Wrapped the second semester of the client animation project

My heart is full 😊

Last week Professor Joshua Muntain and I wrapped the spring semester with these talented students from Villa Maria College. While learning post production techniques, this “little studio” worked with me as I played the role of “the client”, to animate my newest audio drama, “The Hunting of Tulikettu”, which tells the story of the mythical Finnish fox that creates northern lights with its tail.

Throughout the semester we met and workshopped their animations with the intention of creating one, complete animation. Each student was responsible for roughly 40 seconds of screen time. As second year students, this was their first big project. Much was learned on both sides of the classroom.

Unfortunately due to Covid I couldn’t wrap the semester in person, but I am proud of the students and happy we got this screenshot!

I’ll release the audio drama and animation very soon – I’m eager to share both!

In the meantime, you can check out 2021’s animation and story, “The Specter of Ægir”.

"The Specter of Ægir" audio dramatization is live!

 

Design by Alain Pierre-Lys.

 

The Specter of Ægir is a flash fiction ghost story that I penned about a diver who helps his wife, the newest director of Ægir’s Aquarium, in the wake of their boss’s sudden demise. As her first day unfolds, an uncanny guest lurks, seeking vengeance.

After I finished writing, my training in film kept pulling me in the direction of adapting this material into some form of production. Writing alone couldn’t be the end of the journey…I needed to hear the narrator’s voice and the sounds of the environments I’d dreamt up, but I wasn’t sure what to do.

Eventually, it dawned on me to make something new.

With a team of highly skilled artists that I’ve assembled, we’ve created an audio dramatization for Ægir, a sort of radio drama for you to listen to! We’ve found such freedom in this medium, not needing to worry about budgets in the way filmmaking demands, which has allowed our creativity to blossom in new ways.

I was thrilled to be able to work with many of my long time friends and collaborators.  Keith Gallucci, a powerhouse Los Angeles based actor and musician, lended his voice to the narrator with passion and care through the process of workshopping different character voices, tones and pacing.  After hearing Gallucci’s voice, composer Eddie Irvin took to the piano to create a score with a spectrum that understood both tranquility and terror. His songs, delicately performed, reflect the wondrous, whimsical energy of an aquarium, yet also hone in our sense of dread when the time was needed. Alain Pierre-Lys lended his talents of translating written words into visuals by crafting the manifestation of a spectral presence in Ægir’s Aquarium through a digital collage that blends surrealism with raw authenticity. The goal was to create an image that could live entirely outside of the story while simultaneously complimenting it when set side by side.  And of course, this story would not exist without the refinements and suggestions by my editor, writer Amanda  Bintz, particularly on how to trim my ideas and sentences to keep the telling precise and impactful. 

Listen to the audio dramatization and read the story: www.jordanbianchi.com/the-specter-of-aegir

Starring Keith Gallucci (@andkeithgallucci) as the Narrator

Produced, written and mixed by Jordan Bianchi (@jordanbianchifilms)

Music by Eddie Irvin (@goodshivers)

Graphic Design created by Alain Pierre-Lys (@captainreality)

Story edited by Amanda Bintz (@amandabintz)

 

New flash fiction story "The Specter of Ægir"

 
Screen Shot 2020-06-24 at 11.17.19 AM.png

I’m happy to release a new short story of mine, "The Specter of Ægir". This piece, written for NYC Midnight’s flash fiction competition, is told in less than 1,000 words!

Synopsis: A diver helps his wife, the newest director of Ægir’s Aquarium, in the wake of their boss’s sudden demise. As her first day unfolds, an uncanny guest lurks, seeking vengeance.

An excerpt:

“Under the murky sky I fled. I flew down a curving stretch, the lone driver on a highway that seemed as though it was paved solely for my vehicle. The engine was the only producer of noise. 

I had finally escaped from the funeral parlor. I know I was far too unemotional, a response my wife commented on, before she left. Cars had pulled into the parking lot for hours. My colleagues, oceanographers and marine biologists, gathered to pay their respects to our boss, Dr. Harper. The doctors proclaimed her heart had given out on her. It was sudden. Her people were shocked. But as the tides pull ships, they too would drift away, back to their studies. Would one more leaving be missed? Absolutely not. Funerals bring families and friends together more than any other event – people obsess over death. An open parking spot would be welcomed.

I smelled the river before I saw it. The air that snuck in through my sunroof had a vitalized nuance to it. It supplied the aquarium we worked at with fresh water, pumped inside by the filtration units. They hummed as cargo ships’ lights blinked across the bay… ”