Rebound | Animated Short Film by Zach Grzymala
I’ve always grown up under the staple of hard work, perseverance, and resilience, so why not make a film about it? Rebound has been my obsession the past two years of college, a story I’ve wanted to tell since high school, combining my passion for animation with my love for basketball.
Rebound | Animated Short Film by Zach Grzymala
'Rebound' | Animated Short Film by Zach Grzymala
The Story & The Process
I’ve always grown up under the staple of hard work, perseverance, and resilience, so why not make a film about it? Rebound has been my obsession the past 2 years of college, a story I’ve wanted to tell since high school, combining my passion for animation with my love for basketball. Rebound tells the story of pushing through obstacles and failures, because I believe that the greatest lessons are learned through failure.
Below, my story animatic shows the original storyboards for the film, after going through 13 different variations and rewrites. Although not everything transferred one-to-one from script to screen, a large amount of the vision stuck through until the end.
In addition to the original animatic, I've included my reference reel for the entirety of the film. Featuring all of my takes and acting choices shot for shot. The reel also includes a lot of preliminary layout of the film where many shots were altered, added, or removed.
In addition to both of those, I've also included a time lapse of the majority of my work on this project, covering the modeling of all assets, texturing, animation, and compositing. Please enjoy!
Malcolm Murphy | Character Concept
Murphy was inspired by some of my favorite NBA players, LeBron James, Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, and James Harden. Malcolm Murphy sports a 25 on his jersey being the 'next up and coming star' Jordan wore 23, Kobe wore 24, and Murphy wears 25. If you look closely, you will also notice the Ulla Sponsor logo on his jersey, referencing the Ulla Searing Center on Ringling College campus where Rebound was created. Murphy's team is the Baltimore Badgers, a tribute to my hometown, and a allusion to badgers - the spirit animal of perseverance and resilience.
Coach Winston | Character Concept
Coach Winston is a spoof off of the icon Wilson basketball that modern NBA players use in games. Heavily inspired from the voice talents of Eddie Murphy, Winston is the comic relief of the film. At a closer look, you'll notice Winston is the official game ball of the ABA (Animated Basketball Association). His shoes, which are identical to Murphy's are a reference to the original Jordan 1's and include an off-brand Nuke logo, calling to the program we use at school for compositing. Winston's blue shorts are a direct copy of Murphy's uniform, leaving the question to viewers... is Winston just a part of Murphy's imagination?
The Stadium | Environment Design
I've never modeled something so large scale so this was a bit of a challenge. The Stadium's aesthetic was heavily inspired by vintage 1980's NBA arenas and courts. All of the advertisements placed around the stadium are small Easter Eggs referencing my previous projects. Can you spot them all?
The Locker Room | Environment Design
The Locker Room is a simplified version of old-school NBA locker rooms, however, I exaggerated the locker doors with more of a traditional school-style design. The lockers also features the names of all of my past professors at Ringling College on the nameplates of each door.
The City | Environment Design
This City was by far my lengthiest modeling task, inspired by a 1980's era Brooklyn alleyway. Everything in this set was modeled from scratch, and you'll notice a lot of small details the more you examine each prop. Every model has been skewed or warped in some way to not only exaggerate the stylization of the film, but also to push the motif that nothing and no one is perfect... therefore you must keep trying to succeed.
The Legends
All based on real-life NBA players from the 1980's era, I did plenty of research to maintain the accuracy of these paintings. Preston Bronson inspired by Point Guard for the Los Angeles Lakers, Magic Johnson, who won the NBA Finals in 1980 against the Philadelphia 76ers. In my rendition, the Lagoons beat out the Fivers.
Lenny Crow, inspired by Celtics legend Larry Bird, who won the finals in 1986 against the Houston Rockets, but here I have the Shamrocks besting the Missiles.
Mike Gordon, which should have been the most obvious of the bunch is inspired by the great Michael Jordan all-star champion of the Chicago Bulls. He beat out the Trailblazers in 1992, but in Rebound's world, the Chicago Beasts take down the Portland Blasters.
In each of these paintings I tried to maintain the comic-like style that is consistent throughout the film. I also added some of my classmates and teammates as the background characters surrounding the legends, with a surprise cameo from.... my arm!
1980s Stylized Prop Designs
Each prop and set piece is an original design. I was heavily inspired by films like Entergalactic and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse for these designs. Each model has a unique shape language featuring a lot of skewed lines and imperfections. I did this on purpose to exaggerate the common motif of the film, that nothing/nobody is perfect, including Malcolm Murphy who was once an all-time great, but does the unthinkable and misses the most important shot of his life.
I've also included some sketches of the designs I did on an airplane last summer when I first began to tackle this project. Also through the pages are some other elements that didn't make it into the final film or are featured in other scenes such as Murphy's shoe design.
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