HEARTED ROOTS
An realtime motion capture performance by third-year Film Academy students, portraying the circle of life, presented in a dome environment. This piece reflects on the universal cycle of life and death, exploring the fear humans have of the unknown while acknowledging death as a natural part of existence. It considers how every living being moves closer to death each day, yet from death new life can emerge. By accepting this cycle, death can be seen not only as an end, but also as a gentle and inevitable transition.
Artis Planetarium,
Amsterdam
''All stories must come to an end…
Yet in endings one can find the seeds
of new beginnings.
Deep within the forest, where shadows shivered with the wind. A tiny forest dweller faced the world with trembling courage,
drawn forward by hunger.
Suspended between the instinct to live and the quiet inevitability of what must come.
The world lay gray and hushed, yet somewhere ahead a presence lingered: patient,
ancient and inescapable.''
For this project, I created and designed the main character in Blender using Geometry Nodes, textured in Substance painter and rigged to enable realtime Xsense motion capture-driven performance.
During my research I explored various sacred trees and discovered that many myths and legends revolve around the cycle of life and death. Inspired by these stories, I shaped the tree in this work as a symbol of death within that cycle. I also looked into the symbolism of antlers, which in nature fall off and regrow each year, making them a powerful representation of death, renewal, and the continuous cycle of life. By giving the tree antler-like branches, it takes on a more ominous and mythical presence. The small mouse seen in the video cannot escape the tree; eventually it is absorbed by it, returning its nutrients to the tree so that new life can grow and others may benefit from it again.
A Project By
Jada de Bruijn, Eva van Loon, Erika Laverman,
Merel Langstraat, Chris Garrelts and Jelle Stokis​
Made Possible By
Artis and
Netherlands Film Academy​
Supported By
Robin Coops, Marleine van der Werf, Niek Heemskerk,
Jacco Kooistra, Max Slot and Callum Griffiths
​
Music By
Pepijn van Dorst​