Working with an open brief from festival founder Héctor Ayuso, Framestore AD Chris Friesen and CDs Jake Cuddihy, Lawrence Jones, Brian Drucker, and Timothy Williams head up a company-wide collaboration to create a dramatic opening film for OFFF 2023.

Jake Cuddihy: “The tagline of this year’s festival ‘Made for the Curious’ really guided us. We felt it was key to celebrate the process we all go through to find something special and out of the ordinary.

“Our main character is The Curious. She’s a hard worker, striving to unlock something unique and beautiful by forcing one world onto another. Frustrated by her lack of progress, we witness a big release of pressure through an emotional outburst.

“She realizes she has been going about it all wrong by trying to control the results and not listening to the artwork. When she brings the two worlds together, she finds they will play in parallel. This leads to the finale where we see that everything is connected.

“Liquid Light is a stunning key sequence that is used as a connective piece between the lab and the slides. The initial style frames were completed in Cinema 4D, before being animated in Houdini and added to the environment. Houdini and Vellum were used to run soft body simulation of the bubbles and the finishing was handled in Nuke, making it easier to manage the integration of the live-action elements.”
 
 

 
Client: OFFF

Production: Framestore
Directors: Jake Cuddihy, Brian Drucker, Christopher Friesen, Lawrence Jones, Timothy Williams
Writer: Christopher Friesen
EVP/Executive Producer: Krystina Wilson
Head of Production: Cat Pavitt
Producer: Samantha Wong
Production Coordinator: Kaitlyn Gorman

Color: Company 3
Colorist: Dominic Phipps

Music/sound design: Yessian Music