Time Flies

With only one day to live, two flies scramble to make the most of their time before it runs out.

In this fast-paced comedy adventure, two flies with opposite personalities struggle to make the most of a 24-hour lifespan. The Energetic A-fly rushes to complete every activity on a massive bucket list, whereas the introspective Z-fly searches for a deeper meaning, only to spiral into existential dread. As the sun starts to set, the flies panic that their time is running out. But in the end, a death defying-encounter forces them both to live in the moment while they still can. 

About "Time Flies"

Time flies tells the story of two bugs with a one day lifespan, trying to make the most of their time before it runs out. Though they each have a different approach to living out their day, they share the immense pressure of their time limit, and they both panic that their time is running out. Of course, for a film about encroaching death, it’s far from all doom and gloom. Full of visual gags and slapstick comedy, Time Flies gave our artists loads of opportunities to have fun with their work.

Yet within the silliness of the story, there’s an earnestness about the flies’ struggle to make the most of their life. It’s not difficult for us to relate: we had a single year to make this project a reality and turn it into everything we dreamed it could be. With tight deadlines to meet, we had a lot of late nights, last minute do-overs, and difficult decisions on where we could afford to spend our time. For us over-achieving art students, the sentiment goes beyond just this project. Are we making the most of our college years? Can we make it in the industry after we graduate? Will we have our dream job by the time we’re thirty? What if we don't?

By the end of the day, the two flies get some perspective when they’re forced to stop worrying about the future and take a moment in the present. It goes to show that we can spend our time stressing over living life to the fullest, or actually living it. Luckily, the human lifespan is generally longer than 24 hours, so we’ve got a little time to figure it out.

— LJ Burnett, Director

What makes this film stand out? What's different about it?

"Time Flies" uses Pantheon, a 2D lighting plugin for Nuke created by SCAD alum Noah Catan. Pantheon allowed us to add volumetric lighting to our 2D animation resulting in a seamless blend of 2D and 3D. The challenge was producing this film using Pantheon in one academic year, which had never been done before. But we did it! Not only did we streamline the Pantheon process and pipeline, we helped mature and improve the plugin with new tool development. 

Trailer: https://youtu.be/VTAPf6fncPM

Website: https://scadanimationstudios.framer.website/Time-Flies

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/timeflies.film ( @timeflies.film )

Email: [email protected]