Part of my ongoing series of stop motion shorts using found objects from the streets of NYC, “Mayday!” incorporates collage and found objects, including: automotive glass, nuts and bolts, antique aluminum measuring cups, and the iron from Monopoly.

I was thinking about how overwhelming life in New York City can be sometimes, and how alone we can find ourselves. It sometimes feels like you’re spiraling into loneliness, or overwork, or just a feeling of being behind. In my ‘20’s I often felt totally out of control. I was working full-time at a bank and also playing music gigs almost every night. I felt like my health was out of control, like I wasn’t taking care of myself, and like I didn’t know which way to go. Like I was lost in the middle of a storm. One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned from that time is that you don’t have to do things all on your own. It’s OK to accept help, to ask for a lifeline.

Shot on iPhone and edited in Stop Motion Studio and Adobe Premiere Pro. Title animation done in After Effects. Sound effects from freesound.org (full list of samples in Vimeo link).