OR wakes up in a strange place, a two-dimensional being in a 3D world. He must adventure to find answers and friends, and must make sacrifices.

Motifs & Homages

I lost count of how many nods to other films and filmmakers are in OR. When the process involves making small changes, then waiting several minutes to see the rendered results, endless ideas creep in and take root. I tried to keep the homages down to films that were also technology-based or in a realistic realm of Sci-Fi (The Matrix, Tron, Blade Runner, Blade, etc.). But there were also some unexpected influences that bear mentioning: Jeunet/Caro films and Charlie Kaufman’s Being John Malkovich.

Jeunet/Caro films are easily my favorite with their use of color, atmosphere, and camera movement. The City of Lost Children, especially, with its steampunk mise en scene and the semi-claustrophobic sets, always limiting the edges of the world.

And from the beginning, I set out to take a lesson from the puppeteers in Being John Malkovich, trying to find my way to breathing life into inanimate objects.

The Challenge

My friend, Clay, told me during a digital film making class that After Effects can mimic a 3D environment, but that no one could make an actual 3D movie in the software. I immediately took this as a dare. I’d only been working in After Effects for a few months at this point, but I went home that day and began drawing OR, rigging the puppet and testing some lights. I knew right away that not only was it possible, but I HAD to do it. Now all I needed was a story…

A Tribute

My mother, Kim, had recently passed away from breast and brain cancer, and the loss was a fresh wound for a long time. She was an avid film buff, and I could think of no better way to honor her memory than to include her in a film.

Shortly before my mother knew she had cancer, she met Todd, and she and my little brother, Chad, moved into the Scott household. But because of the way health insurance works, my mother would have lost her coverage if they had gotten married, and the astronomical costs of dealing with cancer would have been too dire. This situation and my mother’s eventual death tragically cut short the love between them.

I have little doubt that she would have loved this final product. Aside from being my mother and loving everything I ever made, I think OR would have struck that cord in her heart that she always seemed to be in search of. Regardless of how the world takes it, that’s all I need to know.

Creator’s Bio

Luc Londe (real name Dale Davidson) is a filmmaker and motion graphics designer, as well as an electronics technician.

Traveling the world throughout his childhood in a military family, and taking to the sea after returning from high school in Germany, Dale “Luc” Davidson found the only adventure comparable to an adrenaline-filled early life to be film making. He realized in his childhood that movies are elaborate magic tricks designed to do more than mystify and entertain, but to transport the onlookers to other worlds, to spark ideas and questions that linger long after the lights come back on. The only true remaining adventure is the journey of the mind; an infinitude of possibilities awaits behind the looking glasses of the camera.

A true auteur, “Luc” is highly enthusiastic about every aspect of the craft, from writing to cinematography and directing, through editing, sound, and special effects.