Brain Space (2025)
BAFTA Long-listed Stop Motion Short Film
Client
Ffilm Cymru, Severn Screen
Studio(s)
Solo, Aardman Animations
Role(s)
Compositor, Editor
Type
Short Film, Stop Motion
Shadow of trauma
“Propelled into her own mind, Rhi explores the thoughts, fears and impulses that shape our internal world. When her inner child is threatened by the shadows of her own trauma her fear turns to anger & she must fight back to regain control. From desperation to acceptance, she learns to choose life.”
Making-of
Brain Space, written and directed by Laura Tofarides, is a stop motion animated short that portrays the emotional story of Rhi who is sent into a dangerous journey through her mind and memories. The film was made over 5 years, and I handled all edit and VFX/compositing responsibilities over 4 of those.
The compositing-side involved rig removal, shot clean-up, as well as fancier visual flourishes and grading. The edit-side involved regular assemblies, edit decisions with the director, and final delivery.
Reception
Brain Space was long-listed at the EE BAFTA Film Awards 2026 and continues to do well on the festival circuit.
Behind-the-scenes
I created these sneak peaks into the film’s production to use for social media. As compositor/VFX artist, I was primarily responsible for getting the ‘RAW’ shot to the ‘Final’ state.
“Zuhair Mehrali was our editor and VFX artist and he was fantastic at all the rig removal for these shots but also coming up with creative solutions to enhance the narrative. The flickering blue hands are a very important part of our story and Zuhair found a plugin which enabled the flickering hands that we animated to be tracked onto the puppet and deform when she moves.”
