Film Style
WOMAN OF ANOTHER WORLD is structured like a spiral rather than a linear narrative, using a mix of live action, old school special effects, animation, photographic and painted backdrops. All this is to create an immersive, dreamlike quality that mirrors Helena's non-linear understanding of time.
Our ANIMATION TECHNIQUES include:
line drawings, rotoscoping, cut-outs, stop action, painted backdrops, modeling and other visual effects. This accomplishes two goals:
- Allows us to reveal Helena’s fantastical life story and the psychic phenomena that inhabited and surrounded her all her life: animals and stones spoke to her, strange phenomena and sounds manifested themselves before her at will.
- Eliminates the need for expensive travel overseas with actors, and outdoor period scenes in New York City. Instead, animated and painted backgrounds would be created. An example would be some of the techniques used in the 2023 film "Poor Things," which blended old-school, handcrafted special effects and modern technology.
By introducing these techniques early and by judiciously blending them with live action footage, we hope to create an enchanting cinematic world that blurs the boundaries between what is “real”, the life of the mind, and the world of spirits.
There is a precedent for such techniques: see Apple TV’s “Dickinson”, for example, and Netflix’s “Enola Holmes”. Both were very successful and both incorporated animation within live action to convey, in the case of “Dickinson”, the creative powers of Emily Dickinson’s mind, and with "Enola Holmes", the fevered detective work of Sherlock Holmes’ little sister.
Possible Animation Styles
We have been experimenting with different styles of animation. On the left is one that uses animated cut-outs. On the right is a type of rotoscoping of live action. We will most likely use a combination of these two styles, but will also include original animated line drawings, and some CGI mixed with practical camera effects. A good example of a film that combines a vast array of visual techniques, is Godfrey Reggio's latest film, "Once Within a Time." See trailer: https://youtu.be/VDnhl79hpp8?si=Gx9GzypoDabzZdUW