Short film "Between two fires"

The short animation film "Between two fires" (2020) is about a baby camel who tries to run away from a bush fire in Australia, however, a shocking surprise awaits him at the end of the journey. This is mine and my course-mate's Veronika Jakutaviciute directed film created this year. "Between two fires" is our debut film. 

This story illustrates today's situation in Australia, where about 10,000 camels are at risk of being shot and killed in a drought-ravaged region of Australia, after complaints that the thirsty animals drink water which is needed by people who live there.

A baby camel Mia seems to be lonely and abandoned at night in the middle of the road. She tells a story of how people start to be harsh with camels and her with family and other Australian animals run away from bush fire every year. This time bush fire was extremely dangerous. The baby camel lost her mother in a fire when a tree fell on her. She has to leave her mother and continue to fight alone for survival. Finally, Mia runs out of bushfire. The baby camel saw a strange image unseen to her: road, signs, and fences. But suddenly Mia heard a very loud and strange sound. From above, there was a bright light that shone on the baby camel. Mia saw a giant machine flying over her head. A man from a helicopter saw a baby camel and shot him.

 The film splits into two parts. The first part recreates the impression of stories that were once told in the shadow theater technic by using a 3D medium. I wanted to make visual style based on real shadow theater but with the feeling of a sunny Australian vibe. For this reason in most of the scenes dominant colors became yellow, red, brown, and orange. In the end, the result resembled a quite different from shadow theater but I am happy with it because in this way the look of the film turned out more unique than expected.

The second part of the film looks more dimensional and real. This helps to create an illusion of danger and contrast between the real and dream worlds. 

More stills from film:

Test images

Concept art: