Martha
Insights:
This is Martha, my grandmother, which I loved her very much. We are a close family so besides my mother she was the one that took care of me much part of my life, and I wanted to create a piece that resembles not my memories of her, but HER memories., making the best of them.
Grandma had a difficult childhood and youth, all her family died from a strong disease at that time called Tuberculosis. I imagine how difficult was to grow up in a society that had no information regarding that disease at that time, isolating her and her sister believing that they will spread the disease. How sad and lonely could that be?
Fortunately, she met my grandfather Antonio which together had a family of 4 daughters and lived a decent and happy life, with 3 granddaughters and 3 grandsons (including me).
15 years ago my grandmother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease and she passed away on November 8/2016 after battling for 13 years with this neurodegenerative disease that up to date, has no cure.
All this was the inspiration to started creating a visual narrative.
References:
I research for visuals that resemble the happy moments a person can live, like a young girl in the forest or playing in a garden. Warm colours and tenderness were the moods that I want to depict in the first part of my film, in the other hand I search for cold and pale tones contrast the first part and then evidence the loneliness an Alzheimer’s patient feels due to his lack of memory in the latest stages of the disease. For this I was inspired by the visual artist from Croatia Marina Krištofić also know as Marinksy
I definitely would NOT tell how sad my Grandmas childhood was, I want to focus on the happy aspect of it, that is why I started to create a fictional character for her childhood, that could mean the happy moments that she had, also I selected images of little happy girls in the park, with their innocence untouched, as I want to portrait a happy youth.
Then I focused on the relationship between her and grandpa, and how they love themselves, making a beautiful family with 4 beautiful daughters. Then I changed the tone and focused on how Martha forget all these beautiful memories, thus becoming this blank space of emptiness.
Voice Over:
"This is Martha.
When Martha was a child,
Her best friend was Teddy.
They liked to play in the park and he made her smile.
When Martha grew up, she met Antonio.
They fell in love and started a family, a beautiful family.
But one day, Martha got sick,
and her memories started to dim,
and she couldn't find them again.
She forgot about her family,
she forgot about Antonio and Teddy.
Until all that remained was her love,
and that was what held us together.
Character Design:
Probably the hardest part for me was to imagine a young Martha, because all the memories I had were of a beautiful old lady, and to recreate her youth was a challenge. As a director, I decided to give some tender features, concentrating on her eyes which by her old pictures are the ones that give all the character emotions.
References:
Rita Quattrocchi, (2018), Angels playing bowls [ONLINE]. Available at: https://www.behance.net/gallery/67654061/Angels-playing-bowls
Alexandra Bastias Castaño, (2015), Ataduras [ONLINE]. Available at: https://www.behance.net/gallery/28643595/Ataduras
Fernando Favero, (2013), Girl and the Yellow Flowers [ONLINE]. Available at: https://www.behance.net/gallery/10354957/Girl-and-the-Yellow-Flowers
Marina Krištofić, (2018), Girl and the Yellow Flowers [ONLINE]. Available at: https://www.behance.net/gallery/69825993/POLAROID-PAINTINGS
Marina Krištofić, (2018), PARENTS [ONLINE]. Available at: https://www.behance.net/gallery/60837925/PARENTS
Marina Krištofić, (2018), RED BALLOON [ONLINE]. Available at: https://www.behance.net/gallery/70490495/RED-BALLOON
Caver Zhang, (2014), Illustration for kids [ONLINE]. Available at: https://www.behance.net/gallery/20591629/Illustration-for-kids
Willie Kers, (2015), Little girl in forrest with bubbles [ONLINE]. Available at: https://www.williekers.com/welcome-slider/color-image-of-a-dancing-little-girl-in-the-forrest-with-bubbles-by-willie-kers/
MissionPrivate. (2017). Hold On To Hope - Allergan. [Online Video]. 1 November 2017. Available from: https://vimeo.com/248363164.
Anh Vu. (2015). Falling Lessons: Erasure One. [Online Video]. 29 May 2015. Available from: https://vimeo.com/129275990.
