Sinking Feeling
Papyrus
Sinking Feeling is Blue Zoo's 2021 short film, created for PAPYRUS UK, the charity working to prevent youth suicide.
As the studio celebrates its 21st year, it was very much felt that we wanted to use our platform to aid a positive change and bring awareness to a lesser known subject.
Here, in 2021, we are all faced with a new set of challenges from those of two years ago, pre-pandemic, particularly with mental wellness. So it was upon learning that suicide is the biggest killer of under 35s in the UK that we reached out to teenage suicide prevention charity, PAPYRUS UK to lend our support.
We worked closely with PAPYRUS to form the brief. First learning about the specific challenges they face and what objectives an awareness film could help them overcome. It was also important to understand how the charity communicates and avoid the commonly misused terminology associated with the subject.
As with all Blue Zoo Shorts, the brief was an open invite to pitch for any Blue Zoo employee, and following a studio-wide vote it was Animator, Mark Spokes, who’s truly emotive narrative and poignant visual metaphor of a young boy physically sinking into the ground, struggling with his daily life as the world around him carries on oblivious, which won.
Mark, and Art Director, Grant Berry, worked closely to develop a film that beautifully walks the line between sensitively portraying the subject of suicide whilst imbuing the film with the emotional weight to cut through and raise awareness to the tragic frequency of youth suicide.
With over 60 artists involved in the making of Sinking Feeling and the “True Colours” soundtrack performed by our very own Blue Zoo Choir, it’s fair to say the studio put it’s heart and soul into the film.
CREDITS
Directed by
Mark Spokes
Art Director
Grant Berry
Storyboards
Alun Edwards
Modeling
Sophie Jameson
Ryan Narvaez
Nafi John
Gudny Hannesdottir
Anna Peron
Adrian Lan Sun Luk
Chereen Francis-Roberts
Rigging
Chris McFall
2D Animation
Stuart Geddis
Samantha Langton
Carol Nolan
Marie Tucholski
Millie Spouse
Jonny Strutt
Doris Rastinger
Animation
Mark Spokes
Bianca Iancu
Brenda Ximena Roldan Romero
Isabella Papa
Joshua Treadgold
Sam Mowforth
Muniza Fazal
Julie Vignon
Will Lloyd-Cook
Sarah Caisley
Tom Stratford
Oleksiy Popov
Sergio Muñoz González
Alina Bopele
Damon Winterburn
James Finlay
Ricky James Honmong
Valantine Dagany
Claire Louise Hodges
Martin Beneš
Lighting & Compositing
Tania Maccaferri
Ana Martín Vega
Daniel Schmucker
Leonie Etschel
Adeola Sokunbi
Lisa-Mae Evans
Jack McEntire
Jodi Henry
Robin Danielsson
Music
Blue Zoo Choir
Alberto Gatto
Aurelie Lise-Anne Van Overloop
Daniel Isman
Elaine Thomas
Isabel Afolalu
Isabella Papa
Katie May Gascoyne
Laura-Jean Ross
Leonie Etschel
Louise Robert-Murphy
Mel Dayalan
Musical Arrangement
Ed Blunt
Music Editor
Mel Dayalan
Legal
Danel Isman
Grade
The Mill
Technical Lead/Blender Support
Phil Stewart
Realtime Technical Artist
Jack Alexandre Sainsbury
Production Manager
Chantal Baldwin
Producer
Tom Box