Animated inside of Photoshop with some background painting made in Procreate, Laura’s rough, Squigglevision inspired style holds a ton of personality. “I’m not a super technical animator, but I like that. The slight roughness gives the work its own personality which I think makes it feel more alive,” says Laura. “I’m also someone who likes to get ideas down quickly. If I spend too long on it, I either get bored or start to lose faith in the idea.” When it came to the unique voice acting in the short, Laura put it plainly: “I got bored of hearing the same voices in cartoons! Why not throw in a Yorkshire accent?” Embracing a resurgence of 2000s fashion and emo aesthetics with Barbican’s I’m Not Okay exhibition or My Chemical Romance’s new tour, Laura didn’t just want to use the aesthetic but more so capture the “feeling” that was communicated through style, music, and blogs at the time.
“It’s definitely inspired by my emo teen years and my group of friends back then. The Helena and Bernard romance is somewhat inspired by me and my friends dating these alternative guys,” says Laura. “Everyone was obsessed with them because they had the perfect emo hair or the coolest Drop Dead hoodie. And of course they all thought they would be in a band forever.” If anything is to be taken away from this hilarious, crude, and moody short, Laura says: “If you’re young and feeling awkward, dramatic or cringe, lean into it.” With Emerald Fennell’s upcoming Wuthering Heights adaptation this year too, maybe everyone will get the “morbs”.