Play-Her : Stop Motion Animated short film

Summary

Play Her is a stop-motion animated short film that explores the blurred lines between control, consequence, and virtual reality. The story follows Aayan (21), a charming casanova who spends his time playing video games. His carefree world unravels when a warning appears on his screen: “Cheater Detected.” This eerie pop-up foreshadows his past betrayal of an ex-girlfriend. Suddenly, Aayan’s room glitches, his movements spiral out of his control, and he is sucked into his monitor. His face pixelates, and he tumbles through a distorted dimension before landing in a new reality—one controlled by his ex-girlfriend. In a chilling twist, the camera reveals that she has been playing the game all along, with Aayan’s life as her controller.

My Role in the film

Direction , Story , Stroryboard , Animatics , Character sketches , Main animator

Pre-Production

Concept & Scriptwriting: I developed the original concept and screenplay, blending themes of betrayal, technology, and virtual escapism.
Storyboarding & Animatics: Created detailed storyboards to visualize the flow of Aayan’s glitchy transformation and the film’s surreal tone.
Character & Prop Design: Designed and built stylized puppets and key props to reflect the personality of the characters and the gaming-world aesthetic.
Set Design Planning: Collaborated with my team to plan the miniature set, lighting scheme, and spatial layout to ensure smooth stop-motion shooting.

Production

Stop-Motion Animation: I led the animation process, frame by frame, bringing characters to life with expressive physicality and glitch-like distortions.
Character Handling: Personally animated Aayan’s performance, especially during the transformation sequence.
Set & Lighting Execution: My team assisted in building the set, managing light placement, and handling camera setups to maintain consistency and mood.
Direction: Oversaw every visual and narrative element, ensuring the pacing, gestures, and visual metaphors aligned with the story’s theme.

Post-Production

Editing & Compositing: Assembled the frames into a coherent sequence, refining timing to create an immersive glitch effect.
Visual Effects: Enhanced the film with digital glitch overlays and pixelation to emphasize the surreal digital collapse.
Sound Design: Crafted an audio landscape mixing game-inspired sound effects, glitch noise, and atmospheric tones to heighten tension.
Final Cut & Color Grading: Supervised the finishing touches to give the film its unique contrast between warm, tactile stop-motion sets and cold, glitchy distortions.