Nine Awkward Dates

a film by Shaun Clayton

Official Selection Chicago Film Frenzy 2025

Dating is rough. This film hopes to make the experience seem less terrible. Nine short animated pieces, each of which depict a different awkward date, come together in an absurd way that hopefully makes actual dating seem...reasonable.

Nine Awkward Dates was written and animated by Shaun Clayton throughout the months of 2024, drawing by hand on an iPad Pro. Mostly in the evenings after work at many Chicago coffee shops. RoughAnimator was the primary program used, ProCreate Dreams was also used for some segments. Music involved Shaun Clayton pawing away at an AKAI MPK mini in Garageband.Voice recording was done by the cast themselves from a variety of different places all over the country and sent in to Chicago where Adobe Audition was used to put together the audio. Final editing used Apple Final Cut Pro and Adobe Premiere.

CREDITS:

Written, Animated and Edited by:
Shaun Clayton

Voices:

Maralynn Adams
Hana

Shaun Clayton
Tim
Lucien Moonshadow
Dinosaurs
Phil
Zombie

Noah Ginex
Earl
Curt
Robert

Stacey Gordon
Tina

Sayjal Joshi
Loretta

Michelle M. Oliver
Helena

Christine Papalexis
Joan

Robin Polfuss
Cynosa

Tamale
Courtney
Kate
Cynosa
Sarah

Noah Ginex
Earl
Curt
Robert

Stacey Gordon
Tina

Christine Papalexis
Joan

Robin Polfuss
Cynosa

Fire-Dancing Rotoscope Model
Tamale