Bird Drone.

In Bird Drone, lonely seagull Sammy is unlucky in love – all the birds around him seem to be sharing their foraged snacks, pairing up and leaving him behind.

When he encounters an elegant (and interested!) drone, Sammy finally believes he’s found the relationship he’s been looking for.

But their sun drenched romance is threatened when the drone begins to runs out of battery life and fly back to its human controller. Putting his life at risk to save his new love, Sammy is forced to grapple with the reality of a potential future with a partner that may never return his feelings.

Here, director Radheya Jegatheva and writer Clare Toonen write about the making of Bird Drone ahead of the film’s screening at the Stellar Short Film Festival on March 1.

Bird Drone director, Radheya Jegatheva.

“Our hero seagull’s attraction is one-sided, and the dichotomy of the natural and the unnatural, the autonomous and the controlled, results in love that is completely unobtainable.”

by Radheya Jegatheva

Bird Drone centres around love, in both the story itself and the creation of the film. A labour of love over the last few years, it is a heartfelt story about the human emotions connected with unrequited love, explored through two peculiar and unusual entities – a lonely seagull and a human-operated drone. Our hero seagull’s attraction is one-sided, and the dichotomy of the natural and the unnatural, the autonomous and the controlled, results in love that is completely unobtainable. It was extremely important to me that this was reflected in the art direction and visual style, using a combination of 2D and 3D animation techniques to mirror the relationship between the organic seagull and the synthetic drone.

Naturally, a wordless story between a bird and a drone lends itself to animation. I have a passion for animation, and I consider the film to be a love letter to the works of Studio Ghibli and Pixar, whose movies I grew up with and helped shape my love of cinema. In 2018, I won an opportunity to visit Pixar animation studios and was fortunate enough to meet the producer of Academy-Award winning animated short Piper, Marc Sondheimer, where they specially screened his film for me in an in-house theatre.

It captivated me the whole way through, and reinforced in me one of many reasons why I adore animation – being able to communicate human feelings and emotions creatively through non-human characters, something that is much harder to recreate in live-action. The attention to detail and level of craftsmanship involved in Piper was really inspiring, and continued to be as this project came into being, especially as another animated film about birds by the beach! Aesthetically, there are also several nods to Miyazaki’s works and visual style throughout. In the end, Bird Drone took me almost three years to complete.

The film captures the feeling of pursuing someone who can never want you back, but being so blinded by love that you can’t help but continue to desire – even at your own detriment. However it’s also about the bittersweetness of moving on – as one should not dwell on unrequited love – and showing that something that ultimately does not work out can lead to bigger and better things. But I love how it is more than that too, and I feel that it may grow increasingly relevant with time – exploring sub-themes of the impact of technology and humanity on nature. I also see it as a metaphor for authentic human interaction in regards to the growing consumption and availability of artificial intelligence.

I fell in love with the idea when Clare and Hannah initially approached me about the film years ago, and I feel very grateful that they entrusted me with directing and animating the film. It was so rewarding to work with them and to build our friendship, and I’m very proud of what we’ve created over our journey for the last few years.

Bird Drone writer, Clare Toonen.

“I wondered how the seagulls felt about sharing a sky with the drone. What if one mistook it for another gull? What if one even fell in love with it?”

by Clare Toonen

Bird Drone is a story about love and partnership, but it is also a story about what our identities look like outside of the relationships we have built. Am I a worthy creature if I do not have a partner? Do I attempt to hold onto someone knowing they can’t return my feelings?

The film’s concept – of a bird falling head-over-heels in love with a drone – first occurred to me when I was watching a friend fly a drone at Canal Rocks; a beautiful coastal spot on Wadandi Country in Australia’s South West. I had never seen a drone in action before, and I kept getting it confused with the white seagulls above me, not quite knowing if I was looking at a bird or this mechanical object being controlled next to me. There was something unnatural about it; technology may have infiltrated our lives, but now there it was among the animals’ environment too. I wondered how the seagulls felt about sharing a sky with the drone. What if one mistook it for another gull? What if one even fell in love with it?

This scenario served as the jumping off point for the film, and I shaped a story around a lonely seagull, Sammy, who thinks they’ve found the perfect mate – only to discover that it’s made of wiring and plastic, and rapidly losing battery power.

I knew I wanted to write a film with no dialogue; a simple, wordless piece that looked Australian with its enormous sky and shimmery Indian Ocean setting, yet felt universal and could be understood by audiences of vastly different ages, cultures and languages. Story-wise, I took inspiration from the short Pixar films I loved in the 90s and early 2000s. The first image I had in my head was that of Sammy dancing in the sky with the drone in a truly joyous moment; the rest of the film – including Sammy watching the two loved-up birds at the beginning, the reveal of the human controller and the fight to save the drone from drowning – were formed around this image.

I feel very lucky to have been introduced to Radheya. I was blown away by both the technical style and emotional depth of his earlier short animated films, and I jumped at the chance to collaborate with him. I’m humbled that he connected with Bird Drone in its early treatment stage and it’s been wonderful to see how he has brought this little narrative to life.

Bird Drone will screen at the Stellar Short Film Festival on Saturday, 1 March. Tickets and details here. 

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