Animated short film: 25 Years Later (2026) made by Vincent-louis Apruzzese

A cyclist on a trip from his home in Montreal Quebec to his former hometown of Boston Massachusetts is haunted by memories of the time he spent there with his best friend 25 years previously. 

This is a remake of sorts of an earlier version of this animation made in Cinema 4D. I use Blender now and thought I might do better as it was a very personal project for me. I actually planned this trip for real but was never able to do it for various reasons recurring kidney problems on my part, family issues and the pandemic happening. This is a functional film for sure but many of the events are from life and experience from that time with my friend, Jay.  

Below is the original film, should anyone want to see it for comparison. I kept some of the original animation as I really liked them. Most of my problems visually were with the characters and how they and some of the renders looked. The basic structure is the same with some cleaning up of shots and scenes to hopefully work better and I also added a subtle effect for when things are in the past to make that clearer. 

photography: Canal Lachine

 Just a few photos I took with the iPhone on my morning ride yesterday. I used the 48-megapixel raw setting. 

update: 25 Years later remake: South West Corridor

 I spent 3 days working on remaking the set for the SW Corridor shot. Most of it is made from still and video cutouts. The buildings in the rear I drew in Affinity vetcor. The animation on this was very simple so it didn't take long to do after everything was set up. There is a right wing to this set where we see the friends walking as a butterfly flies past them, which is challenging character animation and the sick friend is walking with a walker. 

The original shot is below. I am not reinventing the animation so it's very similar but more natural looking, I hope. I noticed there are vantage points on the corridor where more Boston landmarks are visible so I think it has more a sense of place now. 

Upate: 25 years later rain scene

 

I made this 2 times the duration, added different rain effects and details like the fences. I also change it from a few butterflies to one. 

photography: Mobius Meadows Farmstead.

 I spent a few days at a friend's farm. Mostly taking photos of items for his website and social media. I also took some of the animals there. 

Updating older animations: 25 Years Later (2020) Barn in the rain

 

Still chugging along. I liked this in the original version and it had some challenges in Blender but it looks OK. The idea of this shot was the inspiration for the entire original project. 

Updating older animations: 25 Years Later (2020) south end room

 More progress than I expected in the last 2 days. This is an interior room in Boston's South End. Several shots happen here and I hope it's a nice scene with the 2 characters. 

Photography: Parc Safari

 We took the kids to Parc Safari on their visit. Again, they loved it and again I was disappointed. The ads show giraffes and all kinds of exotic animals and the "safari" now consists of local animals only. The zoo part had animals like alpacas that I see on my friend's farm all the time. There were a few big cats as well but it seems like they might be transitioning from zoo to water park. I did get some nice photos and was able to use the camera in a new setting, namely a moving car with animals sometime a distance away. 

Photography: Montreal's Insectarium 2026

 I had my nephew's family here for a few days and his boys love dinosaurs but the younger one really has been into bugs these days and I told we would go to the Insectarium. I have not been since it was renovated and the kids loved it. I was let down a bit, though. It has less to really see in it, opting for a large part of it being a series of pathways that look like you are in an ant tunnel. That is well done and why the kids love it but they also didn't have many living insects other than butterflies and what was a large open area with bugs prepared and pinned in frames is in a smaller room with some of the exhibits too high to really see, especially for young children. They did add a permanent butterfly room, which was pretty great. 

I got to use my new Nikon Z 5II and have a lot to get used to with it. 

Updating older animations: 25 Years Later (2020) more progress.

 

I have made more progress on this improved version. I am keeping several shots from the older version; they look good, and recreating them to look the same is a waste of time and effort. The indoor lighting, I think, shows a huge improvement in the characters from the original, and I can get much more emotion on the faces.