Private Project

Burned-in

The dark inner of a person is lit up only by the flame-head of a mannequin sitting in a corner. Eventually, a hand enters the picture and alternately reaches out for the mannequin or attacks it. In the end, the hand extinguishes the mannequin’s flame-head, leaving it behind alone and disoriented in the dark.

  • Vivienne Dejon
    Director
  • Vivienne Dejon
    Storyboard
  • Vivienne Dejon
    Producer
  • Daniel Zineldin
    Animation
  • Daniel Zineldin
    Illustration
  • Daniel Zineldin
    Video
  • Ludwig Barth
    Sounddesign
  • Paulina Maluhia
    Live Action Camera Assistant
  • Vivienne Dejon
    Voice Actor 1
  • Shaked Evron
    Voice Actor 2
  • Project Type:
    Animation, Short
  • Runtime:
    2 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    February 16, 2021
  • Production Budget:
    750 EUR
  • Country of Origin:
    Germany
  • Country of Filming:
    Austria
  • Language:
    No Dialogue
  • Shooting Format:
    Rotoscope Animation
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Vivienne Dejon

Vivienne Dejon (*1997) was born and raised in Berlin, Germany. She studied musical theatre at the Music and Arts University of the City of Vienna and graduated with distinction in 2020. Her bachelor’s thesis, looking at the moral potential of musical theatre, was awarded a scholarship by the city of Vienna for an “outstanding” thesis. Meanwhile studying she gained experience as a director’s assistant for film, musical and opera. In 2021 she was in the finals to the studies “Animation Film Directing” at “Den Danske Filmskole” in Copenhagen, Denmark. In summer 2022 she attended the "Kunsthøjskole Holbæk" where she learned from renowed animator Sarah Koppel. Her partly autobiographical directing-debut “Buned-in” is focusing on emotional violence to raise awareness. Vivienne Dejon is currently living in the Netherlands to take a Master's degree at "Fontys Hogeschool voor de kunsten". She is looking for producers for her next projects, including animated shorts and a pilot for an animated children series with focus on mental illnesses and conditions.

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Director Statement

“Burned-in” is a partly autobiographic animated short film trying to raise awareness for emotional violence. Using the metaphor of a mannequin, symbolizing the inner child of a person, as well as a hand, symbolizing people around giving or taking love, the viewer empathizes with what it feels like inside of a person undergoing emotional violence.

I decided on a flame as the head of the inner child because fire reacts visually to air. When facing emotional violence, the victim can feel like the air is being taking away and breathing becomes harder. The opposite also applies: when feeling safe and loved again, suddenly the victim can feel revived – such as when the slightest amount of air can revive the embers, making it once again a burning flame.

To emphasize the rough environment in which the inner child is living, the illustrator and animator Daniel Zineldin and I decided on Rotoscope Animation and a low frame rate of ca. 6 frames per second. The low frame rate also allows the viewer to experience the flickering of the flame. With the slow-motion part in the end, lowering the frame rate once again, I wanted to underline the disorientation of the now headless inner child by making the viewer feel similarly “headless”. To stress the presence of fire, Daniel and I wanted to include coal as a material. In the end, Daniel painted the background with the used pieces of coal from his father’s fireplace. Combined with the animation technique of Rotoscope Animation, enabling us to use natural materials, and the uniquely mixed flame-sounds that Ludwig Barth composed, we tried to make it as 3-dimensional as possible and hope that the viewer might even be able to actually smell the coal while watching.

The whole production period of the film was only two weeks. This was possible because I had imagined the movie already since 2 years. When I spontaneously decided to apply for the studies of “Animation Film Directing” at “Den Danske Filmskole” in Copenhagen (Denmark), I seized the opportunity to let the pictures come alive. Facing such a short period of time during a pandemic, Daniel and I were working in an highly improvised working environment, him for example using a tablet as a light source to copy the 1000 pictures frame by frame, as well as cutting the used paper from size A4 to A6 himself.

Even though I only reached the finals at “Den Danske Filmskole” this year, I was advised to seek out more experience until the next audition in 2023. Doing so, I proudly present my first animated short film and hereby take the chance to look for producers/production companies wanting to be a part of bringing following projects (already waiting in the wings) to life.