top of page

The Island Of Dolls (2017)

Client: Personal/Thesis Film

Software Used: Autodesk Maya, After Effects, Adobe Photoshop, Real Flow, Adobe Premiere

Timeframe: 1 year

Watch Trailer

The Island of Dolls is a short animation that mixes 3D and 2D techniques. A nightmarish story that is based on a lullaby, it follows a little girl finding herself in a mysterious island full of dolls, and escaping from a mythical monster.

As part of the MFA in Animation program at Pratt Institute, a thesis film is required to graduate. To fulfill the requirements of this Thesis, The Island of Dolls was completely written, developed, designed, 3D modeled, animated, rendered and edited without other artists collaborating, as a single person project, with the exclusion of sound design and music, the mentorship of the Thesis advisors, and the comments and recommendations given by other students during critiques. Because of this, the project not only showcases character animation skills, but also an overall understanding and execution of an animated short story and all proceses involved.

The short film was loseely based on the place of the same name, a strange patch of land in the middle of the lake of Xochimilco in Mexico City that´s curiously inhabited by old dolls hanging from trees and branches. It is an unusual tourist spot and it was the starting point for the idea of this film. It also has roots on dreams, Spanish nursery rhymes and in general, the artist's interest in fantasy and horror.


bottom of page