2008 Adelaide Uni Short Film Festival Entry *Winner*

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Last weekend on Sunday was the South Australian short film festival. It was held at the University im going to (Adelaide Uni).

I entered a short 4min long animation called SEEK. Note that the theme for the contest was 'Behind the Door'

I spent most of my holidays working on a short animation to enter, and managed to finish it off without to much trouble. I had to ditch a major scene in it however, because i was running out of time.

Ive been a bit hesitant to posting this here, mainly because i know its going to be heavily criticized on the technical points related to the 3D work. You have to keep in mind that i made this in under 20 days! I only found out about the festival less than a month before all entries were due.
Overall im not 100% happy with the animation, mainly because i don't feel it represents what im capable of these days, but instead represents what i can do in a few rushed weeks. So yes, i know there are many different errors and issues with it....

You can view more info about the festival at the Adelaide Uni site here.

And I'm happy to say that i got first place in the film festival!

The prizes for first place:

A very nice $900 HD Sony video camera (see pic below)
12 month subscription to the Media Resource Center
8 hours at a pro editing suite or recording studio

You can view the animation on youtube here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moMvgDHaAfI

And i also did a timelapse video of me making a screwdriver which was used in the animation which you can view here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6lNC8_zujE

Heres a link to an interview i had before the festival - http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/s...012985,00.html

Feel free to C&C.

-ADEdge

sebbonaparte

Well for 20 days, it is pretty damn good. Nice work! Also nice camera, I'm jealous :P

Nathanael

Congratulations!

Nathanael

I watched your film. For 20 days, it looks great. I really liked your explosion.

blenditall

Cool. Did you use that script for the camera shake, or did you do it manually? (no pun intended)

freen

Congratulations!
...and don't be apologetic, either. This piece has a lot going for it. What it lacks in some of the technical aspects it makes up for in design and concept.

I really like that distort filter you've applied, it helps set the mood nicely.
Well done.

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Quote:

Originally Posted by sebbonaparte

Well for 20 days, it is pretty damn good. Nice work! Also nice camera, I'm jealous :P

Ha yeh, the camera rocks. I just put some HD video i took with it on my laptop then, its amazing, crystal clear....

Quote:

Originally Posted by blenditall

Cool. Did you use that script for the camera shake, or did you do it manually? (no pun intended)

I used the camera shake script you can find on blender.org
Its a very nice script.

Quote:

Originally Posted by freen

Congratulations!
...and don't be apologetic, either. This piece has a lot going for it. What it lacks in some of the technical aspects it makes up for in design and concept.

I really like that distort filter you've applied, it helps set the mood nicely.
Well done.

Yeh, well since i only had 20 days i decided to do something technically very simple, but as effective as possible.

I spent over a whole day getting the node post pro effects the way i wanted them. It was one of the more enjoyable parts for me. Its nice to take a standard boring render, then add some bloom, camera shake, contrast correction and other effects and then see how much better it looks. Nodes are very powerful.

I also used the new projector node (new to 2.46), which made the blurring effect around the outside and also 'warped' the whole render a little, which is hard to see, but is more of a subconscious thing.

Thanks for all the good feedback, im glad you guys are liking it!

fatfinger

Nice work, I enjoyed it! Some of the later shots reminded me a bit of THX-1138.
Well done.

ManDingo

Hey that looks like my cousin Ernie. Very nice work Alex D. What kind of ligthing did you use?

digital_domain

Hey man. Watched the vid.
I like the story and concept however i just can't help feeling a little disapointed he never found a way in. After the explosion i was waiting for him to find a simplistic and logical way for opening the door.
Congratulations and well done.

Meta-Androcto

Congrats also on winning.
great concept & style.
the timing in this was very good & although it seemed a little slow to start,
they way you introduced the different elements to the scene made up for it.
I loved how the door was still standing.

technical?
well i went form...
grinning>
laughing>
awe>
laughing harder.
technically a very entertaining & enjoyable experience.

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Quote:

Originally Posted by digital_domain

Hey man. Watched the vid.
I like the story and concept however i just can't help feeling a little disapointed he never found a way in. After the explosion i was waiting for him to find a simplistic and logical way for opening the door.
Congratulations and well done.

Yeh, in trying to keep it as simple as possible, i didnt want to think up something which would be behind the door. But, nevertheless, it keeps the viewer thinking for a while after viewing the video.
So it could be anything behind that door, we'll never know.

I was going to have a final scene when he walks off though, and the door creaks open a little, then as he turns to look, it slams shut. But i ran out of time. It would have just been more teasing anyways.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Meta-Androcto

Congrats also on winning.
great concept & style.
the timing in this was very good & although it seemed a little slow to start,
they way you introduced the different elements to the scene made up for it.
I loved how the door was still standing.

technical?
well i went form...
grinning>
laughing>
awe>
laughing harder.
technically a very entertaining & enjoyable experience.

Glad you enjoyed it so much!

Oh and ive forgotten to mention that i had an interview and photo shoot with the local newspaper as well (The Advertiser), shortly before the film festival to raise interest in the event.

Skip

Well I have to say that was excellent work and it made me chuckle, congratulations on the win. Now I’m off to subscribe to your youtube channel.

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Skip

Well I have to say that was excellent work and it made me chuckle, congratulations on the win. Now I’m off to subscribe to your youtube channel.

Haha, nice, thats what i like to hear, Mark.

harkyman

Nice work. Congrats on the win.

AD-Edge

Thanks harkyman.

Some of my interview before the festival was put up on Adelaide now - http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/s...012985,00.html

I think theres meant to be a proper writeup of the festival sometime soon, ill post a link when it happens.

BenDansie

Very nice and congrats on the win! I thought about entering that festival, but didn't have anything close and didn't think I could budget the time for something new. Kinda makes you wonder how many South Aussie blenderheads there are here...

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Quote:

Originally Posted by BenDansie

Very nice and congrats on the win! I thought about entering that festival, but didn't have anything close and didn't think I could budget the time for something new. Kinda makes you wonder how many South Aussie blenderheads there are here...

Yeh, i know theres a few SA blenderheads around, some came to the Blender and open source talk night a few months ago, also held at Adelaide uni. Not sure if you were there BenDansie.

You should enter next year! Im going to (hopefully). Im going to get one of my blenderhead friends to enter as well.
Im going to find out the theme as soon as possible as well, so i can have maximum time to work on an entry. 20 days is really pushing it..... I could let you know when i find out, that way ull have heaps of time as well to think about it etc.

BenDansie

I was at the talk, but it was a little hard to figure out who the blenderheads were - except the two exceptionally bored guys in front of me who didn't seem to realise Vibeke Sorenson was giving a (long) talk before hand. Was pretty funny to see a high profile digital art speaker have issues with a powerpoint though I must say. Probably was the Uni's fault for having settings locked down or something, still.

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Quote:

Originally Posted by BenDansie

I was at the talk, but it was a little hard to figure out who the blenderheads were - except the two exceptionally bored guys in front of me who didn't seem to realise Vibeke Sorenson was giving a (long) talk before hand. Was pretty funny to see a high profile digital art speaker have issues with a powerpoint though I must say. Probably was the Uni's fault for having settings locked down or something, still.

Haha, yeh, the long talk beforehand was.... Interesting.

I wasn't expecting it to quite go for that long. And yes, its amazing how much trouble these profesionals have with a simple powerpoint presentation....

It was a bit hard to meet up with Blenderheads though, unfortunatly.