At last week’s EscapeVerse Live event, Jake Lee explained how he achieved short film festival success with his short film “Am I Dreaming?”.
Jake explained the need to build a team, in this case a producer, composer, singer and songwriter. Film-makers rarely work alone – you need to build a team of enthusiastic partners to collaborate and deliver the vision.
Michael Davies
Crucial to the project was Escape Studios’ tutor Michael Davies, who was able to model, rig and texture the characters – as well as adding cloth and hair simulations. Michael Davies is an accomplished CG generalist who was able to take on a variety of technical roles.
MoCap
For the animation, the team experimented with motion capture, using equipment supplied by Escape Studios’ Head of VFX Clement Gharini.
However, the moCap gave a slightly jittery style to the film, so the team reverted to keyframe animation for most of the shots. The Head of Animation was Anya Dyachock.
Industry Pipeline
The team ensured that the production observed industry standard naming conventions, ensuring that scene files were properly named, and the production could be properly tracked.
“Am I Dreaming?”
“Am I Dreaming?”
In Am I Dreaming?, Kirstin dreams of being with Dan, the most popular boy in school. Kirsten’s journey takes her to outer space and to a fairy tale castle. Her dream came true at last… or did it?“
Team
The animation team was led by Anya Dyachok. The original characters were modelled, rigged, and textured by Escape Studio’s Tutor Michael Davies and the film was produced by Escapee Emmanouil “Manos” Zervoudakis.
Am I Dreaming Credits:
- Jake Lee – Director, Writer, Editor, Layout
- Emmanouil Zervoudakis – Producer, Co-Editor, Layout
- Lilianne Coeverden – Songwriter, Writer
- Kiersten Nielson – Vocals for “Am I Dreaming?”
- Anya Dyachok – Head of Animation
- Austin Hill – Storyboards
- Marina Belova – Animator
- Marharyta Obukhava – Animator
- Paula Porta Vazquez – Animator, Layout
- Nicole Widmer – Animator
- Brittney Thalayan – Animator
- Chanakan Jeffries – Animator
- Josh Janousky – Animator
- Louis Chevis – Animator
- Michael Davies – Character CG Supervisor
- Jordan Coles – Rigging
- Tom Perry – Rigging, Modeling
- Ana Erbasu – Modeling
- Elizabeth Thomas – Modeling, Texturing, Groom
- Jose ‘Kuzeh’ Iturriaga – Environment Modeling
- Priya Shah – Render Pipeline
- Kirstin Hyland – Kirstin Reference Performer
- Dan McElroy – Dan Reference Performer
Music
- Bayoán Ocasio – Flute
- Emmett Price – Trumpet
- Chandler Rosenzweig – Horn
- Leon Baker III – Violin
- Cedrick McCafferty – Viola
- Broxa Benesh – Cello
Special Thanks
Special thanks to Escape Studios tutors Amedeo Beretta, Clement Gharini,Lee Caller and industry mentor Max Howard.
Festival Success
Am I Dreaming? has won many festival Awards:
- Best Animated Musical at the UK Film Awards
- New York Movie Awards
- Milan Gold Awards
- Monthly Future of Film Awards
- Eastern Europe Film Festival
- Golden Nugget International Film Festival
- Onyko Film Awards
- Asian Talent International Film Festival
Watch on YouTube
IMDB
You can find Am I Dreaming? at the IMDB.
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