For this project I wanted to create a narrative between two unlikely friends. I began with speaking to my husband about what characters I should create. He suggested a needle - I took it one step further and started with a cactus. From there, the storyboard came together naturally. Through the use of facial expressions, varied music choices, and strategically placed sound effects, I was able to create a compelling story and give personality to two characters who would otherwise simply be boring inanimate objects. My goal with this story is to allow the viewer to experience a range of emotions through these characters. This tale takes the viewer on a journey from the viewpoint of both the cactus and the balloon, allowing them to be fully immersed in this story of woe and triumph. I animated these characters using Autodesk Maya. The composition was created in Adobe After Effects. All music and sound effects were sourced from freesound.org and bensound.com (all Creative Commons).