Little
Scares

Direction, Design & Animation by Mr Kaplin

Small scares. A little dark humour.

Little Scares is an animated mini-series exploring my love of the creepy and weird.

Each animation plays with familiar horror-film tropes, shrinking them into a small moment of unease, absurdity or surprise. A little affection for the genre, with tongue firmly in cheek.

The Idea

Horror has a wonderful visual language. Sometimes you only need a familiar setup and the suggestion that something isn’t quite right.

I wanted to play with those expectations, taking the things we recognise from classic horror and finding a simple, playful way to twist them.

The scares might be small, but there’s still room for a little suspense.

The Directing Approach

Working across direction, design and animation let me shape each piece around a single visual idea.

The challenge was to tell a little story quickly: establish the situation, give the audience a moment to anticipate what might happen, then land the reveal.

That balance between tension and humour was central to the approach. Hold a moment a little longer, change the timing of a movement, and something unsettling can become rather funny.

Sound from the Shadows

Wonderkid Sound brought the B-movie spirit to life through music and playfully spooky sound design.

Their contribution helped dial up the atmosphere and give these small animated moments a suitably larger-than-life sense of drama.

Why I Made It

Little Scares gave me a way to explore the overlap between horror, humour and visual storytelling.

It’s a combination I enjoy: taking something a little strange, finding a clear idea within it, and seeing how much feeling you can create in a very short space of time.