Eloisa

A short story about a 7-year-old girl who is learning to play the piano.

Technical notes and commentary.

Why did I make this?

It is part of my work for a course in Music and Sound Design for Film and Television that I am studying. I am not studying how to make videos or films, just music, but I enjoy doing this. It’s difficult to find suitable film clips to practice on, so making my own is an educational alternative. The story is somewhat biographical in that it deals with some of the typical things that scared me when I was a child.

The Visuals

I have used the same techniques I used for the Andromeda video. Using AI, I created 3 basic scenes: the child’s bedroom, the piano in the dark room, the windows. I started with the girl playing the piano and animated that using AI. From there I worked forwards to the conclusion of the story, and finally I worked backwards to show how the girl arrived there. Each animation clip, which is usually 10 seconds long, has a final frame which then forms the initial frame of the next clip. Each clip was created using a text prompt directing the action I wanted to create out of the initial image. There are obvious problems with continuity that I am well aware of. It is very difficult to keep a consistent ‘look’ for the character. The AI will often randomly change something. New advances in AI mean I will be able to eliminate this, but this is still rather expensive as it isn’t available for free.

The Music and Sound Design

I took the well-known tune I know as ‘Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star’ as the musical idea. It was actually the first tune my dad taught me to play when I was learning, and so seemed appropriate. I recorded all the piano parts on my own piano at home. I also recorded most of the sound effects, such as the knocking on the door, tapping on the window and the footsteps. My task was to create a spooky and creepy soundscape including a musical theme.

The Ending?

Well, I’ve left that open. I have a conclusion in mind but left it open instead. I would be delighted, if anyone comments here, to hear what you considered to have happened at the end, and how it could/should finish. Maybe I’ll then remake the film and add the best suggestion to the end. Over to you.

By Elizabeth Moonlight