Our team is comprised of three animators and one web developer. Since we are a small team, we wanted to select a project that didn’t require a lot of modelling, rigging, texturing, etc. To do a production style animation short, our team would probably need to be comprised of six to eight animators. After long discussions among the four of us, we all agreed that adding anyone else to the team would mess with the chemistry and synergy that we all share (we have really great synergy). I’d like to give you some insight into the core crack-commando team that we’ve assembled to work on this project. Let’s start with the animators.
We all are Digital Media majors, but we have very different strengths. I, Eric Martin, do a little acting on the side. I have been involved in theater from high school until now and have decided to make it my minor. The experiences I have had onstage and in acting classes have given me insight on practical skills like staging, lighting, and script analysis. It has also given me the opportunity to experience the process of developing characters by delving into things like character motivation, status, and story arcs. It also doesn’t hurt to know how to act when animating. With these skills I aim to to create realistic, believable, relatable characters that tickle the funny bone (ex. Coffeebot was totally my idea).
Ian Suen is our timing guru. His unwavering inner clock has given him almost supernatural timing abilities that help him to quickly create believable, natural timing and spacing. Along with his superhuman abilities and physique, he brings his knowledge of human anatomy and modeling expertise. He is currently working with industry professionals to recreate an in-depth model of the human forearm skeletal structure, muscular structure and dermal layers. Not an easy task. He can usually be found on campus carrying real human remains (Seriously). His modeling skills will be invaluable when it comes time to bring our character designs to life.
Ross Reagan’s manly body and facial hairs suggests he hails from the deep Pennsylvania wilderness (BumbleFuck, PA, to be precise). He is a rising star in the Drexel Football team, Drexel’s one and only comedy improv team. His ability to think on his feet and quickly recognize humor makes him an essential member of this team. Since we are making an online comic, we need him to bring in the comedy. His inner comedian is highlighted by his vast collection of voice impressions will also help with the pre-visualization phase of our project. Besides his stage talents, Ross is always a very skilled animator. Ross will aid greatly in creating the gestural animations that will make our characters that much more realistic.
We three animators are poised to bring our characters to life. With our combined skills focused on these short animations, we plan to push our animating skills to the next level. However, we would hardly be able to do anything without our highly skilled and talented project manager .
Chelsea Myers is the glue that holds the team together, and the pretty face and charisma that woos our professors into listening to our ideas in the first place. The regent web development wunderkind has already begun to whip us three animators into shape. We hope to use her HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript skills to create CoffeebotOnline.com. Her unconditional love for all things web development and her hyper-organizational skills have transformed our ideas into a cohesive presentation. Without her, this project would not be as far along as it is today.
This team was formed because the four of us share one vision for a comedic online series. We each bring something unique and invaluable to the table. Our skillset will be exploited to the fullest to make a memorable Senior Project. Without one of us, the project won’t come to fruition.
