“Moonflower” is a 4-minute dialogue-free animation set in a world where flowers take on human-like characteristics. The story focuses on a mother-and-daughter flower duo living through the effects of climate change, particularly rising temperatures and deforestation. As seasons blur under the strain of human impact, the flowers’ once carefree existence turns into a struggle for survival. Flora, the curious daughter, is drawn to the Moon, despite her mother’s warnings. Ultimately, it is Flora’s ingenuity that leads to her salvation, after witnessing her mother’s sacrifice to protect her.

I was responsible for the entire conceptualization and animation of the project. I had a clear image of the message I wanted the story to convey, but no clear vision of how to tell it initially. This led to multiple storyboard drafts before I decided to focus on just two characters to create a more intimate narrative. The concepts were created in Photoshop, the animation in Adobe Animate, and post-production in both Premiere and After Effects. I also handled the sound-mixing in Audacity, ensuring the orchestral score matched the pacing and tone of the animation.

The biggest challenge was telling a compelling story without dialogue, using only the flowers’ movements to express emotion, as they had no facial features, hands, or feet. I approached this by making their gestures larger and more theatrical, much like stage acting. Another challenge was merging the 2D characters seamlessly into a 3D environment, which I tackled by using light to unify the elements and enhance the scene’s emotional depth. Timing the flowers’ movements to the orchestral score was also intricate, requiring careful planning to match the pacing of the music.