
Written by Valerie Jackson, Kai Tattersall.
Produced by Diya Correa.
Performance Director: Max Von Der Horst.
Director of Photography : Partho Gupte.
Production Designer: Madison Kloeber.
Costume Designer: Cas Pryer.
Props by Madison Kloeber & Ross Kloeber.
Character Design by Maximilian Salow.
Sound Design by Cassie Howell.
Sound Mixed by Cassie Howell & Kai Tattersall.
Music Written by Sebastian Sack.
Music Processed by Jason O'Connor & Kai Tattersall.
Singers: Daniel Leese, Koji Sakano, Hannah McDonnel.
First Score Session Engineer: Ashley Fulton.
Second Score Session Engineer: Kai Tattersall.

Casting Directors: Max Von Der Horst, Diya Correa.
Assistant Animation: Max Von Der Horst.
Sound Captured by: Ethan Michaels, Valerie Jackson.

Faculty Advisor: Mike Patterson.
Special Thanks: Eric and Charlotte Pottle, Erick Ziegler, John Rosenberg, Andrew Leist, Dan Wolf, Miho and Simon Tattersall, Cheryl and Jay Jackson.