The hyper-animated city: visions of Valencia Street Art in the short film Urban Sphinx

Abstract

[EN] Urban Sphinx (2020) is an animated short film produced to document creatively the presence of Street Art at the diverse neighbourhoods of Valencia, Spain, between 2018 and 2019. Conceived as a tribute to all the urban artists of Valencia, highlighting the quantity and variety of these ephemeral pieces and paintings, Urban Sphinx has a special relationship with memory, which comes to life when these images take on motion like film frames. Taking from Alan Cholodenko the idea of the animatic, the animation of Urban Sphinx proves the idea of hyperanimated hyperreality, as animation seduces Street Art and both melt in a realm of metamorphosis. In this essay, the director of the film describes the production process, highlighting the personalities of Street Artists, the development of animation and editing, and the importance of music and sound in the project.