Students in Villa Maria College’s Animation program pulled an all nighter last weekend, but it wasn’t because of a test. They stayed up for 24 hours to create an animation, no less than 30 seconds long, from scratch using any animation technique they wanted, digital, 2D, 3D, or even stop motion. Taking place from noon on Saturday 10/26 to noon on Sunday 10/27, and led by instructor Jon Cone, this is Villa Maria College’s first Animation Competition.
Seniors captained each of the 5 teams, and selected members from the mixed group of juniors and sophomores that signed up for the challenge. The class voted on a “monster” theme, which each team had to incorporate into their project. After being randomly assigned a genre to work in, the groups went straight to work crafting their short projects.
Over the course of the 24 hour period students conceptualized, drafted, and built their project. If that wasn’t hard enough, throughout the evening there was the opportunity for challenges and hazards (mostly involving Nerf gun duels) that could impede progress on a team, and make the already arduous animation process even more difficult. But to Cone’s surprise hardly anyone strayed from their computers, as most of the students worked nearly to the deadline, and stayed focused throughout the night.
Inspiration for the event came from the similar professional contests, specifically the Fjorg! challenge previously held during the Siggraph Computer Animation festival. While this is the first time Villa has attempted an event like this, Cone hopes it won’t be the last. “We’d like to bring in other schools, other programs, and make it a bigger competition,” he said.
Animation instructors Justin Scricco and Sarah Hanson joined Cone in judging the winners of the event. First, second, and third place awards were given out on Tuesday, October 29th. The winners received a special hat embroidered with their placement on the back, custom made by Cone. All participants in the contest received an embroidered baseball hat.
The winners are:
First Place: “Halloween” by Louis DeRosa, Katie Weber, Emily Snead, and Christina Cronmiller
Second Place: “Monster Thriller” by Lee Terwilliger, Aria Yanicki, Casey Cecere, and Carlos Williams
Third Place: “Exterminators in Space” by Andrew Tomaka, Chris Erckert, Cassie Hamilton, and Rick Joyner
Remaining Teams:
“Ugly Love” by Valerie Amborski, Kelsey Faulise, Rachel Curtis, and Jacquie Stone
“Fight Face” by Sean Bodkin, Tom Lembke, and Mark Noworta
Visit our Flickr page for photos of all the participants.
