Slept Away

Experimental short film

Direction / Art Direction / Cinematography — Sarah Gallina

synopsis: FEW ENCOUNTER a WINTER LANDSCAPE HIDDEN BENEATH THE SURFACE OF DREAMS. YET one sleeper has slept her way below. lost, she follows AN ENDLESS TRAIL OF ICE CUBES deep into the underworld of sleep. as the dream-making apparatus quietly hums, the sleeper walks from frost to thaw. there, the conductor of dreams keeps the realm turning. as long as she dances, the ice cube trail continues to form, and THE sleeper remains asleep.

PROCESS: arranging a trail of ice cubes before filming.

Art direction: THE FILM’S LAYERED WORLD OF SLEEP combines empty streets, a rural winter landscape, and a thawing forest alcove to turn the act of dreaming into a physical place. a trail of real ice cubes was assembled, filmed and animated into a dotted line stretching across the landscape, from one shot to another. this is the stitch that holds the dreamworld together. the film was shot in b&W to separate the dreamworld from reality, establish its winter setting, and to focus on light, shadow, texture and form.

practical effects: veiled fabric AND HANDWRITTEN TRANSPARENCIES LEND THE IMAGE A DREAMLIKE TEXTURE, WHILE camera tricks make ice cubes appear and disappear FROM THE POND-LIKE SURFACEs OF MIRRORs. COLLAGE ANIMATION COLLIDES WITH LIVE ACTION TO HEIGHTEN THE OTHERWORLDLy quality.

MOVEMENT AND SOUND: created in collaboration with a dancer and a composer. I wrote and voiced the audio narration over the original score to build the film’s dreamlike rhythm and sense of disorientation.