Alone

by UTSAnimalLogicAcademy on 31 May 2024 for Rookie Awards 2024

Welcome aboard transport ship CF 80622, en route to Earth 2.0. While the human passengers are frozen in deep sleep, a sole maintenance robot discovers that new friends are hard to make.

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Alone

by UTSAnimalLogicAcademy

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Synopsis

During a lengthy space voyage to a distant galaxy, a solitary maintenance robot diligently tends to the human incubators, ensuring the survival of the settlers for the new planet. Watching the dreams and memories of relationships between the hibernating humans makes the robot feel lonely. So it assembles a new companion of its own from spare parts. But when complications arise, the robot faces a crucial decision: prioritise the preservation of human life or save its new friend.

The Story Behind 'Alone'

This 3D animated short film is created by the Master of Animation and Visualisation students at the UTS Animal Logic Academy. At the start of the year all students come together to develop the story idea. Then they work in dedicated departments to create and produce all aspects of the film from art, previs/layout, modelling, rigging, animation, surfacing, lighting, effects, compositing to technical direction and production coordination. In just 30 weeks the 41 students work to a professional level to deliver to the highest possible production standards, mentored by the Academy's teaching team of industry professionals.

Meet the Team

As the collaborative group project from the Master of Animation and Visualisation students, ‘Alone' has been developed from story idea, through all stages of production by the student group under the guidance of the team of Leads who direct and supervise the development and production of the project.

Digital Artists - Allyson Valencia, Angus Thomson, Benjamin Poate, Brandon Doray, Charlene Yeh, Chio Chi Chan, Dylan Giles, Hallam Roberts, Hollie Secomb, Ildy Izso, Jack Goold, Jake Schatzman, Jason Lin, Jessica Hutchinson, Jira Udomsri, Judisak Meng, Leinton Prem, Leon Bronkhorst, Matt Castley, Max Ayre, Morgan Wallish, Nathan Le, Nina Gao, Olivia Gonzalez, Patrick French, Peter Tran, Philippe R Huibonhoa, Ruben Luzaic, Sam Reilly, Songzhou Bian, Shaun Tan, Tamsin Tunnock, Tegan Plahn, Tri Duc Nguyen, Yihong He, Yilang Shi, Yuxuan Li and Zhanghao Liu

Technical Directors - Christa Zhang and Erin McManus

Production Coordinators - Sam Reilly and Shirley Yao

Behind the Scenes

Hear from some of the Master of Animation and Visualisation students about what it was like to bring their project, 'Alone', to life – together.

What were the most challenging and rewarding parts of the project?

Hollie Secomb (Animation): Some of the most challenging parts of production were becoming accustomed to the pipeline and ever approaching deadlines, and balancing speed, quality, the needs of the entire film and our expectations for what we thought a shot should be. One of the most rewarding things I found working on the project was how much I enjoy working in a team towards something and how much I love character acting. This project allowed me to really put everything into an animation and push myself. I like having challenges and tackling new things, which this project allowed me to do with the benefit of guidance from our animation supervisor.

Hallam Roberts (Effects): FX is a challenging department for any pipeline, since we replace, add and remove things last minute. It was super rewarding to see our FX turn up in renders, and I really enjoyed the lookdev for effects like the battery, planet rings and jet engine. It was great to see many unique takes and approaches to the same effect.

Leinton Prem (Lighting): Some of the most challenging aspects were onboarding new lighters from the Art Department and establishing a communication channel with them, as well as working with Production to make sure we were completing the shots on time, especially during the ‘crunch phase’ towards the end.

The team was definitely one of the best parts! Working alongside 7 other lighters and two compositors with our Lead at the helm was an amazing experience. At times, the team picked up on aspects in my shot that I hadn’t noticed, and learning from the experiences of other lighters in Katana/Renderman allowed me to implement that into my knowledge base. Knowing how to communicate and act professionally while also keeping the team morale up kept us in a positive mindset, and seeing the shots come to life towards the end was an 'OMG moment' for me personally.

Visit The Rookies Discover to hear more from the team.