Esc Pop

'Esc Pop' is a 2D animated short film produced by 2nd year BA students, studying at Escape Studios. Their animation tutor Steve Lall had approached Storyboard Artist Stevie Stedman if she had any ideas that the students could animate for their studio project. Stevie had been working on some exercises to help her practice storyboarding and had a timeline full of short tests and exercises. Steve thought this would be a great primer for the students to learn from and would produce a variety of fun and expressive shots that cut to the chase, compared to a more linear narrative.

Steve and Stevie developed an animatic stitching it all together and named the show 'Esc Pop'. The students then had 4 weeks to pull off the project. 

Dee

Part one, called 'Dee', was directed by Charlie Biggs. Charlie introduces the audience to the film's first main Character, who is having a rigorous leg training workout. This intro sucks us into the channel-hopping set pieces of 2D animation. 

Dee will re-emerge at the end-of-the-film, in a sequence that shows us the aftermath of her thunderous workout routine. Charlie lead the biggest team of the film working with her fellow animation classmates Amos Mathias, Mahamat Souleyman, Courtice Spencer-Prempeh and Xander Grujin. Erica Sanches Simoes did the character design for Dee, the main titles, and the film's poster. 

Bus Stop Man

The next sketch will be sure to make you pop, in 'Bus Stop Man'. A man waits for the bus, waits until he can't wait no more, or is no more himself! This piece was directed by Ruksar 'Rowza' Aziz, who also designed the character. To help convey the character's descent into madness, Rowza illustrates him gradually losing his composure. 

Rowza animated it together with classmate Mark Morris. Mark also helped out designing the backdrops. They drew inspiration from L.A to design the environment. They also utilised 3D layouts to help block out the scene and to help with drawing perspectives. 

The Plan

An office worker manager man type presents his 'Plan' to his team, and he's really sure of it! Directed by a duo this time, Cheiri Kagata and Mai Lu. They both did the character designs together, then animated it along with Kamile Pranckunaite. 

What do you think? A sound plan? Can't you see it? The plan's right there! It's the plannnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn!

Triangle

Have you ever tried to fit in somewhere you didn't quite belong? This young classical musician finds himself himself under pressure to perform with his Triangle to his band members, who are busy rocking out.

Directed by Nathan Blackman, with characters designs and animation by Nathan and his fellow classmate Oliver Smith, with additional animation by Shekinah Raymundo. 

So Evil

A homage to the evil villain montages from your favourite disaster hero movies. Gustav Chin directed and animated this scene. Gustav decided to show the scene from the perspective of a pedestrian filming from his phone. 

Each scene from Esc Pop evolved as it passed hands from storyboards, to animatic, to the animators and designers. The students came together in their first animation group project to learn how to collaborate, communicate and produce creative things. In the end they made this wonderfully weird and random animation jam of a film.

Credits

'Dee'

Director: Charlie Biggs

Character Designer: Erica Sanches Simoes

Animators: Charlie Biggs, Erica Sanches Simoes, Amos Mathias, Mahamat Souleyman, Courtice Spencer-Prempeh and Xander Grujin

'Bus Stop man'

Director: Ruksar Aziz

Character Designer: Ruksar Aziz

Animators: Ruksar Aziz and Mark Morris

'The Plan'

Directors: Chieri Kagata and Mai Lu

Character Designer: Chieri Kagata,

Animators: Chieri Kagata, Mai Lu and Kamile Pranckunaite

'Triangle'

Director: Nathan Blackman

Character Designers: Nathan Blackman and Oliver Smith

Animators: Nathan Blackman, Oliver Smith and Shekinah Raymundo

'So Evil'

Director and Animator: Gustav Chin

Character Designer: Gustav Chin

Storyboards: Stevie Stedman

Sound and Editing: Steven Lall

Voice Cast: Sunny Asadi, Steven Lall, Stevie Stedman

Animation Tutor: Steven Lall

Studio Assistant: Amy Husted

Made at Escape Studios, London, England, 2024