MAYA — Short Film Trailer Fantasy Drama / Magical Realism · 55s trailer (for a planned 3–4 min short)
Logline: A young girl in a wheelchair discovers a mysterious blank book that reveals an unwritten future, reminding her that hope is the first page of every story.
Synopsis: Maya, a ten-year-old undergoing cancer treatment, spends her afternoons in a quiet hospital library surrounded by fairy tales that were never written for a girl like her. When she finds an unmarked book with blank, glowing pages, her own name writes itself in — and a hazy glimpse of a life still to come, painting and thriving, opens up. The film never confirms whether it's memory, prophecy, or wish; it only insists that hope gets to exist before the ending does.
Visual direction: Hand-painted, watercolor-textured animation in a Cartoon Saloon / Wolfwalkers-inspired register muted, cold light warming scene by scene into gold, with painterly grain, volumetric light, and restrained camera movement (slow push-ins, held close-ups) throughout.
My role: Concept development, story and shot design, visual style direction, character and location design, and full trailer edit — iterated through multiple story-note passes (staging, reveal timing, and ending ambiguity) to match the intended tone.
