BLIK Short Film

BLIK Short Film Director: BASTIAAN SCHRAVENDEELProduction:UTRECHT SCHOOL OF THE ARTSAnimation: POLDER ANIMATIONwww.polderanimation.comDutch animation student Bastiaan Schravendeel began this during an internship then joined with classmates at the Utrecht School of the Arts to transform it into a their graduation film."The main creative challenge for ’Blik’ was telling a story that relied heavily on subtle emotion without the use of facial expressions - everything had to be conveyed using body language and film techniques. This required a graphic style that would translate the acting and staging of the characters very clearly, without looking too simplistic up close."Another challenge was the heavy dependence on the character animation itself. We knew this style of narration would only work with character animation of a high enough and consistent quality, especially considering the characters were intentionally designed to be generic. With varying levels of character experience between us, we figure we spent about half the total production time just on character animation."This production was the first time we used a proprietary automated rigging script for the nine characters. Cloth sim, which we figured would be a great visual addition provided it would fit the stylized acting, proved to be quite a hassle. Low Poly tends not to work too well, as it turns out."Then behind everything was a system to automatically cache and set up shots for rendering and comping. Since the visual style relied heavily on extensive comp work, the amount of data was quite intimidating. Managing this through a custom system was the only way we could successfully complete the short.Schedule: "After the four of us teamed up we were working on the film on and off, with periods of full-time production intercut with mandatory school projects. We eventually graduated with the film a year-and-a-half after we first started production."For Polder AnimationWriter/director/animation: Bastiaan Schravendeel TD/animation: Jean-Paul Tossings AD/animation: Sander KamermansSet designer/animation: Piebe van der StormSound: Peter van der VeldenMusic: Alex Debicki Mix: Bob Kommer StudiosFor Utrecht School of the ArtsThanks: Egbert de RuiterSpecial thanks: il Luster FilmsToolkitMaya, Photoshop, Nuke, PremiereLess