Spirit

About the Job

The spirit is there to guide Sage, but she has her own arc as well. Being a spirit guide is basically just a job to her. To Sage, she comes across very mysterious and hard to read, but also captivating. Internally though, she's just there to do her job. She has a similar attitude about it as working retail or customer service. She leads Sage through symbolic lessons meant to give her the guidance she needs, but Sage misses these lessons and instead grows attached to the spirit. After a while, the spirit starts to care for Sage as well, through in a different way as being a spirit guide, she knows she has to leave in the end like she always does. This is all told from Sage's perspective, her inner monologue serving as narration. The two don't talk directly until the final scene, where Sage has to learn the lessons that she missed and the spirit has to tell her that she has to leave. It's a bittersweet and emotional scene to close the short. The spirit takes multiple forms throughout the short, which gives a variety of challenges and standout moments. One of these forms is a large colorful costume that was made from scratch for this film. It's very visually striking and super fun to wear. Of course the main form she takes is a human form, and one of the reasons for that is to sort of mirror Sage. She doesn't look ethereal or ghostly at all. She just looks normal. She's dressed casually in the same way as Sage, just in a hoodie and jeans or something similar. Sage is east Asian, so the spirit should be as well, and have long hair (below shoulder length).