Animation Highlight: Substance
Substance Synopsis
Based on True Events; Two brothers battle over the future of the family, but it will be a young girl who changes her fathers SUBSTANCE and the fate of generations.
I’ve been following Jamaal Bradley on Twitter for YEARS!! I’m pretty sure I learned about him while working on Everett Downing’s Book of Mojo. In the beginning of the year (give or take) I started seeing the teaser for Jamaal’s short film “SUBSTANCE” I then saw that it was only playing in film festivals. The ONE time it was playing in NYC, I had a previous engagement very far away from where the film was being screened. When Jamaal tweeted out that the film was going to be making it internet debut this week I was ecstatic.
Overall without any spoilers, this film is exactly what all of us in the industry mean when we say that animation is a medium and not a genre. From a technical aspect I really enjoyed the subtle animation and the rendering of the city and the basement.
I had to share this because not only do I support Jamaal and the people that contributed to this film. We have to highlight the people that are creating the very things we say we need more of such as, more diverse and / or Black characters, adult themes that are not equated to hyper-sexuality, films that are not musicals.
Check out the entire film below.
You can visit the film website to learn more about the project https://www.substanceshortfilm.com/
Here’s a link to an interview Jamaal did with Cartoon Brew about the film that is well worth the read https://www.cartoonbrew.com/shorts/exclusive-teaser-substance-a-new-film-by-jamaal-bradley-165612.html
Film Credits
Written & Directed by
•Jamaal Bradley
Co-Writer and Lead Story Artist
•Michael Yates
Executive Producers
•Ken Birdwell & Bruce W. Smith
Producer
•Jamaal Bradley
Associate Producers
•Amid Amidi & Nicole Weinstein
Musical Composition
•Stephen "Bud'da" Anderson
Vocal Composition
•Adolphus "Scottie" Scott III
•Avery Sunshine
•Dana "Big Dane" Johnson
Surfacing Supervisor
•Nikie Monteleone
CFX Supervisor
•Eric Warren
Modeling Supervisor
•Mridul Sen
Rigging Lead
•Dilip Lawani
Lighting Supervisor
•John Huikku
Lighting Production
•GIXEL