A psychological tale about a man (Winston) falling into his own hell, by his own means.
We often get the impression that animation films are only directed toward children, but every so often a visionary artist likes to prove us otherwise. Like we’ve seen in the past with shorts such as The Pride of Strathmoor & 8 Bullets, animator Aram Sarkisian brings us on a dark and twisted psychological journey, which uses frigid colors and a shimmering style to enhance the story’s creepy and sombre spirits.
The film was inspired by Edgar Allen Poe’s creepy writing. I really wanted to convey a sense of tension and creepiness through Winston’s point of view. I am a big believer that animation medium should tell all sorts of stories – thrillers, adult comedy, horror – not just kids’ content. And WINSTON is my way of pushing animation towards that direction. Overall, this was a fun film to work and I learned a lot from it.
The film was created using an animation program called “TV Paint” and Adobe Photoshop to paint the backgrounds, which was then composited in Adobe Premiere. Voiced by Matt Kelly who helps shape the film into a mysterious poetic piece, the rest just swivels through the tempered pace.