The Runaway Bride - An Animated Short Film

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THE RUNAWAY BRIDE - An Animated Short Film

A young girl runs away from the conservative concept of marriage to find herself a fate that she wants. She finds herself alone on a bus stop from where she’s tempted to return home, but with sweet company and determination she embraces the journey to come.

The Runaway Bride is a representation of the way girls are raised and how the fate of women is always tied to marriage. They have to struggle or fight or run away to choose a fate that they want. The Runaway Bride is in search of a home, a home where she is accepted as her own person, having her own choice and being her own responsibility. It's all about giving women the chance to evolve and the choice to take their own path whether it leads to marriage or not.

TRAILER

PRE - PRODUCTION

This is where it all began. I made this illustration back in Semester 4 in 2021, after listening to Aurora's 'Runaway' and since then I knew it wasn't going to be just an illustration. I kept thinking about it at the back of my mind and then unexpectedly picked it up 2 years later, as my Graduation Film. Only this time I had a story to tell.

Animatic

Storyboards

While writing the story, there was this moment I kept going back to where, me and my cousin sisters were lying down on the water tank at my farmhouse, hoping to see the galaxy of stars. Unfortunately it was cloudy night. The memory of that night was really personal to me and later it also became a part that weaved the story together.

Since I was working with both 2d and Stopmotion, developing a style that would work well with both mediums as well as keep the details and texture of each one was important to me. Colors are something I always work on first as it defines the way I look at the entire film or even any illustration. For this film I had to get the colours right as they carried the mood and the style I was going for, bringing the 2 mediums together. The costume design was crucial as it signified the age and history of the characters. That is why I chose to have minimal features and focused more on their overall appearance.

Character Sheets

I was so grateful to grow up with up so many cousin sisters (there are 10 of us) without whom this film wouldn't have been possible. The film is about The Runaway Bride (Meenu) who is a representation of many girls that are not given a right to make their own choices but it is also about sisterhood and unlearning the societal norms put on us.

Meenu as a Child, a Teenager and a Young Adult

Meenu's Sisters

Rough Visualisations

Backgrounds

STOP-MOTION PRODUCTION

This was the most challenging yet the most fun part of the project. Working on stopmotion alone was really difficult, from sourcing the materials to making the models, building the set and then animating, it was a long journey but I learned a lot from it. I received a lot of help and advice from my friends and seniors which made this entire sequence come together.

2D PRODUCTION

2d Animation from Rough to the Final Frame

POST PRODUCTION

It took around nine months for the film to come together. After editing, compositing and making several revisions, I finally finished the film in October 2023. 'The Runaway Bride' is currently going around in Film Festivals.