Under the Dark Clouds
Under the Dark Clouds is a 2D mixed-media fantasy animation about visiting a dream world. Stra tends to sleep when she wants to escape from the reality. Her bed come alive and lets Stra enter a dream world, where she faces herself and accepts her depression. This film addresses the idea of self-acceptance, and how dreams reflect our unconsciousness.
Under the Dark Clouds won multiple awards including the best of Student Design from Los Angeles Animation Festival, Best 2D VFX from Palm Springs Int. Animation Festival, and Best Animation from Dreamer’s Short Film Festival, and screened at more than 35 festivals including Warsaw Animation Film Festival, Columbus International Film and Animation Festival, and Seoul International Extreme Short Film Festival.
This film was made as a thesis film at School of Visual Arts MFA Computer Arts in 2020, it mixes 2D digital character animation with traditional drawing mediums such as watercolor and crayon for background elements.
Please check the pre-production materials and full award and screening list below.
Character Design
Concepts & Color Script
Winner, Student Design, Los Angeles Animation Festival, CA, 2020
Winner, Best 2D VFX, Palm Springs Int. Animation Festival, CA, 2021
Winner, Best Animation, Dreamer's Short Film Festival, Romania, 2021
Winner, Best Editing, Under The Stars International Film Festival, Italy, 2021
Winner, Creative, 2021 Cheonan international Extreme- Shorts Film Festival, South Korea, 2021
Finalist, New York International Film Awards, NY, 2021
Finalist, Taiwan International Student Design Competition, Taiwan, 2020
Finalist, International Moving Film Festival, Sprain, 2021
Cartoon Cross Columbus Ohio Animation Showcase, OH, 2024
Russian Mental Health Film Festival, Russia, 2022
Georgia Shorts Film Festival, GA, 2022
Vison Feast Film Festival, New Zealand, 2022
FilmJam, Ukraine, 2022
Columbus International Film and Animation Festival, OH, 2021
BAM! Festival, TX, 2021
The Mobile Animation Film Festival, AL, 2021
Laurus Film Festival, Moldova, Kazakhstan and Belarus., 2021
Animae Caribe International Animation & Digital Media Festival, Trinidad and Tobago, 2021
Kosice International Film Festival, Slovakia, 2021
Sardinia Film Festival, Italy, 2021
23rd Madurai International Documentary and Short Film Festival, India, 2021
Warsaw Animation Film Festival, Poland, 2020
8th Canlandıranlar, Turkey, 2020
Siggraph MetroCAF, New York, 2020
International Portrait Film Festival, Bulgaria, 2020
4th Chaniartoon 2020, Greece, 2020
The 12th Seoul International Extreme - Short Image & Film Festival(SESIFF), South Korea, 2020
Draft Selection & Rank A, Rookie Award, 2020
Tbilisi International Animation Festiva, GA, 2020
Tempus Film Festival, Belarus, 2020
Animate, Australia, 2020
Canberra Mental Health Film Festival, Australia, 2020
This Is My Brave International Mental Health Film Festival, Australia, 2020
International Student Animated Film Animafantasia Festival, Romania, 2020
Making the Way, SVA Gallery Online Exhibition, 2020
SVA Alumni Scholarship Awards, New York, 2020
Broadcasted on SBS Ani Gallery, 2020
Press on Cartoonbrew
Award & Film Festivals