What is the film about?

CICADA CLOUDS is a semi-autobiographical animated film revisiting a childhood memory involving a cicada. It is an introspective visual poem attempting to reconcile the often naïve and careless actions of boyhood with the larger-than-life truths of nature, through the lens of a fifth-grade boy. Inspired by this magical realism and Matsuo Bashō’s poem “The cry of the cicada”, CICADA CLOUDS isn’t a search for answers, but rather a timeless reflection of deeper appreciation for life’s inexplainable yet wonderous moments.

What influenced it?

As a film based on a childhood memory, I heavily reflected on that time to recreate how I felt and what I was experiencing. I’m naturally drawn to the surreal and magical quality of life’s more mysterious moments, so capturing that same feeling was integral during the making of the film. Looking out from that internal remembrance, I discovered Matsuo Basho’s poem ‘The cry of the cicada’, which perfectly summarized the cumulative feelings, thoughts, and impact of why this core childhood memory stuck with me and how it has affected my outlook on life today.

A little background information...

The film is a form of remembrance; a way to come home to my inner child and rediscover what I had lost. This past year I’ve been diving deeper into what kind of life I want to live and what that might look like, and while I don’t have a clear answer yet, I’ve been practicing bringing more joy into my life. It’s something simple we often take for granted after ‘growing up’, and for the longest time I either suppressed or was unable to bring out that inner child in me. Coming back to this memory reminded me of that truly remarkable feeling of being in awe at something – even for just a brief moment – and relearning how to appreciate life again.

I think making this film was the beginning of me retapping into what I want to give and bring out of my life. It’s a death and rebirth of the soul, contextualized in this childhood memory that was initially too large to process for a young boy, and I wanted the key visual moments to reflect that spiritual remembering. I recreated this memory to bring myself a sense of agency and a little bit of that child-like wonder that leaves no room to be self-conscious.

How was the film made?

Using a combination of 3D and 2D techniques, I was inspired by the visceral quality of traditional animation backgrounds that juxtapose with the more simply-rendered animated characters. I created the characters and environments of this film in 3D – rigging and animating the main subjects – and composited them on top of 2D painted backgrounds to give that same feeling commonly seen in Japanese animated films.