On 30 April 2022, I asked people in Russia to send me voice messages with their opinions on war in Ukraine. I received 287 messages in 4 days and made a short animated film using these voices:
I released the film on May, 25. The animation process itself took 12 days. Everything is done on paper using pencils, ink, markers and pen. I tried not to think too much about the media, so I used everything that I could find at home. At some point I ran out of white paper, so I used color paper, lined paper, craft paper etc.
I wanted the film to look prickly and rough. In order to avoid being too clean and smooth, I filled the visuals with noisy textures of paper and pencil scratches
In several scenes I used real photos of walls and asphalt to obtain more rough and rich textures:
For the second part of the film where people say "No war" I wanted the abstract visuals to gain more recognizable form. I used peace sign, Picasso's dove of peace, sunflowers, Ukrainian flag etc.:
I also used images of Ukrainian Vyshyvanka (traditional embroidery patterns used to decorate clothes) as an inspiration for some of the scenes:
Anti-war images painted on russian walls were a big inspiration for me and became a part of the film. I reproduced some of the stencils and symbols used by anti-war resistance movement in Russia:
Many real photos of the walls in Russia with painted peace sign and letters "НЕТ ВОЙНЕ" ("No war") are used in the film. I also asked people in Russia to send me those words written on paper. Some of the letters and peace signs from the walls in various russian cities which I used:
Some of the photos I received from people who live in Russia:
And some final screenshots:
I found high quality photos of one person doing same stencil painting on the walls and used them too:
I also made my own stencil:
Green ribbon is another symbol of an anti-war movement in Russia:
Thank you for watching!
No to war in Ukraine!
