Northened

A film about growing up in the twilight of industrial Hamilton, Ontario.
Two friends spend an endless, muggy summer exploring their industrial neighbourhood. Electrical towers dot the beach and factories loom high above them as strange, hallucinatory experiences take hold.

[@Itsdeniyo]

Awesome job guys. The characters, the ambience and the story. Simple but magnificent. I enjoyed every single shot, congratulations to everyone!

[@sadman6180]

Incredible animation and character designs, also my (probably wrong 😭) interpretation of the story: I’d say its maybe a story about how the overbearing factory is polluting and destroying the surrounding town, while our two main characters unknowingly reinforce this situation. They do this by littering (1:01) and starting a fire (1:25). Then the taller kid follows the slushee bird only to be led to the factory (3:40). I think the slushee bird represents being complacent and even supportive of the harm to the environment, following this path will lead them to further harm the environment. At 4:20 we see that the taller kid seems to have learned his lesson, looking at the factory with disdain, however the shorter kid hasn’t changed at all yet. At 6:17 we see slushee bird only interacts with the shorter who reaches out to it. Because he has unknowingly chosen to follow the slushee bird, he is punished by the environment and sunk below the sea. Then the taller kid saves him and wins him over to being against the harmful practices which pollute the environment. This is shown in the ending when both kids bury the slushee bird.

[@nickolasridge8235]

This is a nice look at how kids find life and fun in artificial places. I love that your characters spend so much time in places where no one goes, where nature in cities is wild. They are good places to be hooligans, but also to get lost in natural solitude. I see you characters as having found a sense of identity among the weeds, alone together, and strong enough to break through the concrete.

[@christaclark5175]

This is fantastic! I recognize all the spots, and getting a blue slush puppy from the Big Bee is pretty darn iconic. Very well done - I look forward to seeing more of your work!

[@gbpooky]

amazing. i really loved the atmosphere you created and the implicit storytelling. and really felt the hamont. there were a lot of great moments of animation but i particularly loved the way you portrayed the struggle against the underwater currents around 6:50 onward, so gorgeous and intuitive and i knew exactly how it was supposed to feel

[@RyanComed]

Incredible! You have ALWAYS been unbelievable at building up these worlds and this one is just so visceral I love how everything is both larger than life but also kind of hollow Exactly how I remember wild water kingdom

[@januschaaa]

I'm so glad I've stumbled upon your animation. I like the simplistic and still catchy art-style. It has something cool and melancholic to it, I like it a lot. I also like that the characters don't speak, it makes it cozy and interesting to watch. Some settings are so amazingly drawn like in 4:06 or the little details like with the electricity pole in the puddle🖤 I lovee electricity poles. And it was catchy from the beginning because the actions were so simple and easy. I forget a lot and very fast, so I may be talking bullshit that the beginning was like it, but I enjoyed it a lot and it made my day a bit better.

[@phxon.]

beautiful…