“Salvation” is a stunning sequence of interconnected moments told entirely through found objects. Produced at Blinkink with direction by Noah Harris & Andy Biddle, this project creates an epic and at times ominous tone as it evolves through three major acts: the birth of our plant in Element, the growth of humanity in Sentience, and our descent toward the inevitable in Oblivion.
What I find so striking about this film is the commitment to the core idea, as Noah Harris explains:
“The creative process with this project was pretty unique. We had set out a basic creative intent for each film, but the whole point of the concept was that we would be beholden to the objects we found. So we would find one amazing object, and then we would start to build a narrative to and from that object. Every transition in the film is just made from found objects. It is entirely in-camera. This meant towards the end of the sourcing process we were out looking for very specific sizes and shapes, not just subject matter.”
As Andy Biddle describes, there is no digital trickery in “Salvation”:
When the objects morph, there is no digital trickery, it’s all in camera so when you are trying to morph from a golden branch decorated with white porcelain flowers to a golden peacock you need to find objects that can fit in-between to ease that transformation. There are some objects that are literally only on screen for two frames (a 12th of a second) but they are all important to make sure the action is smooth. I love doing that stuff and get a real kick out of making a transformation work.
Making of
Outside of all the magical moments throughout the film, it’s also a wonderful example of collaboration as Andy Biddle describes:
“With Salvation, I can’t really take any credit with the initial concept. That came from the deep recesses of Noah’s mind :) It was something we later spoke about over beer and pizza in a local pub in East London. We developed the idea of both the narrative of the film (which shows the evolution of objects from birth to death and then resurrection) and how we would up cycle the objects we bought at many a car boot sale. I think the idea of this upcycling technique mirroring the film’s narrative made this project extra special for us… Noah and I have always had a really good working relationship with him as director and I animator and I was happy to this time come on board to this project as a co director.”
Offline animation pass
It’s not every day that the stars align and you get to further a personal interest while also working towards a common goal with a client, as Noah explains:
“This project has many facets for me. It’s a set of films for a client. It’s a collaboration, not only between me and Andy, but with Village Green, their artists and of course all our friends who worked on the project with us… But it’s also a personal project. It’s a short film fulfilling my love of physical objects and in-camera techniques… It’s living, moving graphic design. We worked on this project for well over a year, the budget was minimal, so we didn’t earn anything from doing it… It’s a passion project.”
Be sure to check out the links below for more on “Salvation”, Blink and Noah and Andy