The first assignment in an introductory animation class this summer that is centered primarily around stop-motion. We were to download the required program and make something a few seconds long to get familiar with the workspace and so on.
I set up a little top-down rostrum near a partially curtained window (for the shifting indirect lights), and for a backdrop I used an old painting of Paris that I salvaged from curbside trash years ago. I drew some quick pen sketches for side assets of buildings and intended to just float up these little metal studs left over from previous costume sewing
Meanwhile, my cat Mae Bell watched me. She was quite old and had become frail and slowed down in increasingly concerning ways. She passed away two weeks later.
Anyway at one point she blanked out and just stared at the window, not looking at anything that I could see just up at the blue sky. I took a scrap of denim I had laying around from previous efforts to prototype an anti-covid mask and formed it into a vague “cat” head silhouette. I then imagined she was seeing souls rising up from the city. Ruminations on mortality.
The audio was recorded afterwards just so it wasn’t silent, you can hear me approaching her and petting. Attentive listeners may hear her purring, and you can consider that a free blessing