Malloe

Malloe

Malloe is a short story about a family of intergalactic travellers who seek to discover new species of aliens. Mum and Dad go out everyday in hope of finding alien life while the kids, Tina and Neil, stay close to their house. When one hungry alien is drawn to the delicious sugar of marshmallows, Tina’s innocent curiosity might be the key to gaining the trust of the aliens.

Made entirely under remote working, this 18 week project was the final year film project by animation students at Escape Studios London. Written by Nickoel Izharudin, our aim with the story was to create something fun, child-oriented, and visually appealing. The film was rendered through Unreal Engine real-time rendering and animated with Maya.

CREW

Directed by: Eilin Berrio Peña
Co-Directed & Produced by: Nickoel Izharudin
Editor: Ross Green
Art Director: Paloma Zhu
Pipeline Supervisor: Edoardo Sartori
Storyboard Supervisor: Tequila Mason
Lead Animator: Callum Wylie
Animators: Eilin Berrio Peña, Daniel Brand-Sinyinza, Simone Costa, Ross Green, Nickoel Izharudin, Mikhail Magnaye, Tequila Mason, Niki Varela, & Paloma Zhu.
Music Composer: Liam Priestnall
Sound Design: Laura Avis

CAST

Malloe: Ross Green
Tina: Natalia Rodriguez
Neil: Daniel  Brand-Sinyinza
Mum: Nickoel Izharudin
Dad: Michael Davies

Character Design

We had 5 original characters that we designed, modelled, textured, and rigged for Unreal Engine. The idea was to have a similar body shape throughout the human characters with coordinating outfits that featured 'space boots'.
For the alien character, we drew inspiration from gorillas, dogs, squirrels, and bears to make a creature that could be both quadrupedal and bipedal. In line with the story, we also were going for an overall cute and friendly shape language, while having isolated features that could be seen as menacing.