What I’m Making Right Now (And Why)
An honest progress report
PreCovid I decided that I wanted to make a stop motion animated short film. Things lined up when I got hired by Netflix Animation to work on a CG/stop-motion hybrid feature animated film. Production came to a halt with Covid. The movie was postponed indefinitely.
I took what I learned during that time and began acquiring necessary equipment: a camera, lights, a new laptop, and microphones. I also began learning how to build puppet armatures. I even started a YouTube vlog series where I began documenting the process of making this short film.
This short film is going to be an animated documentary. I saw the mocumentary, Best In Show, in college and though I haven’t seen it since, it is one of my favorites. Since then, I’ve noticed how I’ve always gravitated towards animated documentaries with projects such as Journey Birds to bigger budget shows and films like City of Ghosts and Piece By Piece.
Fall of 2021 I began recording everyone who would be participating in the documentary. I was on such a high. Things were coming together
You may be surprised that I’m confessing this, but I completely jumped the gun here. I didn’t have a pitch bible (even though I had no plans of pitching it). I didn’t have character designs or set designs. Just a bunch of inspiration on a digital whiteboard. I barely knew what it was going to be about. I figured in edit, “the story will reveal itself” to me.
On top of all of that, I moved out of state. I thought, “Wow, this is it, I have more space to dedicate to creating”. Soon after, I started reconsidering whether this project should be stop motion. Should I make it 3D with a stop motion style, that way I don’t have to worry about sets being disturbed (I had acquired a furry 4-legged roommate)?
Do I want the sets to be real and the characters 3D or vice versa? I was paralyzed by all the directions I could go.
Then I got laid off 8 months after the move. May 2022. I went into survival mode BAD. I was delivering packages for Amazon, working in a Casino, and working for an adult sports league. Doing everything I could think of to hold on to what I had.
A year later, I realized that I could not hold on any longer, and it broke my heart deeply.
I spent 2025 reconnecting with my creative self. It was my nerdiest year yet. Being around like-minded people healed me in all the right ways. A small win.
I’ve also started making YouTube videos again. Another small win.
A big win is that I’ve started drawing again! This is actually so huge. I don’t think I’ve drawn anything since I got laid off in 2022. It became a mental hurdle. The first step I took to overcome this was impulsively buying crayons and a coloring book. I kept things low stakes and colored whenever I was watching one of my not-so-guilty reality show pleasures. Before I knew it, I felt ready for a sketchbook again.
For the month of January, I completed 4 sketches! I don’t care about them being “good” or “clear,” I just can’t believe just how far away from being creative I have gotten.
I created a new schedule for me to achieve production on my film, but most importantly, I shrunk it. Instead of it being a documentary about 6 people. It’s about 1 person, my mother.
With this new wave of inspiration and excitement, the next thing that I will be focusing on for my short is the pitch bible. Though I do not plan on pitching this, I know it is important to collect my ideas and incorporate them in one place. In a cohesive document.
Don’t worry, I’ll be documenting that process and will be sharing my experiences in the Spring.
After drafting this, I went to YouTube and watched the few vlogs that I made. I’ll post the first one here. These vlogs are currently unlisted, but after watching, I think I should make them public soon. Enjoy!