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The Commute

Olivia Ortiz

Experimental Animation - Hand-drawn Rotoscoping and Paper Stop-Motion

Undergraduate

“The Commute” follows an observant character’s dream-like gaze as she searches for meaning and connection in her environment. On the tube, she lazily watches the change of landscape from rural to urban slide past the window of her train. She carefully observes people in both real life and digitally on social media. Her gaze is then finally disrupted by the connection of a phone call.

This piece is an autobiographical animation about Olivia’s time spent living in London. She lived there for 6 months and during this time she experienced moments of isolation and depression. During these moments, she found community and emotional intimacy simply by watching strangers and being present in her environment. Observing filled her need for social interaction and sparked her creative interest.

“The Commute” creates an immersive look into how she was viewing the world and how she was finding healing at the time. Her hope is that the viewers are also able to find intimacy and healing from her point of view in the surrealist world she created.

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