Degree Type
Honors Capstone Project
Date of Submission
Spring 5-1-2010
Capstone Advisor
Heath Hanlin
Honors Reader
Gail Hoffman
Capstone Major
Art
Capstone College
Visual and Performing Arts
Audio/Visual Component
no
Capstone Prize Winner
no
Won Capstone Funding
no
Honors Categories
Creative
Subject Categories
Art and Design | Graphic Design
Abstract
Gary’s Sneakers, a collaboration between Kelsey Adams and myself, is a 3D animated short about a young boy and his sneakers. The short features Gary, an unmotivated individual who has no other apparent interests aside from playing video games. Unfortunately, his unused pair of running sneakers are very bored and, upon being inspired by a magazine advertisement, conspire to get Gary up and in action.
To create this, Kelsey and I covered the entire animation production pipeline. We began with a story, and proceeded to create an animatic that further developed and clarified out storyline. We chose to created our project in Lightwave 3D, so Kelsey created 3D models which I rigged. I then animated the short while Kelsey textured all of her models and added lighting to the scenes. Once this was complete, we rendered the shots, edited it together in Final Cut, and recorded sound with Logic. With this complete, we were able to render the final piece onto a DVD.
The animation is an exploration in character. Gary is an exaggeration of today’s topical sedentary individual who is addicted to technology and forgoes and semblance of real action or communication. The static camera shots and lack of movement represent the shoes’ boredom with the situation. This is also represented in the characterization of Gary’s movements: he is visibly sluggish, uncoordinated, and out of shape. The shoes, by contrast, move in a much quicker and snappier way, making them foils to Gary. Once the shoes engage Gary, the viewer is also engaged, as there is much more movement from the characters and the camera.
In the end, I felt the project was a success both artistically and personally. Artistically, the short gets it point across and provides the audience with a sense of enjoyment. Yet to complete the project, I had to overcome a myriad of technical difficulties, and by getting past them I feel that I am competent on a professional level.
Recommended Citation
Grube, Meg, "Gary’s Sneakers A 3D Animated Short" (2010). Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All. 314.
https://surface.syr.edu/honors_capstone/314
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
