Inspired 3D Short Film Production, Volume 1

Front Cover
Thomson Course Technology, 2004 - Computers - 470 pages
This book brilliantly guides readers, using colorful images and step-by-step instructions, through all aspects of creating a digital short film, from the development stage (story, character design, animatics), through the production process (animation, camera direction, lighting), as well as the post-production phase (editing, submitting to festivals and contests). By the time readers complete "Inspired 3D Short Film Production", they will have received an overview of all the steps involved in creating a digital short, as well as having witnessed the production of a student's short film from concept through completion. Co-Author Jeremy Cantor's latest CG short film, "Squaring Off" will be featured in "North America's Best Animated Shorts" (DVD collection) scheduled for release this Spring. Co-Author Pepe Valencia is currently lending his character animation skills to "Tadpole," 'Sony Imageworks' second animated CG short. An exciting companion DVD features several student and professional animated shorts, and includes examples performed in the book's tutorials. "Inspired 3D Short Film Production" provides budding filmmakers with the necessary inspiration, examples, and pipeline suggestions to help them turn their story ideas into reality through the medium of the 3D animated CG short.

About the author (2004)

Jeremy Cantor has nearly 20 years of experience as an animator, storyboard artist, rigger, and supervisor in the film and video game industries, having worked at various production houses, including Industrial Light & Magic, Sony Imageworks, Tippett Studio, Insomniac Games, and Sega of America. His film credits include Starship Troopers, Harry Potter & The Sorcerer's Stone, Transformers 2, Avatar, Super 8, and Rango. Video game credits include Full Spectrum Warrior, Ratchet: Deadlocked, Resistance: Fall of Man, and the original digital pet projects, Catz & Dogz. Jeremy has had three short films in touring animation festivals and has taught CG character animation classes at venues such as Calarts, Gnomon School of VFX, The Academy of Art University, M.I.T., and Animationmentor.com. In 2011, Jeremy hung up his production hat and joined the computer animation department of Ringling College of Art + Design in Sarasota, Florida, as a full-time instructor. Pepe Valencia has been at Sony Pictures Imageworks since 1996 where he was recently supervising the animation on "Charlie¿s Angels 2." Previous projects at Sony include: "Stuart Little," "Stuart Little 2," "Charlie¿s Angels," "Harry Potter & the Sorcerer¿s Stone," "Hollowman," "Godzilla," "Starship Troopers," & "Snow Falling on Cedars." Before joining Sony, he worked at Cinesite as a Technical Director on Space Jam and at a number of smaller production houses. Previous to that, he spent five years animating and lighting TV Commercials. His independent work has been shown at SIGGRAPH ¿90, Imagina 92, Art Futura 92, and Cannes ¿94. He served as a member of the Short Animated Films jury for the 2001 ASIFA Annie Awards and has written articles for "Cinevideo 20" and "Campana." He has lectured at the Reina Sofia Art Center, the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, and taught courses at the Centro Monserrat and the Gnomon School of Visual Effects. In addition to a strong background in both the visual arts and computer technology, he brings to animation a breadth of experience in theater including four years with TEC in Madrid. Pepe teaches the Digital Shorts Workshop at the California Institute of the Arts and is currently lending his character animation skills to Tadpole, Sony Imageworks¿ second animated CG short film.