‘The Visitors’ is a short film by Emily Switzer documenting the multiple alien encounters that took place in her garden throughout August 2020. What started as a simple 3D animation experiment evolved into a multi-disciplinary narrative piece exploring the meditative effects of nature.

“I came to think of the visitors as being observers from another world, in complete harmony with the rhythms of nature. They collect data about the flowers and bugs and then disappear without a trace, causing no disruption to the environment. I wanted the piece to feel organic and not overly edited, to preserve the ‘found footage’ look of the film. For the animation I wanted each visitor to have a calming, repetitive motion. Like a satellite or scientific instrument gathering data, but what would that look like if the instrument was organic instead of mechanical? Some visitors appear to self-replicate, while others may be transmitting information through light and sound.”

Each visitor has a unique design that plays with organic or inorganic materials, depending on what observational task it is meant to perform. Maybe these visitors are like a cross between an insect and a plant. Whatever their function or level of sentience, it is ultimately up to the viewer to interpret their mysterious meaning. Though if the bees of the garden seemed unbothered by the presence of these visitors, then perhaps we can use that as a clue to their true nature.