Beakus animation director Sophie Koko Gate created her short film “Half Wet” during her studies at the Royal College of Art in London after discovering the water level in the human body decreases as we age, “meaning in a way we evaporate very slowly over time.”

Sophie Koko Gate: “I wanted to make a film about a quarter-life crisis, and the way people my age seem to over think everything they do and say.

“We are all born as wet as a banana, around 75% water. By the time we reach adulthood that amount goes down to 54% water. Gus bumps into Tiny Eyes at dusk, on the eve of his 25th birthday.

“I animated the whole thing with a new method (for me) using Video Groups in Photoshop CS6 – which at first was fiddly and annoying as you can’t scrub audio so my lip synching roughs had to be imported from flash. Now I animate all my projects in Photoshop and am glad I continued with the struggle.

I was very aware that I didn’t want to bore the audience and found myself cutting out a lot of dialogue and space which I think makes the film a bit quick, you have to concentrate to pick up on everything in the film.”

Direction, Script, Design and Animation by Sophie Koko Gate
Sound design and music by Johnny WIldey ( soundcloud.com/alphabetsheaven )
Animation Assistance by Rachel Sale, Rory Waudby-Tolley, Silvia Zubrivnic, Joshua Gonzales.
Voice Actors: Paul Williams, Keiran P Chantrey, Amelia Swan, Tomas Kemp
Sound and music by Jonny Wildey AKA Alphabets Heaven soundcloud.com/alphabetsheaven
Supported by the Nat Cohen Scholarship

Awards:
Bronze Jabberwocky Award (Etiudia & Anima)
Shortlisted Best Student Animation (London Short Film Festival)
Semi Finalist Adobe Achievement Awards 2014

Official Selection:
Animage Festival Pernambuco Brazil 16-28 SEP 2014
BFI London Film Festival UK 22 SEP-17 OCT 2014
Greenhorn Short Film Festival, London UK 16-18 NOV 2014
Etiuda & Anima Festival Poland 21-27 NOV 2014 Bronze Jabberwocky Award
Animated Dreams Tallinn Estonia 19-23 NOV 2014
Premiers Plans FRANCE 16-25 JAN 2015
LSFF London Short Film Festival UK 10 JAN 2015 Shortlisted Best Student Animation
Slamdance Film Festival Utah USA 23-29 JAN 2015
Anima Brussels Belgium 13-22 FEB 2015
Fête de l’anim Rencontres-Audiovisuelles Lille France 27-29 MAR 2015
Tricky Women Vienna Austria 11-15 MAR 2015
SXSW Austin Texas USA 13-22 MAR 2015
FlatPack Birmingham UK 19-29 MAR 2015
Kyiv International Short Film Festival Ukraine 28-29 MAR 2015
Animfest Athens Greece 26 MAR – 1 APR 2015
Go Short Festival Netherlands 8-12 APR 2015
Pictoplasma Berlin Germany 29 APR- 3 MAY 2015
Land of Kings London 3 MAY 2015
Northwest Animation Festival Portland 4-10 MAY 2015
Animafest Zagreb Croatia 9-14 JUNE 2015
Fest Anca Slovakia 24 – 28 JUNE 2015
Insomnia Festival Russia 17-20 JUNE 2015
Tate Modern Turbine Hall Festival 25 JULY 2015
Solyanka Gallery Moscow 22 JULY – 22 SEP
Animation Block Party New York 30 JULY 2015
Tel Aviv Festival Israel 5-8 AUG 2015
Anima Mundi Brazil 7 AUG 2015
WFAF Varna 9-13 SEP 2015
Festival Du Court Lille 18 SEP 2015
Animatou Geneva Switzerland 2-10 OCT 2015
KloosterKlino Nijmegen 10 OCT 2015
Uppsala Festival Sweden 19-27 OCT 2015