Here is my cgi animated short film “Sugar - A Bittersweet Journey”. Made with blender. Production time: about 4 years.
The film on youtube:
Share the movie if you like!
“Sugar - A Bittersweet Journey” tells the story of an extraterrestrial exploring the universe for sugar in order to rescue his beloved planet. Ever since I was a little boy, I was fascinated by the concept, that we are not alone in the universe. I kept asking myself if there are other beings like us. My goal was to create an extraterrestrial character very different, yet so similar to us; someone with problems, needs and dreams aswell.
The story shows, that no matter how far you venture into deep space, your home will always be the place you cherish most. For just this purpose, the alien, Mr.Green, has undertaken his vast travels. The production took place at the hamburg university of applied sciences troughout 7 semesters (about 4 years). The CGI was created in blender, the production´s primary 3d animation software.
The sounddesign and music were produced at the university´s sound and foley studio, the Tonlabor Haw Hamburg. The film was animated in 16:9 aspect ratio and has a runtime of about 7 minutes. I directed, wrote and created the cgi for the film. The sound design was made by Xuecong Chen and the music by Yinjun Zhang.
Gorgeous! A few notes, if you don’t mind. At about 3 minutes in the empty birthday party room the model for the probe is missing. 4:28 there is a cut that violates the 180 degree rule which makes it feel like the lollipop is flying away from him. If you just flip the “force pull” shot horizontally it will flow much better. It also matches better with the next shots. I also really don’t think the text at the beginning is necessary. The film is so gorgeous visually that it’s a real shame to start it with some plain papyrus. The title is clear enough to carry the narrative IMO. Really great job. The colors are really luscious.
Hi!
Thank you very much for your detailed critique!
I noticed the mistake in the scene. I would like to improve the things that I learned at the production. In the next short film I´ll put more focus on the story, the quality of the characters and storytelling. I think a good idea would be to read some short stories, or some comic strips with a moral.
Do you happen to know some comic strip resources with a good story/moral? For inspiration.
Because it wanted to leave the house as quick as possible. It was afraid of the sounds coming from the attic and didn`t want to get caught. The alien didn´t think of going through the chimney again in that risky situation. It was an emergency for him.
Hi Lucas, thanks for the critique. I understand your point. On one hand I wanted to have a mysterious space ship, on the other hand a fluffy/sweet or candy like design would have been better eventually.
Excited to see what you do next! Recently I was feeling very inspired reading short stories by Italo Calvino, especially the Cosmicomics. I also really loved reading Eleanor Davis’ How to be Happy.
Awesome work, I love the vibrant colours. This is short film festival material!