‘Starving’< /em> is the final project carried out by the students of the 2D Animation and Art specialties of the 2020-2021 academic year. A graphic style 2D short film that shows the daily reality of Alex, a designer who has a routine job in a studio. Her co-workers seem oblivious to the tedium she experiences on a daily basis, as well as the bad mood of her boss. How has the process of creating this audiovisual piece been? We have spoken with Mauricio Negreira and < a title="" href="https://www.artstation.com/cynthia_jimenez" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cynthia Jiménez, L’Idem 2D Animation students, to meet with detail where the idea for the short came from and how they have organized to carry it out. A team project in which the last year 2D Animation and Art students have worked together.
What story does ‘Starving’ tell and where did the idea come from?
Mauricio: This is the story of Alex, a normal office worker who, due to certain circumstances, suffers from extreme hunger and decides to satisfy it in an unexpected way. With her co-workers, specifically. The idea arose during the first week of the course, in a scriptwriting module that we did with Carlos Bleycher. There is no spectacular story behind it: we brainstormed, the premise came out of nowhere, we found it funny and we liked it enough to develop it. Obviously we outlined it a bit until we reached the definitive story that the short tells.
Cynthia: The short is a disappearance story with a surprising script twist. We really didn’t want to tell a very complex and deep story. We started from the idea of hyperbolic hunger (“I’m so hungry I’d eat my leg”) and we developed it through gags and possible powerful scenes to animate.
How has your creation process been?
Mauricio: Much less rugged than we thought. The idea was ambitious so, from the beginning, we organized ourselves properly, like a professional team, only made up of students. We distribute the tasks of each department and we have always been anticipating the problems that could arise. We’ve all gotten pretty involved.
Music plays an essential role in this short. How has the collaboration been with ESMUC students?
Mauricio: This may have been one of the most difficult parts to deal with in the beginning. The students had to make certain decisions regarding the proposals for the musicians. We asked for very varied things and they explained to us for what obvious reason it was not possible. We had several meetings and talks in which we made changes until we reached the final version.
Why did you choose such a graphic Animation style?
Cynthia: We were experimenting, both with the drawing style and with the animation. We saw that animating at 3 and even 4 frames per drawing worked well for the animation and we liked the result it gave. So, with the exception of shots or specific actions that only worked for 1 or 2, we continued with that style.
Has animation given you any challenges?
Mauricio: The animation itself has gone smoothly thanks to the amazing concept work and several decisions we made early on, like working at 3 frames. The greatest difficulties we have encountered have come from our own ambition. Wanting a finish similar to the concept, with different textures and spots instead of normal lines, very varied color palettes, many characters with different rhythms, adding shadows, etc.
Many times we have met to talk about whether a certain decision artistic was worth it or not. For example, make several colored lines with different textures instead of keeping just one. The result of those talks at the end was always ”We can do it, it will look great and it will be worth it”. That motivation, accompanied by effort (and some setbacks) on everyone’s part, has allowed us to finish the project on time. And not only without removing anything from what we wanted to do, but adding elements to improve the result. We are happy with the resulting short film and we consider that it has been worth it: we have worked to make it possible.
‘Starving’ transits between two realities: that of the office and that of Alex’s mind. How have you worked on the transition between them in terms of morphing?
Cynthia: We were clear that the result had to be very showy and crazy. So we bet on experimenting with both character morphs and background changes in the same shot.
What was the intention of creating such a gore song?
Mauricio: There wasn’t so much a ”direct intention” to look for a gore theme as to make a fun project. Within what would be a type of black humor, “Starving” is quite light and not very serious. But it has a certain component of shock that does not leave you indifferent and allows you to make interesting artistic decisions.
The most dramatic moments of the short are hidden behind some shadows. What has it been like animating these elements?
Mauricio: In animation, shading is usually a somewhat complex process and takes a long time to get right. To achieve a beautiful finish in such a short amount of time, we used the Harmony node library to duplicate the animation and create a darker clipping mask in the shape of the character to act as a shadow. The result, even without being totally realistic, gives it a very good touch that fits with the style of the short film we were looking for.
Cynthia: The shading was really added in mid-production. In concept they did some tests and we liked the result so much that we added it. Since we are well organized in terms of working time, we simply added the shadows to the scenes that we already had animated using composite.
If you had to single out a scene or shot that you liked working on, what would it be and why?
There is a shot in which Álex crushes a colleague with a printer that I think is worth mentioning. There is a camera movement, which revolves around the girls while the struggle happens. To get there we had to rethink it several times, and we were even about to remove it. In the end, what I did was sketch a background with a broken perspective and the Concept colleagues took care of doing it well. So all I had to do was move the background horizontally so that it seemed to rotate while still being a flat image. Besides how cool it was to get that, I found it fun to animate Alex by hunting his prey like a bug. All very funny.
Finally, how do you rate the ‘Starving’ experience?
Mauricio: First of all, and regarding the final result, we have given 110%. I think we could not have done it with more enthusiasm, regardless of the fact that we are students and everything can be improved. Obviously there has been a moment of putting the brakes on and rethinking things, but in the end we have been true to ourselves and we have achieved everything we have set out to do without problems.
Secondly and most importantly, I could not be happier with all my colleagues, without exception. They have all worked to the end (and half of them were practicing!), they have enjoyed the experience, which has been very intense. Everyone has contributed and actively participated in the project. We have worked as a team, always with respect and communicating a lot. It’s been a pleasure, and I think I’m not the only one who would make another short film like this if I had the time. Just being there, in that environment of creativity, mutual help, good communication and good vibes is something I will remember.
Cynthia: The experience has been very good, especially having had seasons of working remotely due to the situation we had. Being all on the same project throughout the course gives you new perspectives on what it can be like to work on a production. In addition, the final result has been good: we have managed to do everything we had planned at the beginning of the project. And that is very satisfying.