Confidence Snatcher

‘Confidence Snatcher’ is a drama/comedy about a kind little girl named Berni, who happily shares her confidence with others. Until one day, it is snatched from her by a cruel, little bully named Tiffany. After a few years of having her confidence taken from her, Berni is unable to grow back what she lost, so she starts snatching from others. In order to grow her confidence back, she must learn an important lesson when she attempts to snatch it from Nora, the most confident girl in school.

The soul of the story and the message behind the film was inspired by a lesson I learned as a teen about the importance of empathy and being kind to others. After experiencing bullying in primary school, I developed a mean streak and became bitchy to my friends. It was something that I always looked back on with deep regret, especially as I got older and began to properly understand other people's emotions. The confidence bags came about when I wondered what it would be like if people could share their confidence. As a very shy young girl, I had always had a bit of an obsession with confidence and would envy people who had more than me. I loved the idea of people being able to share it and I knew it would be a visually striking image in the animation medium and a unique way to show varying amounts of confidence characters carried.

I really love the rubber-hose style animation and I wanted to try it out for my film. However, I quickly realised that it was not going to be sustainable for me to animate in this style all alone and actually finish the darn thing! So I decided to limit the stretchy, flexible movement to the arms, hair and other extra bits and bobs like the confidence claw. It was also decided that I focus on facial expressions, which is really important for a film dealing with the topic of bullying. The backgrounds were drawn in pen and were heavily influenced by some of my favourite illustrators from my childhood including Babette Cole and Quentin Blake. I wanted each background to look slightly rough and embraced tiny imperfections, which not only saved me time, but gave each background more character. The colour palette was used as a way to reflect the changing mood of the film and the shift in Berni’s character. From a sweet, happy 8 year-old with soft bright colours, to a moody, rebellious 13 year-old with a much duller, cooler colour palette.

What started out as a film for my final year of uni, turned into a huge and challenging solo project. Although it was a really difficult and emotionally taxing experience, I am so glad that I did it and I am so happy to finally share ‘Confidence Snatcher’ with you all. I put all my passion, my heart and soul into the film and I really hope audiences enjoy it!