Artificial sweeteners (2025-2026)
“Murder is legal, but nobody cares.”
A collection of animated and live action short films directed/produced/edited by Daniel Lee
Artificial Sweeteners (Live Action 2026) - upcoming narrative short film directed/written/produced by Daniel Lee.
Artificial Sweeteners (Live Action 2026) - upcoming narrative short film directed/written/produced by Daniel Lee.
Artificial Sweeteners (Live Action 2026) - upcoming narrative short film directed/written/produced by Daniel Lee.
Artificial Sweeteners (Live Action 2026) - upcoming narrative short film directed/written/produced by Daniel Lee.
Artificial Sweeteners (Live Action 2026) - upcoming narrative short film directed/written/produced by Daniel Lee.
Artificial Sweeteners (Live Action 2026) - upcoming narrative short film directed/written/produced by Daniel Lee.
A dark comedy that explores the apathy that many people within the younger generations often have within our current climate and how we need to overcome it, represented by the main characters of the film, two corpse cleaning janitors who argue about the importance or insignificance of their job.
Filmed for NYU’s year long Advanced Production Workshop class as a senior thesis project. Budget of $15,000 and 60+ people working on a revolving crew. The film was shot on NYU’s Martin Scorsese soundstage in Industry City, Brooklyn where 3 sets were built. Daniel Lee organized crew and locations, ensuring that the film could be completed within the 2 build days, 3 shoot days, and 1 strike day that were allotted by NYU.
Artificial Sweeteners (animated short film 2025) - directed/edited/animated by Daniel Lee
An animated dark comedy about two corpse cleaning janitors talking about anything but the bodies they are cleaning up.
Animated for NYU’s Experimental Animation class. Won Audience Choice Award at NYU’s 2025 Spring Animation Festival. Incorporates a mix of different animation styles from traditional 2-D animations made in Toon Boom Harmony which were then composited in After Effects to classic JRPG style animation designed in Premiere Pro and After Effects.
2 Artificial 2 Sweet (animated short film 2026) - directed/edited/animated by Daniel Lee
An animated sequel to both the original animated Artificial Sweeteners (2025) and the upcoming Artificial Sweeteners (2026). Follow the same two corpse cleaners from the first animated film as they discuss their failed relationships.
Incorporates the same mixed animation style as the first animated film using the same techniques. Worked heavily in the Adobe suite, using After Effects for compositing and animation and Premiere Pro for cutting.