Happy Place - Sheridan Animation 3rd Year Film - 2022

A young girl frequently visits The Happy Place rental service in order to live out her fantasy - a vast, beautiful world where she has friends who love and cherish her.
------------
CREATED BY Time Out Studios
Ahnab Amin
Luba Bobrowski
Jess Fett
Amber Ou
Joe Pan
Emma Scarth
Rachel Shen
Jacob Tobin
Lucy Wu
Zoe Xu
-
COLORISTS:
Heather Haunton
Melinda Lin
-
SOUNDTRACK: Marianna Donaldson
-
MENTOR: Tony Tarantini
-
Produced at Sheridan College
Sheridan Animation 3rd Year Group Film 2021-2022

[@idontevenknow9758]

What I like about this short film is how there are a ton of conversations it brings to mind. The first being how she is all alone in this virtual world with faceless beings (AI bots I'm assuming) who she feels more of a connection with than anyone else in the real world. The real world of course being a cold and dark place to her. You can draw plenty of lines of this story being about standard drug addiction (it definitely checks all the boxes), but I think this is more about the extreme loneliness everyone feels at the moment. She is chasing away the fact she is deeply lonely and being in this fantasy world is the only place she feels like she belongs. Noticing how the only actual human in the video is a stranger who she feels awkward around, just a face at first and her reaction to the computer essentially, almost actual love and affection (the sunset scene). On the internet and computer, we can create ideal worlds with programs designed to love us which can draw us out of the real world. The other discussion which I think is far more subtle is we create these worlds online to not address our isolation; we create them to sell them. We have monetized our "happy place" where people can feel like they belong for a fee. That being either our data that can be used to sell products to make us happy or a monthly subscription for a moment of belonging to a community of people who are also trying to chase away being lonely. She is pouring every penny she has left into this fantasy world and it's destroying her as it is so many others (we see plenty of occupied rooms in this internet cafe of sorts). She is not addressing her problems and the world doesn't want her too because what fuels our current world is sucking away our money.

[@ScrubGuy]

Nah in my opinion I say the theme more simple it’s about growing up

[@idontevenknow9758]

@@ScrubGuy How so? Whats you're take?

[@user-yw8lj6io6l]

@@idontevenknow9758 I guess I could see it through the growing up lens if you see growing up as loss of innocence. Great comment, @idontevenknow9758, btw

[@idontevenknow9758]

@@user-yw8lj6io6l Thank you and I think I could see that as about growing up. If you look at it from the angle of nostalgia for example. Shes trying so hard at the expense of her herself to keep her memories as a child alive and all those treasured moments before coming back to reality that the past is gone. The only trip up for me is the ending and how extreme it is. She went back to her fantasy land like a drug addict or someone who was really at the end of their rope. Thats why I think loneliness seems to click for me and extreme isolation. Great take as well!

[@firerinart]

Genuinely such an amazing film, you guys knocked it out of the park.

[@zachattack4322]

Absolutely stupendous, with relevant themes for our times. Hits super hard! Great job!

[@didi1406]

These days the art of storytelling is gone. This is pure art. Thank you for working so hard on this. It hit me in the feels without a single word having to be said. Everything from the emotional expressions, the use of color, the music. Chefs kiss

[@noahwats7469]

This video gives me OMORI vibes because of both the art style and the message that it conveys. It can be so easy to strive to exist in a fantasy world that be simulated via many means (games, shows, drugs, etc.). But, if you fail to realize how things are in actuality, you can just as easily loose control over your life in reality. Congratulations on achieving an excellent outcome for this animation! 😊

[@katchii93]

totally thought this too!

[@SharkWithCoffee]

Amazing work, I love the visuals!

[@jennyduong2466]

This was fantastic, great job y’all

[@heatherhaunton8810]

That is Incredible

[@alexthegreat2023]

What a wonderful film, this needs more attention

[@Jojo-xg2kr]

Great work can’t stop watching it spite of dealing with a few things similar to the story. Congratulations to the studio for creating this fantastic project

[@alexandrelessard7168]

addiction can make one do terrible things just for a short rush of dopamine

[@kayissaa]

Wow.❤

[@user-yc3sm5xm2g]

This is Perfect!

[@bronzeone9334]

Wow, justo wow

[@user-yw8lj6io6l]

Haunting and poignant! Which is difficult to pull off with a message like this -- I feel like it would have been easy to come off as preachy, but I don't think you did. Great work!

[@krystalnedd3535]

Can you make it part two I loved it and it was so awesome but at the end it was kind of sad and cranky, but I loved it😅

[@zestytriss5282]

The lesson is money does buy happiness

[@cirecrux]

OMG great

[@coolest_time]

Gosh, omori vibes what

[@calvinwong1221]

Powerful. But decidedly, not happy.

[@The2FRANKGRIMES]

I think the happy place was when she were surrounded by all them TVs. What could be happier?

[@thalita7926]

The characters give me an omori vibes

[@cbpostservice]

Whether it's virtual or real, life costs money. Try living without money and it won't be good for you. You'll become someone's pet or you'll just starve to death. She can spend every penny on that machine in a hell of a world that we live in as far as i'm concerned. But she should have called for help after accidently injuring someone, not take their money. But also, if you've ever been locked up, you'll know jail is a game with death and it's nothing honorable for correction... so maybe it's fine she left them there to die. Maybe people should improve jails... because this system tortures people into being perfect angels that arent allowed to be different. And when they're different, they're punished. Punished severely, unfairly. Like a hell. And when that happens, you might do worse just to stay out of it. The "righteous" people are creating evil and pain and torture. Rip the laws in two. They don't protect. They enslave. I hate that my mother thought it was acceptable to give birth to me in such a cruel world. I'm glad I'm sterilized. I'll never bring a child to suffer. And yet I'll never find love in a man despite the hormones attacking my body, because I will always live in fear of becoming pregnant and not being able to get rid of it. I don't want my belly to swell. I never even wanted my breasts to grow or my hips to widen. It's like a became a monster with a portal to hell that is my vagina.

[@twindrill2852]

Well that got personal quick. That being said, what about adoption? You can ignore this if you don’t desire having kids at all, but if you want to contribute to breaking the cycle of abuse you can still raise someone without the risk of triggering your tokophobia.

[@MisanthropyPure]

So sad

[@aaaaaaaaaaaa899]

Lol

[@crocodiles-jaws-can-apply-5000]

Amazing!

[@dump4865]

I just knew she lost her humanity when she chose the coin over the lady... 🙁