Synopsis
The clip is a compact, hand-drawn and painted animation rather than a live-action performance piece. Its imagery is built from a succession of sketch-like, monochrome scenes that move in loose, rotoscoped motion, creating a reflective visual counterpart to Bryan's song. The video favors atmosphere and the tactile presence of the drawings over a clearly documented character-driven storyline, with the animation carrying the piece from beginning to end.
Factoids & Trivia
- The animation was made with approximately 6,000 hand-drawn frames, giving the video its unusually labor-intensive, frame-by-frame appearance.
- The piece was produced in Vermont, with connections to Austin and Los Angeles noted in the production description.
- The video's visual approach has been described as hand-drawn, painted, black-and-white cell animation and hand rotoscoping.
- "Wasted" was presented as part of EMPAC's "top draw" program in April 2009, a selection focused on hand-drawn moving-image work.
- Festival listings from 2009 and 2010 identify the video as a 2008 U.S. production. Its listed running time varies between approximately 3:29 and 4:11, suggesting that different versions or edits circulated.