"A True Story about Vlad Dracula"

"A True Story about Vlad Dracula" was a commission short animation which I directed, animated and conceptualised, based on the script of Vasile Lupasc. It tells the true story of Vlad the Impaler as it would be recounted by Stephan the Great (Vlad’s cousin, ally and equally larger-than-life Romanian historical figure).

The production of this short took place between 2019-2020 in partnership with the "Blacksmiths’ Tower" museum in Sighisoara. It won the first prize for Best Animated film at RATMA International Film Festival, UK, in 2020 and it is currently playing at the "Blacksmiths' Tower" museum as part of their permanent exhibition.

film poster of short animation about Vlad Dracula and the battle of Targoviste, Vlad Dracula's portrait dominating a field of Ottoman soldiers advancing on the battle field

Storyboard samples

Exploring framing and ideas for scenes

medieval king and his army overlooking the Danube and the enemy's camp during sunset

medieval king and his army overlooking the Danube and the enemy's camp smoking during winter

Characters concepts

medieval children characters from animation about Vlad Dracula

character concept of little prince during medieval Romania

Visual Development & Inspiration sources

medieval Romanian frescoes, byzantine art, religious art

medieval Romanian frescoes, byzantine art, religious art, medieval tapestry

medieval Romanian frescoes, byzantine art, religious art, orthodox icon

Final Backgrounds & Layouts

animation background of a Romanian medieval fortress

Animation Clean-up sample

Final Film

Technique and Process

The project was challenging, as the deadline was very tight (7 months).

Being a very small team, I worked as the director, concept & story artist and animator, while my colleagues at BBS Media studio in Bucharest helped me with clean-up art, colouring, sound and music.

I started by reading and planning out the story, getting the producer's approval to adapt the complex script we were given in a more manageable story that could fit in the deadline and budget, but without compromising on the beauty of the film.

I spent about 1-2 months working on pre-poduction, to plan the scenes and visual style, researching Romanian medieval art, and visiting the citadel of Suceava, where part of the action takes place. In order to reduce the amount of animation but still keep the action engaging, I decided to make us of the "story-within-a-story" method, and present the part with Stephan the Great and the part with Vlad Dracula in two different visual styles. This worked to our advantage, reducing the amount of workload and helping us fit in the budget and deadline, but it also worked for the story, by creating a beautiful contrast and visual separation between the two worlds.

The production part took roughly 4-5 months and the post-production was done in record time - a couple of weeks.

Our tools for creating the animation were mainly TVPaint Animation, Wacom Cintiq tablets and the Adobe Suite (Photoshop, After Effects, Premier Pro).

Animation