A glimpse into the daily life of a young woman’s best friend- however, she seems to know a bit too much about her daily routine.
My Best Friend
2D Digital + Charcoal Animation
Director: Heidi Weinheimer
3 minute Narrative Fiction
SYNOPSIS
MIA starts her day with her standard morning routine, narrated by her “best friend” RUMI. She goes through her routine as we watch on, and Rumi explains all her little quirks. Rumi views Mia through rose-colored glasses, which only becomes clearer as the day progresses.
When Mia brings her “other” friends over for a game night, Rumi’s possessive nature becomes clear. What started as an innocent recount of a friends routine has had to curtain pulled back to reveal the delusion that Rumi has built for herself.
As the writer, I wouldn’t usually be very involved with the film after the script is locked, but Heidi had actually reached out and asked me if I wanted to voice act for Rumi- the stalker character.
Having to act my own writing definitely helped emphasize what I need to clarify more or less when writing dialogue, which was a surprisingly helpful experience. Heidi was also a great director to work with for this process as well, which is always beneficial.
Heidi approached me a few months before production began on this film with an idea: “I want to do a film about a hole between apartment walls”. She didn’t really have an idea of the story, but knew she wanted a slow reveal, similar to Perfect Blue.
This was actually super fun for me, since I didn’t tend to write stories of this genre, and found this a fun and contained exercise to explore. Heidi and I would come together and have brainstorming sessions, and then I would disappear to write on my own. It was great to work with a director who had a clear enough vision to give notes, but also left me creative space to bring my own voice to it- literally.
