Door is the story of Gaia, a stubborn teenager who has just moved into a creepy house with her mother and is determined to hate it, despite her mother’s reassurances. When a mysterious green door begins to stalk Gaia, she literally stumbles through it into another world, one that manifests a person’s greatest fear- in Gaia’s case, spiders. Though the door repeatedly attempts to trap her in its world, her mother refuses to believe her. In the end, Gaia must summon the bravery necessary to face her fears and come together with her mother to defeat the evil living just behind the door.

Gaia’s story explores the idea of bravery in the face of the unknown, emphasizing the kind that has to come from gumption rather than sense. We are not always brave when we need to be, but part of growing up is realizing that in the face of impossible forces, big changes, and the ever approaching future, there’s no way to go but forward, one way or another. Whether it’s looking out into the world as a young adult with no plans, into the dark alone with a flashlight, or at a door you have no choice but to walk through, we all have to face the unknown at one time or another. The real question is will we open our eyes when we face it?

Andrea Schmitz is a motion graphics designer and animator from the beautiful city of Little Rock, Arkansas. Andrea has always been a writer, but a love of cartoons followed her throughout her life until she began creating motion graphics, and her two passions finally became one. She hopes to continue storytelling through short form animation and motion graphics and one day create an animated webseries.