From creative production studio Carbon comes 'Repeater,' the vibrant animated Title Film to OFFF Dach's 2021 design festival. A meeting point for all talents to unite, get inspired and collaborate, OFFF is renowned for celebrating creativity and design across the globe.

OFFF’s brief was simply the theme of the festival. ‘Misfits.’ One Word. Who doesn’t love a brief like that? We went all in. We knew we had a great opportunity to go as wild as the brief allowed while still telling a story people could relate to. Directed by Carbon's Ian Bradley and with original orchestra music and sound design from Antfood, the result is a tale of non-conformity and rejection that builds to a kaleidoscopic ceremony and the uplifting power of finding your place.  

‘Repeater,’ is the story of a world in which creatures speak in symbols and can turn those symbols into realities. A ruling class of Sayers forces Repeaters to only speak in squares, creating endless cubes with which the Sayers can build their towers. One Repeater, banished from their tower for creating a forbidden anomaly, wanders the wastelands and discovers a band of misfit rebels in the midst of a wild ceremonial ritual. Joining them, they discover the true potential of these forbidden forms to change their world.

We wanted to create a battle between two worlds. Order vs chaos. The character designs and environments are a product of these opposing perspectives. Each character has a kind of obsession. A view on the world that’s reflected in the way they’ve dressed and transformed over time. We dove into research around the occult, dark arts, mythology, nature, and metamorphosis. The characters use shapes to communicate, so we opted for one cyclops-style eye as their most prominent feature.

The Sayers' power comes from controlling shapes and elevating themselves through self-adorned regal and ritualistic costume. The brutalist, cold, authoritarian towers were designed to be a prison, temple, and conveyor-belt assembly line. The space is stark, dystopian, and oppressive with no diagonals or curves. 

Not forced to conform by the Sayers, each Misfit's exterior displays their individuality. This brought wild design possibilities, balancing geometric minimalist forms with rich, organic details. They inhabit the wide open wilderness, just a stone cauldron, sand, plants, and carvings scattered in the stones. 

Our illustrative hybrid of 2D and 3D grew organically out of the collaboration between designers and CG artists. We developed techniques to render the 3D characters in a slightly flattened and painterly way, designed to match the handmade feel of the 2D backgrounds and beautiful look established by our designers. 

Featured in industry trades (Forbes, Shots, Shoot, Motionographer, Stash, Screen), it has been hugely inspiring to hear the ways the film has connected with audiences so far. Some identify with their creativity being stifled, exclusion from social circles, while others have found parallels to their family’s reactions to their sexuality, or even the current political and social divisions. We love that we’ve created something that reaches people emotionally in that way.