In this allegory of bodies and souls, we go through the death process of one Allegra, and how death (like a hand leaving a glove), happens.
About the film:
As a child, I heard that a soul within a body is like a hand in a glove. While the hand is there, the glove is ‘alive’, to all appearances. But when the soul or hand leaves, the container changes, although it looks much the same in many ways.
When a loved one dies, our loving respect for the vacated body is not misplaced, but it is the living presence of our loved one that is so very missing, as we pour our love out to the still form remaining.
My aim is to bring this concept to life, to let people consider… Are there ways to come to terms with our own deaths, and is there a process one can expect?
The movie doesn’t try to be overly spiritual in any particular direction. It leans more towards a story, explaining what vast numbers of people seem to experience at the time of (and to some extent, after) death.
I hope to have conveyed the information lightly but not flippantly. We look forward to finishing the film itself, very soon!
Locations:
1: Hospice ward (original design, development stage)
2:THE CIRCLE ROOM, (Phakalane retreat centre), FOR Allegra’s memorial service.
Final background by Archie Collier, forming the opening scene.
VISUAL TREATMENT:
The entire story is to be told as gloves representing bodies, and hands in gloves (or out) representing the freed souls.
Originally I contemplated using 3D and live-action AND puppetry but that’s too complicated.
To make things less impossible, the animation in ‘When the Glove Dies’ will all be 2D, rotoscoped over filmed live-action gloves, played by hand actors.
Allegra and her mother as spirits, will both be portrayed as hands, and given a different graphic treatment from the other characters. Archie Collier has done a superb job of this, (see trailer).
Diek Grobler, an award-winning animator, recommended I watch the following movies, (see below) where hands in gloves are used in exactly the way I had envisaged, but without the body/soul concept as such.
In all of these samples below, the gloves are used as puppets operated by live hands and then digitally or otherwise manipulated.
The Hand by Jiri Trinka
The Vanished world of gloves by Jiri Trnka:
(unfortunately without original soundtrack)
An ad like my Glove story takes place in the real world with two disembodied gloves.
The protagonist and her mother as hands:
The occurrences in the film are all drawn from the Tibetan Book of the Dead, near-death experiences or NDEs as described by thousands of people and their loved ones, as well as a (free to download) e-book, Crossing the Creek, by Michael Holmes.
In this allegory of bodies and souls, we accompany Allegra as her soul leaves her body, like a hand leaving a glove).
About the film:
As a child, I heard that a soul within a body is like a hand in a glove. While the hand is there, the glove is ‘alive’, to all appearances, and can perform all kinds of useful tasks.
But when the soul or hand leaves, the container changes, although it looks much the same.
When a loved one dies, our loving respect for the vacated body is not misplaced, but it is the living presence of our loved one that is so very missing, as we pour our love out to the still form remaining.
My aim is to bring this concept to life, to let people consider… How to deal with the fact of one’s death? What is the afterlife like, if we agree there is one in the first place?
Finding out more, may bring comfort and confidence for that final, inevitable transition. The Tibetans are certainly very matter-of-fact about this, and treat the new incarnation of a departed soul as an important event, with rigorous tests to prove that the dear departed has now become the happy arrival.
The movie doesn’t try to be overly spiritual in any particular direction. It leans more towards a summing-up. In the form of a story, it explains what vast numbers of people seem to experience at the time of (and to some extent, after) death.
The stories of hospice carers, doctors, people who study NDEs (Near Death Experiences) and of course, the Tibetan Book of the Dead have many things in common. There is great consistency in what people report.
For instance, there is a simple sentence on a local Landrover here in Fish Hoek. According to my son who asked, it seems the owner had indeed had such an experience and was moved to paint on his vehicle:
‘There is No Darkness There.’
Location 1:
A room at a Hospice (concept), and the final version in the form of an animation by Archie Collier
Location 2:
The sacred space for Allegra’s memorial service: Phakalane Retreat Centre, Hout Bay, near Cape Town, South Africa.
Visual treatment:
The entire story is to be told as gloves representing bodies, and hands in gloves (or out) representing the freed souls.
Originally I contemplated using 3D and live-action AND puppetry but that’s too complicated.
To make things less impossible, the animation in ‘When the Glove Dies’ will all be 2D, rotoscoped over filmed live-action gloves, played by hand actors.
Allegra and her mother as spirits, will both be portrayed as hands, and given a different graphic treatment from the other characters. Archie Collier has done a superb job of this, (see trailer).
INSPIRATION:
Award-winning animator, Diek Grobler, recommended the following movies, (see below) where hands in gloves are used in exactly the way I had envisaged, but without the body/soul concept as such. In all of these samples below, the gloves are used as puppets operated by live hands and then digitally or otherwise manipulated.
The Hand by Jiri Trinka
The Vanished World of Gloves by Jiri Trnka:
(unfortunately without original soundtrack)
An (Untitled) ad takes place in the real world with two disembodied gloves.