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SHADOW-FREE

GIRL (SHE/HER) SHADOW (HE/HIM)

Act 1

We follow this GIRL. She is outside going around her day.

On her way she picks up coffee from a coffee shop. There is another wispy form of a hand emerging. It shakes and vibrates with excitement from the girl getting her morning coffee.

She goes to the alley way, there is a lot of cats in there. She regularly feeds them, so cats immediately approach her. She starts petting one of them. While she is enamoured by this one kitten, shadowy forms and hands start petting, hugging, and playing with the cats. Every cat that wants attention, gets it.

The girl passes through a flower shop. Girl stops and looks throughout the window and sees all those gorgeous plants. She enamoured my them for a moment but snaps out of it and turns to walk away. But her shadow stays at the same place where the girl previously stood, sill fixated on those beautiful plants.

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She walks back home. Her place is quite bare, a lot of stuff is in boxes. She is in a process of moving out.

Her shadow comes out immediately when the door closes.

One figure looking through one book that is not boxed up yet, another pair of disembodied hands arranges little figurines on the windowsill. Third, starts messing with small pieces of thread handing from the cupboard.

The girl looks around her place with all of the boxes. Its scary to leave a familiar place, but she feels prepared to take another step in her life!

She picks up a box.

Act 2

Space: new place, a university dorm, new unfamiliar surroundings, lots of sounds and people.

She puts the box down. Its her new room. Smaller than she expected, but hopefully she can make it cozy. Oh and lets not forget, it’s a shared flat.

She starts unpacking. Opening first box, her shadow comes out in a shape of hands, grabbing different objects, comics, sawing kit, sketchbook, rubix cube, and busying themselves with it.

A touch of normality. The girl looks around her fondly. A drop of comfort.

A sudden knock on her door spooks the girl. She haphazardly disperses her shadows before opening her door.

Behind the door is her new roommate. She is energetic as super outgoing. She pushes into the girl’s room, complementing little things and coating the room with her enthusiasm.

It intimidates the girl. For the person to access her space is easily, is a new thing for her.

The little changes in her routine accelerate.

(the sequence mirrors the act 1 establishing sequences)

She goes to get her morning coffee. After getting a cup, she takes a calming breath, finally her shadow can come out. But when the shadows tries to materialise, the girl hears a shout from one of the other tables. She turns – its her roommate and couple of her friends. She lets out a inaudible sigh and joins them.

She sees a cat in an alleyway. She comes closer to pet it. Girl can feel the shadow’s anticipation. But cat hisses and runs away.

Girl and roommate passes a botany shop. She is ready to just window shop as she usually does, but her roommate drags her in. She is dragged inside. Her shadow come’s out to observe all those new plants that he can see. But the girl calls him off horridly. No one knows about the shadow, and no one should see him.

She finally comes back home. She feels drained, and the shadow under her skin itching to get out. But he can’t. Its not safe yet. He is not alone yet.

Act 3

The roommate drags her out to into their shared living room. The girl notices that the living room is filled with little trinkets and little pieces from her roommate, its filled with personal items, but there no items to show of the Girl’s existence in this place.

Her shadow urges her to let him out. Let him fill the space, make it theirs. She refuses. Shadow pushes, but the girl tries to contain it.

He pushes himself even more eagerly. He NEEDS to get out. She knows it, she feels it too – the need is almost overbearing, but the fear is a powerful enemy.

She is no longer present. She is absorbed in this inner fight.

She loses it. The shadow hands grab her personal trinkets, comics, things, and scatter it across the living room. It is a mess.

That’s how her roommate finds the girl. In the middle of the living room, surrounded by a lot of random items from her room.

The roommate kneels next to the girl. The girl doesn’t want to acknowledge the new arrival. She tries to ignore it, until her roommate pokes her back and points. The girl raises her eyes.

In the furthest side on the sofa, there is a shadow, not hers, but it looks like as he tries to put the disarray of items on the floor into correct places around the living room.

It stops, turns and waves to the girl. The girl slowly, unsure waves back. Or tries to, but her shadow is quicker and waves back first.

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Act2 color storyboard concept

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Act2_color storyboard concept

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A WOMAN is going around HER day. Attending classes, going shopping, doing chores.

The world is full of colour shape and motion.

SHE is an ordinary woman, going around HER day-to-day life as normal.

At least until SHE reaches HER flat and closes its door.

In HER own home, privacy, where no one can see and judge HER, HER SHEADS HER SKIN. It happens in almost methodical, well-practiced way. The SKIN come down like a costume, in one piece. Instead of women, where she previously stood, now the space is occupied by a SHADOW – wispy, almost translucent form, slightly shimmering and constantly shifting.

SHADOW is finally free. It is tiring to be in one shape for too long. Those moments of privacy at home, when THEY can become their truest self, help a lot.

