“Sugar” by Katie Cropper

Katie Cropper’s short film Sugar seems simple enough upon first glance, but it possibly has some more complex undertones to it. It begins with a simplified landscape, forming with sound waves. After the shapes form, we see a colony of ants roaming around the shapes, and then the scene morphs into the ants eating a large apple and other fruits. From then on, the next two scenes show life evolving without the ants, and then the ants are floating in outer space. Since ant colonies are often compared to large working groups of people, it seems like an automatic conclusion to arrive at when watching this short. The colony consumes its resources, but then there comes a point when there is nothing left but space and time.

This is Katie’s first personal short. According to Katie: “I just wanted to get to know flash a little better and figure out what kind of animation I find the most comfortable, relaxing, or exciting. It was a self learning experience really.” The experimental  flash animation is paired with an atmospheric electronic soundtrack by Sebastian Schinkel. The combination of the two is very effective. Of the collaboration, Katie says “The sound track I got from [Schinkel, who] posted on the freelancers union forums and that was a nice little web 2.0 collaborative experience. I really dig the track.”

To see more of Katie’s work, check out her website.