Lucid is a short interactive animated film. It is 2D and created in Adobe flash with hand-painted and digitally painted texture elements. Lucid is a film about the circumstances in life that lead us to our own concepts of morality and how things like out inner psyche and use of spiritual experiences aren’t immune to our development and personal emotional biases.
Artist/Thesis Statement
As an Animator and an artist, I’ve made multiple projects exploring a variety of topics, but a deep focus of mine has been themes like emotional ambiguity, various mental states, and a complicated relationship with religion. Over the course of my university career I’ve delved into studying famous American short stories by authors such as Earnest Hemingway, Joyce Carole-Oats and Andre Dubus III, as well as exploring the psychology of human sexuality. Before college, I interned at a prosthetics lab which directly impacted the design and representation of my main character. As an animator, I feel competent creating complicated backgrounds and working with color. These are all aspects I brought to my film.
In Lucid, the protagonist Ricky is dealing with a barrage of financial, family, and relationship issues and is struggling for control. In a wine fueled episode of spotty judgement, Ricky attempts to astral project into the dreams of her ex-partner Nikora to convince (or trick) them into taking her back. Undergoing this endeavor, she meets manifestations of her Id and Superego: respectively, self-serving and altruistic versions of the self. While initially following through with her plan, in her ex-partner’s dreamscape she is again confronted with the choice of listening to her own immediate wishes (Id) or confronting rejection and hardship for the good of herself and Nikora (Superego). This is where the watcher will have multiple options to view various endings. Which version of herself will Ricky ultimately give in to? Will Ricky learn to move on and be happy?
Lucid is a 2D short animated in Flash featuring some photographic and composited textures. It will have multiple ending options. The goal is to present a look at the circumstances that cause one’s behavior and why we choose to follow the impulses we do.
