The Art of Weightlessness
Moshe Mahler, Michelle Ma (2019)
“The Art of Weightlessness” is an animated short film documentary chronicling the evolution of Artist and Performer, Bill Shannon. Born with a degenerative hip condition, Bill developed new ways to express himself through dance and skateboarding on crutches.
The documentary, winner of SIGGRAPH 2024 Electronic Theater awards “Best in Show,” was created by CMU IDeATe faculty, Moshe Mahler, with assistance from Michelle Ma, who was responsible for the storyboard and mocap-ready rig. Ma’s website demonstrates the mocap data applied directly to the rig without additional animation polish.
This project was made possible in part by the Frank-Ratchye Further Fund Grant #2019-033. Learn more about the documentary project and its creator here.
Featured Festivals and Awards
SIGGRAPH Electronic Theater – Best in Show
Pittsburgh Shorts Film Festival – *World Premiere* – Audience Choice Award
Boomtown Film & Music Festival – 2nd Place
SEVIFF • Sevilla Indie Film Festival – Best Animated Short
Best Shorts Competition – Outstanding Achievement
Paris Play – Best Animated Short
Motion Pictured Documentary Series (Pittsburgh)
Panorama International Indie Film Festival
Luleå International Film Festival
Salute Your Shorts Festival
Dubai Film Festival – Honorable Mention
FilmHaus – Finalist
Cannes Continental Film Festival – Semi-Finalist
Near Nazareth Festival – Finalist
Rome Prisma Film Awards – Best Experimental Film, Best Animated Short
Credits
Director: Moshe Mahler
Starring: Bill Shannon
Produced by: Mo Mahler and Bill Shannon
Storyboards and Motion Capture Rig: Michelle Ma
Surfacing and Lookdev: Jean Cho
Character TDs: Faris Elrayes, Emma Franklin, Yukti Gupte, Sophia Videva
CMU Motion Capture Lab: Jessica Hodgins, Justin Macey
3d Assets: Ayushman Johri, James Krahe, Claire Yuzhu Zhou
Additional Animation: Sheenu Yu
Music & Sound Design: Strollo Sound
Drumming: Leland Scott Davis
Freesound.org Contributors: tlwmdbt servo motors, Andromadax24 Woosh_Glitched.02, kgatto thuds
Additional Funders
The Entertainment Technology Center, Carnegie Mellon University
The Creative Good Fund