Nothing Happens

Nothing Happens is a short animation film and an animated VR experience directed by Michelle and Uri Kranot, which questions the role of the spectator, by inviting the individual to participate in an event. VR allows us to choose our perspective, allows us to dwell on the details and absorb the unique atmosphere. The project explores a new kind of narrative, a new way of being in a painting, a work of art that is truly comprehensive and immersive. Nothing Happens offers a new way of looking. It is about spectatorship, about watching and being watched. It is about being present.

As Technical Director, I was responsible for the pipeline and communication between artists and programmers within the team. Personally I did both artistic and technical work, including writing shaders, animating, modelling, compositing and a bit of texture work.

The film used a paint-on-footage technique, with the footage being edited and characters stylised digitally before being hand-painted and digitised. Footage from the film was also reused for the backdrop in the full installation.

The VR version shared much artwork with the film, though characters, props, and backgrounds went through a different pipeline specifically targeting VR and a real-time context. A few additional props were made for the VR version. To optimise the resolution of the animation sequences, all characters were tracked in Nuke in order to make them "treadmill" and stay fixed within the image frame. The tracked information was then imported into Unity and converted into animation root motion, so that the sprites would appear to walk again without "treadmilling" while also avoiding even the slightest sliding feet, which could have occured if the characters had been moved by hand.

Awards and Exhibitions

• Venice Film Festival La Biennale di Venezia, Italy.
• Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna, Austria.
• Kunsthal Charlottenborg, CPH , Denmark.
• Prix André Martin for “Best French short film”, Annecy Int. Animation Festival, France.
• Prix Festival Connexion Région Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes, Annecy International Animation Film Festival, France.
• Winner AFTRS International VR Competition, Adelaide Film Festival, Australia.
• The Lumen prize, UK.
• Prix immersion. Festival du nouveau cinéma , Canada.
• Kunstmuseum Stuttgart, Germany.
• Today Art Museum Beijing, China.
• Stieglitz State Academy of Art and Design, St Petersburg, Russia.
• Best Film, Kurzfilmfestival Köln, Germany.
• Best Film, Anibar Int. Animation festival, Kosovo.
• Best International film, Odense film festival, Denmark.
• Best  film, Tofuzi Int. film festival, Georgia.
• Best Film , Banjalukanima film festival, Bosnia & Herzegovina.
• Anima award, The International Film Festival Etiuda&Anima, Poland.
• Special Mention, Fredrikstad Animation Festival, Norway.
• Honorable Mention, The Kuandu International Animation Festival, Taiwan.
• Special Mention, Animafest Cyprus.

Fact Sheet