“Covid Habit” is a short animation produced in the experimental.l. lab in 2021, directed by Elham Doust-Haghighi in collaboration with Sara McClanahan and Benjamin Wu.
Written by Elham Doust-Haghighi
The “Covid Habit” short animation was created in collaboration between students of the course Animation Studio II (taught by Associate Professor of Practice Nelson Lim) and produced at the experimenta.l. lab. The process of this animation can be divided into two parts. The first part was the character design and the making of the puppet. The second part focused on making the stage assets and completing the production and post-production of the animation. I did character design and made the puppet in the Stop Motion workshop held by Hamida Khatri at experimenta.l. In addition, Sara McClanahan created a larger pair of hands for the close-up shot.
Appearance traits link the character to the “Pandemic” concept. The character is designed to reflect changes in living conditions during the pandemic. He has no mouth and nose, representing the mask-wearing faces identified from the eyes and the forehead only. Also, in pandemics and virtual social interactions, clothing generally lost its meaning as a social requirement. At the same time, people are accustomed to sitting for long portions of time, getting used to the remote working styles that make the character’s buttocks and abdomen appear bigger.
For Professor Lim’s Animation Studio II course, we were required to create an animation related to the “Habit” concept. I took the opportunity to connect the character, designed with the idea of “Covid,” to a short plot with the concept of our new “Habits” as a result of the pandemic. During the Covid-19 pandemic, globally, people were worried about changing old habits, and getting used to the new lifestyle imposed on them as new habits started to be normalized. Among the six different pitched ideas submitted to that class, “Covid Habit” was one of the two projects selected by students’ to be produced. That is when Sarah McClanahan and Benjamin Wu joined the project.
Sara and Benjamin created the scene props with cardboard. After making the assets and testing them at the lab, we found that the puppet’s hands were unsuitable for the close-up scene. For this reason, Sara took charge to make a large pair of hands with the ability to be animated.
After troubleshooting and corrections, we set the scene in a station at experimenta.l. dedicated to the project and started the animation phase. It was the first time for the three of us to make a 3D puppet for stop-motion animation. For this reason, we made a lot of tests and learned through trials and errors, experimenting along the way.
When making animation with tactile hands-on techniques, like stop-motion, the process and meditative quality of the making experience is essential regardless of the final result. I have not experienced such quality in CG work, although most of my professional work experience has been focused on CG work.
The short is one minute long and is now running its festival rounds.