Within the Crystal Hills
A love story about New Hampshire's Old Man of the Mountain
Proposed as "New Hampshire's Official Animated Film"!
Scroll down to see all sorts of behind-the-scenes treats!
WATCH IT HERE!
"What an undertaking to produce something like this independently and with a crew spread all over the world! Bravo to tackling such a sweet and historic story."
- Chris Houghton (Co-creator, Big City Greens)
"Lush graphic style that keeps evolving through the film, wonderful staging and direction and absolutely LOVE seeing the postcards in the end credits. Brilliant."
- Mr. Warburton (Creator, Codename: Kids Next Door)
"Nice job! It came together very well!"
- Carl Greenblatt (Creator, Chowder)
TRAILER
ANIMATIC
CONCEPT ART
Character Designs:
The characters in our film were designed by me and art director Anna Chavez. Here are some of my development sketches!
SAWYER
The first ever sketch of Sawyer! You can see me trying to get a distinct silhouette and the right amount of abstraction.
Trying to nail down Sawyer's design.
An early size comparison of Sawyer and Carrigain.
The first ever sketch of Sawyer! You can see me trying to get a distinct silhouette and the right amount of abstraction.
Sawyer's profile is that of New Hampshire's Old Man of the Mountain. I wanted it to be vaguely familiar to people - not an exact copy and just abstracted enough that you don't notice it immediately. Here, you can see me designing him for the first time!
CARRIGAIN
My first ever sketches of Carrigain. I was really trying to find a balance between a doily and a mountain girl.
I am glad we did not use #4.
My grandma has this hat. (My grandma is the narrator of the film!)
My first ever sketches of Carrigain. I was really trying to find a balance between a doily and a mountain girl.
It was very hard to nail down Carrigain's design. She's supposed to be very delicate and beautiful, so I explored ideas of her looking like a doily. Likewise, since our film doesn't take place in any specific time period, I needed to make sure the outfit wasn't period-specific to any set time. Her profile is the profile of producer and co-writer Christina K. Caralis.
(Carrigain is the name of a mountain in New Hampshire, by the way, since everyone always asks.)
DEATH
Art director Anna Chavez designed Death's body and I did these eye explorations.
Art director Anna Chavez designed Death's body and I did these eye explorations.
The character of Death was primarily designed by art director Anna Chavez, but I designed her eyes. Since Death's body doesn't have a defined form, it was important to give her eyes that would be recognizable regardless of the shape she morphs into.
COLOR EXPLORATIONS
A perfect medium between silhouette puppet films and mid-century modern was very important for our film.
I don't know why, but the idea of lots of smoke has always seemed to pair with this story in my mind.
We never got this exact rock in the film, but it just seemed so dense and dark that it got the mood of the film across very well for a reference.
A perfect medium between silhouette puppet films and mid-century modern was very important for our film.