I recently wrote and animated a music video for Cilla Jane’s new song “Into the Woods“. I completed the animation entirely in Toonboom Animate Pro 2 and it took me 46 days (~1 scene per day). As the schedule was tight, it’s not quite as fully animated as a Brackenwood short but I spent a lot of time setting up the atmosphere in each shot. I’ve spent time alone in forests at night and I really wanted to capture that sparkly clear night forest feel.
Cilla had seen my work before and gave me free rein to do “something foresty, preferably with a girl in a spotted dress, an owl, fox and deer“. After hearing the song, I came up with the story for the video. Yes it’s metaphoric, but I’m interested in reading your interpretation.
update: if you’d like to help us get the clip screened on ‘Rage’ (a weekend all-night Australian music program), you can request it here. Just type “into the woods by Cilla Jane” in the request field 
I think that the forest that the girl went into was actually her own mind. She gained wisdom, felt fear and became an individual when she finally stayed with the dear as she ascended into adulthood. I love this song, I love Adam’s work and I love the many interpretations here
Thanks everyone for the kind words! Glad you liked it and very interesting to read your interpretations
beautifully animated and the song was brilliant too.
Epic work Adam and i take me hat off to Cilla Jane
Man i love this song. When i like a song it gets stuck in my head for days or weeks, i can tell im gunna be singing this one for a while. I love all of the animations but this is by far my favorite one. The song and animation clips together so well.
About the interpretation, I think that the fox was right, she should have “run and hide” instead of staying with the deer. Why ? Because she’s lost her entire youth with the deer, looking for a dream, an abstract concept, “freedom”, and she finally chose the easier way, “staying a while” whereas she might have find her freedom through her life path. Huh, sorry for my awfull (awful ? =’S ) english, i’m French.
interesting, it makes sense, my thoughts on that is if she had gone and hidden she would be chained to her fear and never grow up. We all shed our childhoods at some point; I know looking back it seemed like time passed quickly, as if I were asleep.
BTW, your English is great, I could probably take a few more lessons.
Hauntingly beautiful; both the music and the video are entrancing and I dare say I got chills when I played it the first time. I can’t stop watching it, and each time I play it I pick up a new meaning and a new way to look at it. Thank you both for this beautiful feeling.
I’m a bit miffed that people feel they need to insult Cilla Jane – if they don’t care for the song, couldn’t they just keep quiet about it? I understand that someone’s mileage may vary on the music, but there is that old adage about not saying anything…
Ah well, I shouldn’t be surprise. The internet is the internet.
That said, I’m a longtime lurker, and this is a beautiful video. I adore the animation and how it completely clicks with the song – which I also love, by the way. There’s just something about how you portray the forest – the scene as sunlight pours in and the grass grows takes my breath away, as does the way you show time passing. The fox’s entrance and the owl’s movement… all smooth and amazing.
I am never disappointed by anything you do.
thanks so much!
It’s good to see some new animation from you, especially a music video since the “Transdermal Celebration” vid is a particular favorite of mine. Good stuff. That “time lapse” of the mushrooms growing is one of my favorite shots by you, ever.
The song suits your style. Hope it leads to some more music videos in the near future.
I like the song and the animation. This type of music fits very well with your style, actually. Well, one thing I did think was that the song itself was a bit anticlimatic, with no real conclusion in the lyrics, so the responsibility for making a conclusion to it fell upon you.
I can’t really give my “interpretation” of it because I don’t think it really has an accurate one – I think it will be quite different depending on the life experience of the person watching it.
My single favourite scene is the one with the mushrooms growing and dying.
Hey Adam! Been a fan of yours for years. I am now working in the FLASH games field and hoping to start working with Toon Boom. Love your tutorials. It really has gotten me up to speed. I really appreciate your dedication as an artist and animator and helping the community…especially after leaving such a “cushy” job at Disney to do your own thing. Question: could you discuss in a video how you approach “running” scenes and also how you go about getting work as a freelance artist? I hope you can and like you I have my own stories to tell. I just don’t know what is the best form yet: book, novel, screenplay, animation or comic. Thanks for all your hard work and lovely animation for the song. You are awesome!
Great work Adam! The animation is fantastic as usual. The Forrest scenes have a great sense of depth and the colors are wonderful and really suit a dark Forrest. The scenes with the girl and the fox came out really good. The part where they were running thru the woods looked brilliant. It looked like it would be challenging to animate as well. The use of shading and light on the characters worked really well to give them less of a 2D feel.
I thought the song was fine. It had a little bit of a Sarah McLachlan, Tori Amos feel to it and I liked it. I’m also not sure why some ppl felt the need to bash the song. Oh well, that’s the internet for you. As long as she liked making the song and that it came out the way she intended that’s all that really matters.
Have you gotten any feedback from the artist on the video?
Were you happy with the way it turned out?
Thanks Jim. Yes it’s the official video, so the artist has approved it all and likes what I’ve come up with. I’m pretty happy with the end result, it’s probably as good as I could do in the time I had. I’m just glad it wasn’t a longer song otherwise I would have needed to decline the work.
Great video and great song.
The only critique I could offer is that in the song, when the artist hits those really high notes it sounds a little out of place. I dunno, it just seems like it would fit better if she’d stayed near the lower end of the range. Still a good song though.
lol ok thanks, I’ll see what I can do
I liked the high notes. It’s a stylistic thing here…
Really nice Adam – in particular how the pace and lighting work together to create the right atmosphere for the feel of the song. Love the track through the forest tunnel too – and nice pallete.
Gee-beasties that is some awesome animation! I think you did a great job on the part where the camera tracks her head but her body turns as she watches the fox. A little detail but it was really cool to watch.
Awesome job sir. You continue to inspire me with your awesome animations.
Just beautiful! The song is amazing and the animation smooth and stream lined! i am an instant fan!! keep up the good work!! (literally brought tears to my eyes)
Amazing work as always, Adam. The whole thing came together beautifully at the end. I especially love the scene with the deer… lovely! Well done.
thank you… this was a deeply moving piece. It rendered me to tears-the music was a perfect companion, as well as the deer
Thanks for dropping by, I’m glad the video had that effect! Always a victory when someone is genuinely moved
Your animation is great as always. The song fits right into a style you know very well. If it wasn’t for the video the song would be god awful though…
p.s. still waiting for more on ‘the last of the dashkin’
yeah thanks Dan, though I don’t see why some people feel the need to insult the songwriter. Just like me she’s an independent artist, releasing new work and hoping it’s well received. Not to mention reading these comments :/
I thought the song was really ethereal and haunting… It matches perfectly with Adam’s style.
Agreed, I liked the song. It’s not very “modern” though, that’s true.
The song is beautiful as is Cilla Jane’s voice. I love how pure and crisp she sounds. The song brings on so many feelings. Both are captivating and I don’t see how you could consider anything about it awful. I had to share her with some friends of mine she gained a new fan here
this is so beautiful, good job man!
thanks Taylor