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Pia Alm

DIRECTOR OF LIGHT HEADED

Film Synopsis: What happens when a Badger accidentally breaks the sun?

What inspires your work?

Many things inspire me, such as books, movies, music, series, art in general, people, the news, nature, colours, sounds.

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What films did you watch as a child?

We still had VHS tapes when I was a child. I loved Disney films, Pokemon The First Movie and I also remember loving The Ugly Duckling adaptation from 1997 and Curly: the Littles Puppy. Now when I think of it, back then I was only interested in animated movies.

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If you could adapt any book/play/piece of literature, which would it be?

I think Astrid Lindgrens The Brothers Lionheart or Mio, My Son – books would be interesting to do as a films for children.

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What is next for you?

Currently I have many thing in mind. As I just graduated, I am trying to find a job. Also I am planning my next short film. It is still on the script phace, but some character design is already made. And if I can get in, I will try to apply for masters degree on animation next year.

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Tell us about your film Light Headed ? What`s it all about?

The film was a school project. It is a film about a tired and a bit cranky Badger, who is in charge of the setting and rising of the sun. Badgers co-worker is Aye-aye, a more relaxed personality and an aspiring guitarist. As they try to fix the day back, they also become friends. It is about a friendship, helping each other and the importance of light in our lives.

The film has a rather fun and hopeful in nature, and that is what I hope for people to feel when they are watching the film.

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Can you tell us about the creative process in making your film?

Scriptwriting was easy to make and also the character desings. At first I visioned the film to be a animated puppet film, but since it was supposed to be a 2D-digital short film, the technique needed to be different. Thankfully my Layout

and Concept art teacher told me, that I could build the sets on my own, and try to animate the characters over them.

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How long does a film like Light Headed take to make?

It took me for 3 years to complete the film. But I also had many breaks in between those years, so I am not sure how long it would actually take if I had only focused on making the film.

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What challenges did you encounter?

I struggled a lot with low self-esteem and lack of confidence while making this film. Also many personal challenges happened to me during the making of film. But I am very proud that I was able to finish the film and it came out alright.

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Do you have a favourite moment when filming/creating Light Headed ?

My favorite moment has to be, when we recorded voices for Badger and Aye-aye. My sound designer is very encouriging and warm person, so it was lovely to work with someone so nice. I had work mostly alone, so it was great to have someone to help and make the film even better.

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Can you tell us more about the sound design of your film?

Sound design was made by Sara Rytövuori, a current student in Turku University of Applied Sciences. I gave her a complete freedom with the sound design, and as you can hear, a wonderful job was made! She also plays the guitar at the outro. Amazing.

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Where did you get the inspiration when creating Light Headed ?

The idea for Light Headed came to me when I remember a poem that I used to make about seasonal affective disorder. It said something about the sun being broken like a light bulb, so I thought that it might be fun to do as a animation.

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What have you learnt from making Light Headed ? Would you do anything differently next time?

There is a lot of thing that I learned but here are some: I learned a lot about myself as a person and as a animation maker. I learned to trust my work to other people hands and also to let people more into the creative progress. Also I learned about textures in Adobe After Effects and more about animating as well. Things that I would do differently, is not to be too hard on myself and have more fun. And let people help me more.

Fiction - Documentary - Student - Animation - horror - lgbt - UK & international Short feature film

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