The Hot Air Balloon
Enjoy a hot air balloon ride and discover what it’s like to see the Earth from above.
Project Type: Animation
Genres: Children's, Literary Adaptation
Runtime: 4 minutes
Completion Date: August 15, 2020
Screenings:
Re-Generation International Youth Film Festival, Melbourne, Australia, 10.24
Category: Best Short Animation of the Decade
Re-Generation International Youth Film Festival, Melbourne, Australia, 12.22
Runner-up: People’s Choice Best Animated Short
San Diego International Children’s Film Festival, San Diego, CA, 07.22
Los Angeles International Children’s Film Festival, Los Angeles, CA, 05.22 & 06.22
Down East Flick Fest, Greenville, NC, 11.21
Raleigh Film & Art Festival, Raleigh, NC, 10.21
Longleaf Film Festival, Raleigh, NC, 05.21
RiverRun International Film Festival, Winston-Salem, NC, 05.21
Rochester International Children’s Film Festival, Rochester, NY, 04.21
"The Hot Air Balloon" was inspired by a dream. After waking and going to my workstation to create the earliest version of the actual balloon, I returned to bed. The poem that accompanied the artwork came later, as did the scenes that appear in the short film.
It was my good fortune to begin collaborating with Myk Baldridge as I completed the animation. His jazz waltz serves to amplify the mesmerizing nature of the piece. In short, "The Hot Air Balloon" is meant to be a passport into a dream-like world.
Official Poster
RE-Generation International Youth Film Festival Lineup
When I awoke from my dream, I hurried downstairs and captured what I'd seen with this image. As you can see, it took a little more work before I settled on the final version.
Alternate Poster
I took this photo outside my workplace prior to making “The Hot Air Balloon.” It helped inspire the piece, as this image came to mind when I awoke from my dream. In fact, the vivid visual aspects of the balloon itself were taken directly from this photo.
A film frame representing the video book’s “digital flyleaf.”