RIPE MADNESS

Behind the Scenes

This short is my comeback into the film world. After taking so much time away from my true passion, I wanted to start off with a totally original idea, using very little. I challenged myself right from the start by limiting what was available to me, not only for great practice, but to drive my level of innovation and creativity even further for future projects. Always start with the hard stuff; you’ll make more mistakes, causing you to learn more, which will make you better.

This whole concept came from nothing more than the gorilla arm grabber tool you see in the short, mixed with my favorite time of year… October. From there, one idea just led to the next. Creating the characters was a “wing it” situation. I went into it not knowing how any of them would look or operate. I had a rough idea and some simple sketches, but ultimately I created by ear. I originally planned for the Dr. to have eyes, but thought he looked way cooler with sunglasses. It also went with the 80s/90s vibe of the whole thing. I found the more emotionless he looked, the better it served his character.

I intended on the Creature having normal arms, but the banana wouldn’t stand on it’s own without support, so I ended up making his arms extra long so that they could hold him up. I was so happy with how this turned out, because it gave him more of a cartoony, slouched over creature look with his arms dragging behind him like that. Jacque the spider was about the most random thing in this whole story. Everything about him– from his name, beret, being french, smoking, came to me in an instant, and yet had nothing to do with the story. Ah, but in the end I knew the perfect character to deliver that last line, “Fin.” This was a very cool project to work on, and one that I am especially proud of.