Wise words, austere visuals, and heart-felt narration conjure a surprisingly complex array of emotions in Eli Guillou’s film “The Light in the Dark” created during his senior year at SCAD.

Guillou is currently finishing up an internship at Buck in Los Angeles before joining the Trollback NYC studio full time.
 

Eli Guillou: “In 2016, I went through a tough season, which is why it felt right to focus my senior film on my personal experience with darkness. It was a 20-week project. The first 10 weeks were conceptual and pre visualization.
 

“This is where the story formed. I knew the script would play a huge part in the project, so I drafted up a script, had a couple rounds of revisions myself, and then handed it off to a Hannah Maschoff for her to polish up and re-work some areas that weren’t working.

“Being a visual piece, I knew it was key to have moments where I could communicate the script, with pure visuals, which guided some of the language used.
 

“When we nailed down the script, I story boarded the piece out, and began the intense rounds of designs and motion tests. As we were designing, I began animating so I could know what worked and what didn’t. This was a huge help in developing the look of the piece.”
 

School: SCAD
Directed by: Eli Guillou
Written by: Hannah Maschoff
Voiceover: Michelle Falanga
Original Music: Matt Stanfield
Sound Design: Clark Rhee
Design: Joash Berkeley, Eli Guillou, Matt Higgins
Animation: Eli Guillou

Special thanks: Joash Berkeley, Daniel Cordero, Chrissy Eckman, Andrea Freiwald, Matt Higgins, John Hughes, Kenny Kerut, Geoff Schultz, Sam Stucky, Seth Upperman, Duff Yong, My family