Isabelle Stewart

Special Features

Special Features is a mixed media short film, clashing stop-motion puppetry with digital animation in a reflection of media produced in the 2000s-2010s, aka: My childhood. The short film contains bonus content for a movie that couldn't be made in the year 2026 – think White Chicks (2004), Charlie’s Angels (2000), or Miss Congeniality (2000) – accessible through an interactive DVD menu leading to "an exclusive interview with A-cat-demy award winner, Kittie Whiskers." The body of this piece is made up of ‘special features’ as opposed to the hypothetical film they surround– which doesn’t actually exist. The disc has been ‘scratched’. If anyone tries to play the movie, it will freeze and send them back to the main menu, where they can appreciate the under-recognized artistry of DVD interfaces, which have been on the decline ever since online streaming took the lead of media distribution in the 2010s. Special First Edition DVDs containing unused material from the development of my thesis, process work, and related work from my studies at OCADU will be for sale during select days of GradEx!

“You want something for your special features? I'll show you MY special features!”