Nostalgia

This is a short animation I made as my senior thesis for college which I finished a few months ago. I try to incorporate something relatable in all of my projects, but wanted this to be more personal to my life. So, I decided to share a slice of my memories with the world. Although not everyone can relate to the culture or specific objects I'm depicting, everyone does know what it feels like to be Nostalgic. I hope this animation helps people remember their inner child a bit more.

When we are kids, we see things through all types of silly lenses which is why I chose to create a stylized environment. The short takes place in a CG version of my mom's house. There are no characters, just objects to tell the story. Hope you enjoy!

Final Animation:

CG: Haritha Uppalapati https://www.linkedin.com/in/haritha-upp/

Sound Design: Daniel Vidal https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-vidal-1482b6172/

Special thanks to Joe Pasquale (Professor at Savannah College of Art and Design)

Breakdown:

Shot Breakdowns:

This is the opening shot to set the magical mood for the animation. Lighting was a challenge throughout the entire film. I put a lot of effort into every shot, but especially this one, pushing the colors to look like a storybook.

This shot depicts a prayer shelf that my mom always kept in every house we moved too.

I wanted to include many important objects from my childhood in the environment. This Baby Krishna statue always seemed like a friend to me as a kid. Everyone around me was so much older, even the gods. But this one seemed to understand what it was like to be a kid.

There were a lot of assets in the closet, and I placed them meticulously to create a crowded and lived in feel while still being able to see the important things clearly.

This shot depicts a voice recorder I used to practice traditional Indian singing when I was young.

These are the dance anklets I would wear for dance recitals and performances. And below is an example of one of the many dance outfits I would wear as well.

I used Substance Designer and SVGs to make a gold border pattern for the Indian dance dress. A gradient was used in Substance Painter to create an iridescent feel to the dress as well.

This project was a great chance to use Marvelous Designer to create the pieces of the dress which I then simulated to fall naturally onto clothing hangers in Maya using nCloth.