LETTERS TO BURN
A University Final Year Project
2019-2020
A firekeeper's role as the bridge between the living and the dead. A traditionally animated film set in 1980s Singapore, this story follows the firekeeper's day to day job in stamping letters to be sent by locals to their loved ones by burning it in a special fire. It then focuses on his interaction with a sullen, young boy who visits every evening. When the boy misses a chance to send a letter, a confrontation ensues, resulting in a bittersweet discovery of the boy's yearning wish.
THE FILM
Concept
In memory of the creator's late uncle, Letters to Burn is a story centred around a Firekeeper’s role as the bridge between the living and the dead, where the magic fire he creates acts as a ‘mail delivery system’ for locals to burn their letters in and which ashes will be sent up to heaven to be delivered to the respective deceased individuals. The film addresses the theme of grieving, where everyone grieves in their own way. Letters to Burn hopes to be an expression of how it is alright for one to deal with death by desiring to connect in any way to the dead, even if it means one may never move on from their loss.
BEHIND THE SCENES
Rough Animator and Procreate
Majority of the film was done in Rough Animator and Procreate on an 11-inch iPad. Given the creator's active lifestyle, it was difficult to remain in the studio and use common 2D applications such as TVPaint. There were also several technical difficulties when Circuit Breaker was in place and she was unable to access TVPaint from home. She thus took to bringing the iPad around wherever she went so as to continue working on her FYP.
Process
The rough linework was done in Rough Animator frame by frame, before it was imported into Procreate.
The background would first be drawn and completed, before each frame was coloured over again frame by frame. The frame rate would then be adjusted before it was exported to be put together either in After Effects for any effects or compositing requirements or Premiere Pro.
“Death leaves a heartache no one can heal, love leaves a memory no one can steal”