'Immortal Machine' | Dystopian Animated Short Film (2021)

Created by David James Armsby.

"You think you understand? All the lies? All the needless atrocities?...
No. There is reason, and I want to show you..."

Deep in the heart of Autodale lives their Mayor. As old as the town itself, a once great inventor, now a gangly and decaying but undying thing which the townsfolk have long forgotten, but continue to echo his machine-obsessed beliefs.
This film follows Autodale's Exceptional Woman as she journey's deep down the rabbit hole of the Mayor's Immortal Machine.

This film was one of the most challenging and taxing projects of my life. The film covers a subject matter that is extremely difficult to pull off from an artistic and technical standpoint. Nothing about the setting, characters or structure of this film was easy to do. That's actually the reason I've put off tackling the heart of Autodale and the Matriarch for so long. I knew to pull it off successfully would require a tremendous amount of time, effort and artistic know-how which I didn't feel confident I could do.
It wasn't until after finishing my previous and longest animated short film, "Friendly Shadow", that I finally felt that I was at the skill level required for this gigantic project.
I'm not in love with all of it, but overall I think it definitely succeeded. This film is extremely ambitious and grand and I'm extremely proud of the result. I really hope you guys like it too! :D

Voice Actors:
Adrienne Cox - "Exceptional Woman", "Hive", "The Matriarch".
David Armsby - "The Mayor"

Original Music composed by Rayshaun Thompson and Cameron Moody.

FULL SOUNDTRACK AVAILABLE HERE!:

MAKING OF

This is the seventh film in the Autodale Animated Series. Here's the full playlist!:

PATREON!:

[listless]

man, when you said that autodale was a machine, you weren’t kidding.

we forgot that machines need fuel.

[aubreyackermann]

He wanted so badly for the exceptional girl to condemn him, to find a better way, to fix his creation. Instead, he got an immortal assistant with a crush.

[ashenwynter]

I find it so interesting that the Goddess has slowly turned to look more human, while the Mayor has slowly turned to have the features of what the Goddess looked like when she was wilting. No real eyes, no mouth and withering away.

[kazumas]

I'm a bit late with this, but I just had a sad, twisted realization. The world outside had healed and it's no longer the hellscape the mayor thinks it to be. In "Friendly Shadow", at the end, the girl leaves Autodale with the freak and, like, she doesn't die. Meaning the sole reason Autodale keeps running the way it does is because of pure paranoia of an apocalypse that has long since passed.

[hene]

The mayor is the embodiment of the quote “you either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become a villain”. In a way, he isn’t a villain, he’s just frustrated that he can’t find a better solution and is stuck with this really messed up system

[mrred]

She can run with high heels on, she is a soldier.

[amygdata]

"Autodale is hardly automatic. You and your families are the gears that keep our engines turning and turning."

[AHApacheHelicopter]

I like to think the reason the Mayor pauses mid-sentence is because he’s dying, but the electric charges are somehow bringing him back every few seconds.

[stavzeevi]

The mayor is a sad, sad character. He seemed so hopeful when he found the exceptional girl, probably hoped that someone who could see through the lies could help him find another path, figure out some other way to keep the goddess alive. It seemed like he was hoping the horrors that fuel autodale would be repulsive to the exceptional girl, that she’d try to push for another way to live... but she accepted it as the truth, as the only way to survive, and the mayor was... disappointed. He probably feels that there is no other way to live, and the exceptional girl just helped confirm his deepest fears. That he’d have to be the monster in the shadows as long as the immortal machine lived. Forever killing just so that it’s heart may continue to beat.

[Haloguy]

It really tops it off that you used your own voice for the mayor. The mayor, the one who created it all, is voiced by the one who literally created it all.
A subtle, but very nice addition.

[hchich]

It's fucking terrifying that the only “color” in these animations is _R E D_

[MarshyGhosty]

I just realized that this comment section is exactly what the mayor wanted from the girl. Suggestions and a new perspective, turned out to be disappointed because she was impressed.

[zephyrcentauri]

how does Autodale not hear the howls of the Matriarch? is it just like
"mummy, i hear scary noises sometimes"
"oh dont worry sweetie, it's just the wind"

[VNNAMNN]

I find it genuinely sad how upset the mayor is about the decisions he has to make. He doesn't want to hurt people, but he finds its the only way to keep the majority alive. He wanted the girl to help him, help the people that lived in the city, but instead she just admired the horrible "work" he had done.

[ohworm]

This short clears up so many things that bothered me in other shorts. Like, how and why the main character in Don’t Feed The Freaks saw himself as human. It’s because the Freaks probably ARE human, affected by the sickness that caused them to mutate. Or why Hive let Shadow save the little girl, in Friendly Shadow. Because she knew that she would die either way, whether to feed the goddess, or from the sickness outside.

[immagical]

I love how The Mayor’s form has come to reflect how The Matriarch used to look. And how she now looks nearly human.

[beefyboisu]

"Dystopian Fantasy."
"Realistic Reality."
Ties, between, bring them.

[DeadSound]

This was one of the most challenging projects I've ever attempted. It was a nearly incomprehensible amount of work. This is a story I've wanted to tell for years and finally felt I had the artistic and technical know-how to pull it off! Really hope you guys like it. :D
If you're interested, here's the making-of video:

[olgasokolova]

Honestly I like that little detail where the goddess "transferred" her power to the "daughter" of the Inventor in tern giving up her life. The goddess is dead, her body was used to figure out how it ticked, and the Inventor tried and succeeded in artificially making a new goddess. Most likely he created the city and after finding out the flaw in his Immortal Machine he crated the Autodale structure. Unfortunately he was still riddled with sickness and it took toll fast, his flesh rotting off, his organs failing, he hooked himself to the Immortal Machine to buy himself some time. And then he found her, the Exceptional Girl, hoping that she would understand the atrocities of his choices she could find a different way with less bloodshed, she didn't, now as part of the Hive the Exceptional Girl is remembering him now that he's probably ran out of borrowed time. And we still decided to think that the wooden magical creature is the Immortal Machine, fun times :D

edit: as of 05/02/2021 it has been confirmed that my theory isn't entirely correct, it was fun to imagine that it was, but now there are more questions that are yet to be answered. What happened to the Inventor's Daughter?

[lordisen]

What I love the most about the Mayor’s voice is actually the pauses in his speech pattern. You can feel the conflict and contemplation within him as he decides which words to use next, as well as the fact he clearly hasn’t interacted with many other people in a long time and natural speech no longer comes easy too him. It’s a brilliant way of conveying so much information through silence.