HOW TO HUNT VAMPIRES (2024)

Digital animation: Clip Studio EX, Adobe Premiere Pro

2048x858px

02:30 [mm:ss]

Set in the 1800s wild west, this queer-lens film with a gothic twist is about finding love in unexpected places and being accepted for who you are.

How To Hunt Vampires takes place in a world where vampires walk among us. Joanna, a dispassionate vampire hunter meets a charming vampire, Morgana, and the two begin to fall for each-other unbeknownst of the other’s conflicting identities.

This film explores finding love in unexpected places and celebrating otherness through a queer lens. Showcasing a queer romance in a Wild West setting serves as a commentary on the erasure of queer individuals in history. Even though there is little evidence of our existence in the history books due to deliberate exclusions, it is undeniable that we did exist back then as much as we do now. Choosing to make a protagonist out of a classical gothic monster not only subverts the expectation of the pair being enemies, but additionally humanizes Morgana while calling to attention the parallel struggles she faces. Being both a vampire and a queer woman, Morgana is required to live in the shadows and conceal her identity around others to survive– an unfortunate way of life not completely foreign to the living queer individuals of today.

Solo student film project by Haley Kenyon with sound engineering by  Sepehr Rezaei.

MOTORCYCLES ARE EVERYWHERE (2023)

Digital animation: Clip Studio EX, Adobe Premiere Pro

1920x1200px

00:42 [mm:ss]

Always be aware of your surroundings, because motorcycles are everywhere.

MOTORCYCLES ARE EVERYWHERE follows the point of view of a negligent driver’s near-miss traffic collision whilst performing an illegal U-turn on the streets of downtown Toronto, and its resulting roadside altercation with an eldritch motorcyclist. 

This short is inspired by the lived experiences of myself as well as my partner, a passionate biker who takes roadway safety very seriously, and doesn't shy away from a more vigilante approach to interacting with his fellow motorists. While traveling both short and long distances on the back of my partner's bike, I have become painfully aware of the shortcomings of our fellow motorists, as well as gained familiarity with many different “driving climates” across different regions in North America. During our travels, we have come to the conclusion based off our experience in different parts of the continent that the worst drivers in North America are local to our home turf in southern Ontario. 

Using hand-drawn animation techniques and a strikingly vibrant colour palette, I hope to provide insight into a common problem often experienced by all kinds of riders in a confrontational, yet joking manner.

IT'S OVER (2022)

Digital Animation: Clip Studio EX, Adobe Premiere Pro

1920x1080px

01:04 [mm:ss]

When heartbreak has you left in a million pieces, how will you put them back together to move on?

Inspired by a particularly messy breakup I experienced while in university. IT'S OVER is a hand-drawn, 2D digital animation that combines bleak, colourless settings and surreal visuals to make tangible the complicated feelings often experienced when a broken heart begins to move on.

Solo student film project by Haley Kenyon with sound engineering by Matthew Aviles Yang.