As the second semester kicks into high gear at the New York Film Academy's 3D Animation School, the students are very excited about the group project. We started the semester with three lectures on charcater development from Peter Hobbes, an excellent screenwriting teacher here at the New York Film Academy. The character lectures really helped in writing the story. The main character is a wacky over the top scientist estranged from his fellow humans. When evicted, he brings his household objects to life and unleashes them on the world in a terible act of vengeance destined to go awry.

As we continue to develop the story through storybarding, we are pushing the sense of character even further. We are focusing on the individual characters in the street that are attacked by the animated objects. Who are they? Even though they get only a few shots each one needs a strong character that will communicate to the audience. Similarly we are focusing on the character of the objects. What is their emotional status, how does it affect how they move? This gives us a film camera that comes to life but has to learn how to walk, and so stumbles like a baby giraffe before learning to maneuver it's three feet with deft precision. We also have a ceiling fan that comes to life and cares about his creator, defending it like a dog protects his master. And then there is the toy plane looking for a fight but armed only with suction cup tipped missiles.

This is shaping up to be a fun, character filled semester at the Animation School.

Bill Stout
Chair
New York Film Academy's Animation School