Skin deep
“Forget the stigma, see the story”
‘Skin deep' is a short experimental film that interacts with tattoos on the human body with animations and projections, in an attempt to shatter the stigma associated with tattoos...
This project originated from my passion and love for tattoos. For me tattoos are not just illustrations to decorate your body. They tell stories and have emotional value. I still remember clearly which tattoo of mine is the first one ever. I attach great importance to that specific tattoo because of the underlying meaning.
As someone who has a tattoo, I know how it feels to be looked down upon. People give you strange looks or immediately give you a negative image. How many times have I heard: wow you are very friendly, you wouldn't say that about your appearance with your tattoos and piercings. This is something that hits me very hard, because my tattoos tell an emotional story for me and are very personal. Because of such situations, I wanted to work around the stigma of tattoos.
Because tattoos tell a story, I wanted to work with projections on the body. Projections of animated tattoo designs that I made myself. To make my work more interesting and dynamic I make the images come to life by using the technique of frame by frame animation. For my film I want to work with different types of people from different genders, generations, etc.
Moodboard
A tattoo on your body is something unique: it connects you with the illustration and like that each body and individual is equally unique. I want to portray the fragile and graceful nature of the human body through figurative and abstract projections. The projections mainly refer to my own view of tattoos and the concept that I have applied to my own body. It is the contrast between figurative and abstract. Which is a representation of my own chaotic self through life, but being able to hyperfocus on the things I am passionate about. For example, such as in animation films and tattooing people myself, which I am also involved in outside of school.
In my film, you see a lot of eyes and butterflies. The butterfly symbolises an animal that flies above you and looks down on you. A butterfly also has eyes as a pattern on its wings to chase away its prey. Eyes are an important element in my film, because we use our eyes to look and express emotions.The eyes give you an unpleasant feeling, a watched feeling.
You also see x-rays in my film. With this, I want to show a form of layering. A tattoo is actually a drawing in ink that is placed just under the skin. It is a kind of in-between layer. By means of projections, I try to show a stratification. All layers are made through projections and not in post production. Only transitions are made in post production. I also started working with two beamers that projected above each other, which gave a surprising effect.
Director: Elisabeth Willems
Producer: Elisabeth Willems
Co-producer: LUCA School of Arts Brussel
Assistant: Diane De Vos
Music Producer: Ward Beeckmans
Color grader: Fons Vanoverbeke
Enjoy!
Behind the scenes
Picture wall
