Bee’s Knees is a surreal music animation where a lone dancer in a bee costume moves through shifting worlds of screens and flowers. It captures the feeling of being caught between nature and technology, trying to stay joyful and alive inside something that no longer feels real
(Animated Music Video) Director – Animator
(About the project)The piece explores the tension between rhythm and disconnection, between life and hollowness
Bee’s Knees is an experimental music animation about our fractured connection with nature in a digital world. Through the figure of a dancer in a bee costume it represents the absurd, hopeful ways we search for meaning and joy inside artificial spacesBeneath the colorful imagery lies a subtle meditation: we may be estranged from the natural world, yet its inner rhythm still shapes us, whether we realize it or not. It’s about finding traces of natural self within synthetic beauty
(Visual Approach)What begins as playful movement of freedom evolves into erratic impulse of frustration
The film uses rotoscoped animation to blur the line between the real and the artificial. The bee’s dance, playful yet desperate, unfolds against shifting backdrops of glitch textures, neon screens, and fleeting flowersThe rhythm is driven by Nakani’s “Moss”, where electronic phonk beats and crispy layers mirror the tension created by our own simulations. The visuals grow more intense with the music, until movement itself becomes a kind of release
(Production Process)Every visual element, from hand-drawn frames to glitch patterns, was crafted to feel raw and immediate
The project was created in just two weeks during a time of personal isolation, using live-action videos I had filmed with friends at different points in my life. Those clips became the base for rotoscoping, reimagining memories as motionAn animatic was edited to the beat in Premiere Pro, then animated frame by frame in Procreate and finalized back in Premiere with hand-made glitch effects and textures. What began as an exercise became a way to reconnect with people and memories, translated into rhythm and motion
Writer / Director / Editor: Vladimir Zhdanov,
Acting: Erintsen Boronkinov, Janna
Music by: Nakani - Moss