Christopher S. Johnson

Case Study · Short Film

Beyond Climate Breakdown

An animated short exploring climate futures and the poetics of change, created with writer Peter Friederici and technical director Austin Frick.

Animation · 2024 Runtime: ~4 min 2D/3D hybrid

Watch

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Overview

As climate narratives tend to swing between doom and denial, Beyond Climate Breakdown seeks a third path—poetic, grounded, and restless. The film layers hand‑drawn texture with procedural 3D to explore thresholds: between human and nonhuman scales, memory and data, abstraction and field recording.

Credits

  • Director / Animation: Christopher S. Johnson
  • Writer: Peter Friederici
  • Technical Direction / Sound: Austin Frick
  • Duration: ~4 minutes · 2D/3D hybrid

Process

Production combined Procreate frame animation, Blender geometry nodes, and After Effects compositing. We prototyped color systems against real‑world footage to keep the palette both legible and slightly uncanny. Field audio was edited with layered synth and granular textures for a sense of forward motion without heavy scoring.

Still 1 from Beyond Climate Breakdown
Still 01 — layered 2D/3D compositing test
Still 2 from Beyond Climate Breakdown
Still 02 — environment plate with procedural overlays
Still 3 from Beyond Climate Breakdown
Still 03 — hand‑drawn to CG transition frame

Screenings / Presentations

  • ARTx 2023 — program excerpt (2023)
  • Department talks / NAU School of Communication (2024–25)
  • Community previews — Flagstaff (2024–25)

Notes & Takeaways

We found that restraint in the sound design increased legibility of the visuals in public and gallery contexts. For future installations, projection‑mapping the film’s transitional sequences could extend the piece into architectural space.

Links