Hope

Notes on the film

This stop motion film animates liquid gouache and water on a rotating circular blackboard, which becomes a dynamic canvas of streaks and splatters. Paint and water are added incrementally to the surface, pulled downward by gravity, and dried or evaporated over time. The film’s rhythm condenses painstaking gestures of applying paint, rotating the canvas, and waiting. The board enters hypnotic cycles of rotation, then lingers in moments, as if to wait and see how the material reacts. Playing the role of classroom chalk, the gouache gathers and pools on the tiled floor below.

The film’s monochromatic palette and rigorous geometry amplify the textural and tonal gradations of its materials. The glistening black water and matte white gouache intertwine to create effects reminiscent of elements like rain, mist, or fog. The animator improvisationally builds on each previous move – dripping water to create straight intersecting lines; covering large fields with washes of water; leaving extended moments for darkened areas to dry and shrink with soft ghostlike edges.