Introduction:
"Trashball" is a stop-motion short film, as well one of my animation studies graduation film from Estonian Academy of Arts that was made in collaboration with 2 other artists - Sameliina Paurson and Andrei Bljahhin.
The film took time to finish from the development till the final result approximately one and a half years. We shot the film in parallelly building puppets and sets in our little team of three. At some point of the production we involved some helpers.

Set and puppet design:
For set design, shapes and colour scheme we got inspiration from underwater environments and sunset vibes. We used 3 different colour elastic fabrics and rough textured crepe paper. For final touch we painted everything to add some extra depth and colours to the scenery.
For the main puppet faces we used old school puppet building techniques like papier mâché. We modeled together 13 different facial expressions and took from them plaster and papier mâché forms.
We had 2 pairs of hooves that were made of wood and plastic foam. They were animated with rigs that were actually big light stands.
For special effects we used help of photogrammetry to catch the shadows and light of the environment mirroring on our 3D elements, such as water drops and tears. Photogrammetry was also helpful tool to scan puppets and sets, in purpose of them being digital 3D objects. For an example, in some scenes the hooves are animated as 3D models. Because of the lack of shooting space it helped us to create bigger sets.

Synopsis:
A tiny bug is picking up trash in the grass and encounters giant hooves playing with a ball made out of garbage. Despite the fact that the unexpected characters are interfering with her cleaning work, the insect emerges victorious by calling the naughty hooved creatures to order.

Festivals:
2024 TAFF, Junior Artist Talk panel and screening, Finland
2024 ILMÖ Festival, Finland
2023 ŻUBROFFKA International Short Film Festival, Poland
2023 Anim!Arte - 17th International Student Animation Festival of Brazil, Brazil
2023 Prime the Animation, Spain
2023 StopTrik International Film Festival, Slovenia
2023 Turku Animated Film Festival TAFF, Finland
2023 Animex Screen, UK
2023 T-Short Animated Film Festival, Latvia
2022 Student World Impact Festival
2022 Estonian New Animation in Animist Tallinn, Estonia

Awards:
- honorable mention of 2022 Student World Impact Festival
- 2nd place in Anim!Arte Environmental Film category

Exhibitions:
2022 EKA Museum Exhibition “A Child thing. Children´s designs by students at EKA” , EKA Gallery, Tallinn, Estonia