Exploring the idea of natural rhythms vs. obsessive productivity, London-based director and 2D animator Emily Downe crafts a poetic and very topical short film with Theos, a Christian think tank based in the UK.

Emily Downe: “A few years ago, I was feeling burnt out and had gotten into an unhealthy pattern of overworking. I began to think about nature and I discovered that all life, even plants and minuscule organisms, exist in cycles of activity and rest. Lions, which we see as majestic animals, sleep up to 21 hours per day.

“I loved the idea that rhythms are written into nature and I wanted to contrast this to the effects that technology has had on our rhythms. Thomas Edison hoped his invention of electric light would eradicate sleep, since we wouldn’t be limited by the setting of the sun anymore.
 

“I wanted to link the idea of artificial light and artificial minds (AI) with this constant pressure for humans to be more and more productive.”

 
“I began to realize that AI was the next ‘light bulb’, so I wanted to link the idea of artificial light and artificial minds (AI) with this constant pressure for humans to be more and more productive. So there were lots of thoughts brewing and I had to try and pull them out of my head and into a film.

“A lot of the writing came first and the visuals stemmed from there. The rhythm and pace were important because of the themes around life patterns and cycles so I started working with sound very early on.

“The animation technique is mostly frame by frame digital 2D. The sleep scenes, however, are all animated straight ahead with paint on paper. I wanted these to feel free, playful, and dreamy. Painting was a way to remove some of the control that comes with digital animation.

“We only had budget for a very small team and we worked on and off for about a year. There is always more you want to do with animation so there’s pressure to do as much as you can in the time frame, but it was great to be able to flesh out the idea after thinking about it for several years.”
 
 

 
Client: Theos Think Tank

Writer/director: Emily Downe
Designer: Emily Downe
Animator: Martha Halliday, Emily Downe

Music/sound design: Jan Willem de With
Additional sound: Richard Johnsen