Edit Ballai

Artbook


About 2318:Rebirth book

I had the idea for the story for several years, but I only started writing it last year. 2318:Rebirth tells a story about a girl who has just woken up from a 300-year-long dream in a far far future. Here is what I said to others about the story... 

"You’re currently working on an ongoing experimental series called ‘Rebirth’. Could you tell us more about the back story for this project?
"The real backstory of this project is this: I had the base of the story in my mind for years, but the real reason why I started working on it now is that I needed to escape from the reality to somewhere else. I lost someone earlier this year unexpectedly, and I really needed something to focus on, something that helps me to carry on. This was one of the last projects I could have discussed with him, and he really encouraged me to start doing it. I told him that I want to present the frames with written parts, and maybe publish it eventually as an art book and he was truly excited about it. He never stopped bragging about me to his friends. Having an artist partner in my life was the biggest gift that I’ve ever received. Seeing now that my little project gets some response from the community really makes me happy and makes me feel like he is still around."
What do you envisage for your ‘Rebirth’ project going forward? Can you give us any insight into the next chapters you’re working on?
I envisage that eventually, I will finish it. There is a lot to tell still. I’m working on the story and the environment shots at the same time, it’s very time-consuming but also very rewarding as I have to see and imagine the storyline in my mind through frames.
The story plays in the year 2318 and is told by our female lead character, who has spent the past 300 years in a dream-like state but has been woken up by some people from outside of the Institute where she has been kept. Slowly, we learn the story, as we discover her environment through her eyes, which will include a lot of shots about the city, the houses where other people live, hideouts, and generally about the whole island, which I named Utopia. I can tell that she is already planning her escape from the island, but it’s not going to be easy. In the next few chapters, she will meet some new people who are willing to help her (or she just thought so? We will find out.)
Having a protagonist who’s been asleep for so long, and her memories and dreams are sometimes mixed in her mind, gives me the opportunity to show dream-like shots, with some twist in the end. By starting with an in-medias-res opening, I can only show some scenes about the Institute and the real nature of the facility and the circumstances of her awakening in form of flashbacks, but I leave those scenes to the very end to not reveal the point too early."

Fabrik interview

"Tell us a little more about the ongoing 2318 render series you are working on?
It’s a personal project of mine, a story that I’ve wanted to tell for a while. I even had some outlines of the chapters, but I decided this year to present it in visual form instead. The story is set in the year 2318 and is told by our protagonist, who has just woken up from a 300-year-long dream with the help of some people who have been trying to get in touch with her from outside the dream. They wake her up to escape from the island where she has found herself, but there will be a lot of complications with that plan.
I will be making a lot of environment shots of the city and the nature around it, as well as the escape. Towards the end, I plan to show some flashback scenes about the Institute, the circumstances of her awakening, and what exactly this building was, and why she had been kept in this dream-like state for so long. But that will only be revealed at the end."

Autodesk interview