BEHIND THE CURSE
To fully understand The Curse Breaker, one must know the reason behind the curse. This is not just another typical action story, but a visual representation of my struggle with cigarette addiction, portrayed through fantasy and imagination.
While pursing my graduate degree at the University of Central Florida’s Character Animations MFA: Emerging Media - Animation and Visual Effects program, I decided that my thesis film should be something extremely personal to me. So, I chose to expose myself and my habit for the world to see.
By using animation as a medium of visually storytelling, I felt I could reach out to others who suffer from their own addictions, and let them know, they are not alone. I decided to fight my habit, and hopefully can encourage others to break their own.
ANIMATION BREAKDOWN
Shot 21: Chain Surfing Shot Progression
Rough Animation Pass
Clean up
Color Test
Fun Fact
Shot 21 is 33 frames long, which is 1.2 seconds worth of animations done on 24 frames per second. There are 134 unique drawings with in 41 unique overlapping layers. This does not include the amount of drawing done during the storyboard stage or rough animation stage.
SEQUENCE BREAKDOWN
Though we are in a digital age, I still got a bit of old fashion in me. I still incorporate analog traditions into my workflow. For me, there is nothing like drawing on paper, so I always keep a tiny 3 x 4 sketch book with me to rough out ideas. This does not mean I cannot do them digitally from the get-go, it just means that not all my good ideas come from when I am behind a computer.
Storyboards
Timing
FILM CREDITS
Created by – James Chambless
Music – Audio Machine – Finis
3D – Modeler/texture – John Doromal – Character Mask
UCF MFA Emerging Media - Animation and Visual Effects track Faculty – Cheryl Briggs, Jo Anne Adams, Darlene Hadrika, Stella Sung, Phil Peters
Tools – AutoDesk Maya 2019 student license, Arnold Render for Autodesk Maya, TV paint student/Professional, Adobe Photoshop 2018/2019 , Adobe After Effects 2018/2019, Adobe Premiere 2018/2019, Red Giant Trap code suit – student license - Particular, Red Giant VFX suit – Composite, Foundry – Nuke
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
UCF MFA – Emerging Media Animation and Visual Effects Cohort 1 – class of 2020 – Heather Knott, Josh Cooper, Angela Hernandez, Ana Guerra, Brian Phinn, Alyssa Garoogian, Amber Hilson, Dana Barnes
UCF MFA – Emerging Media Animation and Visual Effects Cohort 2 – class of 2021 – Kirstin Hardin