(MONTAGE SHOWING SHADOW RUNNING FREE) The SHADOW jumps from THEIR window. THEY land on the busy street, but THEY don’t mind it anymore. THEY shift into a shadow of a passing bus, a hunting cat, a man crossing the street, a tree, covered by colourful ribbons.

THEY are happy.

(TIME SKIP)

The WOMAN now has a flat mate. They are wonderful, but the WOMAN doesn’t feel comfortable to shift anymore. Because, what if..? (her roommate scratches her wrist, the action isn’t noticed by the woman)

The shadow is restless; THEY want to be let out. SHE wants to be let out. But the worry and fear shackles her, and doubts cloud her mind.

SHE is in her living room. SHE is restless. HER focus keeps slipping to other shadows, almost like they are calling HER.

The SHADOW begins to try to GET OUT out of her. Hands and spikes protrude from her mouth. Hands get covered by shadow fingers, that PLEADS to her to reach out, give in and shift.

Hand snaps around her wrist. She is snapped out, in panic. Her eyes trace the unfamiliar arm to whoever it belongs to. It’s her flatmate. They lock eyes. Something like understanding passes through them both. Something familiar.

The flatmate pulls their cardigan sleeve up. Their veins are decorated by swirling nightly sky-looking darkness, just below their skin. But almost vibrating, urging to be let out, be freed.

They are the same. Together, they are the same.

Both hiding from society, trying to be what expected of them, to be ONLY ONE FORM, when they can be million different ones.

The shift is blinding, almost like an explosion, it swaps through the room, with want, NEED, eagerness to be their true selves.

In the end, what remains are two SHADOWS, free and finally not alone. They destroy their SKINS, there is no need for any temptation of the past.

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A Harpy is living with her flock. One day she find an old tv. She becomes entranced by colours and sounds coming from it. She puts it into hidden place, away from rain and dampness.

Starts visiting it regularly. The more she sees - humans dancing, smiling, TALKING, commercials of different products and beauty shots - the more it fascinates them. She YEARNS to be part of it. She begins making clothes and wigs out of rubbish, pieces of fabric, plastic caps, glass pieces. The fascination grows. And her actions become more self-destructive.

But it doesn’t stop her. She continues it, the fascination to be ONE OF THE HUMANS, be glamourous, be beautiful.

The fascination grows into an obsession. A WANT grows into a NEED.

She starts straightening her legs, fix the posture, change her face and features.

The obsession grows, the disappointment and desperation festers.

She starts tearing out her face feathers. Trying to mask them out with some paint/create substance as make-up.

TV no longer shows glamour and beauty, it starts showing mutilation and plastic surgery as steps to be BEAUTIFUL AND PERFECT.

She observes her silhouette next to a model, and her crazed eyes lock onto her wings. At that moment she comes to a decision. THE WINGS HAVE TO GO.

She rummages through her horde in her hide away, until he catches a glimpse of it. A glass shard. Smooth, innocent, BEAUTIFUL glass chard. It going to make her just like them: perfect and beautiful.

She looks at the TV. Slowly, she approaches with glass piece in hand. Her eyes locked to the screen. It’s her chance. Finally, she is going to be BEAUTIFUL.

The shard is couple inches deep, the tears fall from her face, but the static of the TV blinds her, she can’t see anything else. Just a little bit more

The TV glitches for the last time and shuts off.

The hide out falls into tense silence. Only silent *tap tap* can be heard, the drops of blood hitting the ground.

Harpy is frozen in place. She is still staring into TV screen. But it’s no longer ON. Instead of beautiful smiles and figures of humans, She sees herself. Her true reflection.

Her frame is haggard, face is bleeding from unhealed wounds, and the wings, still attached, but caked in blood and gore.

She looks at herself and what they became.

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A pure white bird, symbolizing purity or a mystical being, descends into human society. As she explores this society, she absorbs numerous concepts that begin to ensnare her. The human-imposed rules and perceptions gradually transform into shadows, embodying responsibility, judgment, and the darker aspects of humanity, weighing her down and preventing her from flying freely.

In a desperate attempt to fly towards the sky, she finds herself trapped by these shadows (with shapes of hand, grabbing down). After a series of struggles, she collides with a white wall and begins to cast the shadows onto it. Slowly, she creates a drawing that represents all the concepts and rules she couldn't comprehend within humanity.

Zooming out to reveal the entire drawing, it is heavy, tense, and filled with despair, depicting hands grabbing something. Ultimately, she leaves behind all her passion, phobias, and obsessions she discovered in humanity on the wall and fly away, liberated from their grasp.

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CONTRETEMPS - Animation Short Film 2021 - GOBELINS

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LOVE DEATH + ROBOTS | Inside the Animation: Good Hunting | Netflix

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Act2_1