OVERVIEW

Canvas Playgrounds is a mixed-medium short film where naturalistic performances, intimate cinematography & 2D animation combine to form a compelling drama about childhood pressures.

What do we mean by 'mixed-medium'?

This story will be told using live-action (cameras on actors doing actor-y things), 2D stop-motion animation (hundreds of paper sketches that move real fast) and 2D digital animation. By combining these mediums we'll create a film that explores how young people question their identity, a character that’ll capture your heart, plus sprinkle in a bit of magical escapism.

Sounds great, right? 

While exciting, using multiple mediums makes this film more expensive than your average short. That’s why we are coming to YOU: fans of indie film, fans of our talented cast and crew, fans of British film, fans of East-Asian film, fans of animation, fans of passionate storytelling! We hope that by the end of this pitch you will feel a similar way towards Canvas Playgrounds and will join us so that we can tell this story how it's meant to be told.

What happens when a child lacks the language to understand themselves and their peers?

Why do children end up rejecting parts of themselves?

How can adults listen better or better create spaces for these conversations? 

SYNOPSIS

We meet Megumi, 12 years-old and a talented artist, at a difficult chapter in her childhood.

She is being routinely bullied at her all-girls school with some of the abuse being racially charged; Megumi is Japanese but after immigrating several years ago, England is now her home.

Despite being close with her mother and being a favourite student of her art teacher, she finds it impossible to put into words her circumstances or the growing confusion and frustration she feels towards her own identity, and so she retreats further into her artwork. Her unique relationship with art is not just an escape but a place for her to try her best to make sense of why this is happening to her. 

'君の名は' 2016 dir. Makoto Shinkai 

FEELING

Canvas Playgrounds is a film of the Magical Realist genre; a genre that incorporates magical or fantastical elements into a realistic setting.

The live-action sections of the film will be shot as a realistic drama with naturalistic performances and subtle cinematography, (think of films such as ‘Close’ dir. Lucas Dhont or ‘Monster’ (怪物）dir. Kore-eda Hirokazu), with the perspective of the film aligning itself very closely to Megumi, our protagonist. 

In some moments we get so close we slip into and join her in her imagination. This is where the animation, the ‘magical’, aspect of this film reveals itself. Megumi will escape into artworks that come to life for her and have conversations with fictional characters.

REPRESENTATION - from Hiroki (writer/director)

In the Narrative

When writing the script there was a strong desire to represent the experiences I had as a mixed British-Japanese kid and so naturally Japanese family culture, food and language is represented within a backdrop of suburban England.

The inclusion of the Japanese language in particular is important to me. I’m British, I have a British passport, but I spend half of my time here using another language. 

In general I find it shocking how few multi-lingual British films exist, despite being able to hear 4 to 5 different languages on every tube journey. Britishness is multiculturalism, and my hope is that this film represents not just a British-Japanese or even a British-East-Asian experience but Britishness, revising what it means and how it feels to live on this island we call home. 

In the Production

This film both in its cast and crew is led by east-asian and/or female creatives. For the crew this wasn’t particularly intentional for every role, it just so happened that these talented individuals felt like they could connect with a script about a young Japanese schoolgirl and her story. There is of course a need to make more space for these voices at every level of the entertainment industry to allow more of these stories to be told and I’m proud that our film contributes to greater diversity in the British industry. 

THE CREATOR

THE TEAM

Instead of the usual headshot and bios you see on campaign pages, we thought it'd be nice to include video chats with some of the team to bring you along on some of the creative chats we've been having! There was so much gold from these discussion we recorded with the team, so we will be releasing bits throughout the coming weeks via our Instagram.

PRODUCERS - Emma Kyung Mi Sheldrick & Niamh PW

CINEMATOGRAPHER - Darius Shu

CASTING DIRECTOR - Olivia Brittain

EDITOR - Céline Glasman James 

COMPOSER - Mark Choi

COSTUME DESIGNER - Georgia Chang-Evans

ANIMATORS - Yury Aleksanyan

ART DIRECTOR - Hyun Jung (Jerry) Kim

SOUND DESIGNER - Kai Scheer

If you have any questions or are interested in making a large contribution to the project, please reach out to Emma via the Plus Eight Two contact page .

THANK YOU !