About the Project

Origins

Story Drive is a community storytelling project through which short animations and video art pieces are produced for anonymous voicemails. It began in 2020 as an experiment — a way to connect with others and give anonymous voices a visual life. Roughly six years later, it continues to be exactly that.

People call 832-582-4671 and leave a message — any thoughts, feelings, stories, or dreams — and at some point those recordings are turned into a short video, or perhaps even a larger scale short film. The series is focused on sharing space, being heard, and taking time to talk about what's going on in our lives and the memories that float around as we try to make sense of this world.

The project was founded by Marcelese Cooper, a black, queer filmmaker and animator based in Pittsburgh, PA, while completing their MFA at the University of Houston. Cooper's practice spans animation, experimental documentary, and motion graphics, and they currently serve as an Assistant Professor in the Film and Media Studies Program at the University of Pittsburgh.

"It was never for anything more than experimenting and connecting with others — and it's continued to be exactly that." — Marcelese Cooper

Voice as Material

At the heart of Story Drive is a simple belief: the human voice carries more than words — breath, hesitation, laughter, and tears. The texture of lived experience. Each recording is treated not as content to be illustrated, but as material to be interpreted.

There is no single correct way to animate a voice. The same recording might inspire abstract motion, figurative narrative, documentary collage, or pure visual poetry. The animator's role is not to depict. It is to listen deeply and respond.

Special thanks to Cassie Ferrick, an artist and collaborator who helped develop a robust system for logging and tagging voicemails that transforms the living library into an organized, navigable collection.

Animation as Interpretation

Every film in the anthology is a collaboration between a voice and an animator — even when they never meet. Each receives an audio recording and makes a short film in response to what they hear: not a literal translation, but a conversation between two forms of expression.

This approach allows for an extraordinary range of styles, techniques, and perspectives. Hand-drawn animation sits alongside motion graphics, stop-motion alongside digital collage. The diversity of voices is matched by the diversity of vision.