BITE (2022)
Written and created by Isabeau Colls
Directed by Isabeau Colls
Produced by James Greenwood + Isabeau Colls
Lead 3d and environment artist Max Bursztynski
3d animated by Max Bursztynski + Jordan Cosma
2d animated by Jasper Barlow, Genevieve Callahan,
Isabeau Colls, Jordan Cosma, Paris Jarvis + Zander von Stiegler
Music by
Fuzzrays
BITE is a hybrid 2D and 3D animated short film that follows our main character Cael through an industrial club, where they fall victim to Bartholomew’s (the frog's) noxious toxin, inducing vivid and sometimes terrifying hallucinations. Bite is animated in first person perspective, allowing the audience to navigate the affects of the toxin in a more immersive experience. We had the honour of working with the Melbourne band Fuzzrays on this project, they wrote and produced an original instrumental soundtrack for the film that influenced the final piece as well as creating emphasis to the structure of the film.
The main inspiration behind Bite was to create a dynamic visualisation through my Aphantasia. Aphantasia is a phenomenon where you are unable to visualise with your “minds eye”, meaning when I close my eyes I cannot visualise anything and only see black. This has meant that my creative process is quite different to others, and my form of expression has been through other outlets. I have always expressed myself through movement and dance, which for me focuses on how we can portray emotion through our hands as well as music. This is what set the ball rolling for Bite.
The goal for Bite was to create a piece in first person that visualises the emotion in harmony with an original song. This is the only way I have ever been able to create art, I have to physically feel the emotion I want the art to portray, and create the piece from there. Bite plays with this concept in a fun and engaging way, and allows each of my amazing team to add a piece of themselves into the final film. Creating a film that allows the audience to place themselves into the shoes of a main character in such an abstract and weird piece is a really exciting concept, especially since we are working with an awesome band to bring the original music to life. I want the audience to feel the emotion of the music, to feel each and every fluctuation of mood in the main character, and most importantly, immerse themselves in the film.
