"Mother" by Corvibus

The goal of our project was to create a film that would push the boundaries of the genres most often associated with animation. Using inspiration from various stop motion films that lean into the eerie and uncanny, our stylistic goal was to bring horror and suspense into an animated short film, without any realism or disturbing imagery.

The following pieces are examples of visual development and pre-production work created for this project, completed by various members of the team.

Ben

Ben was established as a character quite early on, as we knew from early stages that we wanted the story to center around a young character. Ben's exaggerated proportions, wide eyes, and oversized clothes are meant to signify his naive, anxious nature. As the protagonist of the film, Ben is designed to be relatable and sweet, while still displaying uncanny features to ensure he fits the style of the world around him.

The Monster

The concept behind the creatures origins and intentions fluctuated with the story, which was workshopped extensively throughout the pre-production process. Ultimately, the design of the monster was grounded in the desire to create something uncanny, eerie, and humanoid. The extended limbs, slow gait, and distorted face aimed to immediately give off an uncomfortable presence when the monster was on screen.

Environments

While the characters of the film were animated in 2D, the entirety of the environment was completed in Maya as CG assets. A major part of pre-production was ensuring that the art style of the film blended the two mediums seamlessly, leading to the environment models being hand-textured in order to unify the look between the 2D characters and 3D environment models.

Story

Our team formed around a common interest in creating a horror themed short film - although the story itself took many iterations to get right. Ultimately, the goal of our project was to create a film that had tension and suspense, without touching on heavy topics or attempting any specific metaphors. The story of the film, while established by the team to be able to create a cohesive project, is meant to have ambiguity to allow for personal interpretation.

"Mother" is created by Corvibus: a junior/senior student film team from DigiPen Institute of Technology

Team Corvibus is:
Kaleb Leino - Art Director, Story Lead, Concept Lead, Animation
Naomi Ebata - Producer, Environment Modeling & Texturing, Compositing & VFX
Molly Veesart - Environment Lead, Animation, Environment Modeling & Texturing
James Anderson - Camera Layouts, Environment Modeling & Texturing, Lighting, Colour Script
Magan Kim - Animation
Elizabeth Rei Pulanco - Animation
Ryan Austria - Compositing & VFX
Colin Kolb - Audio & Sound Design
Bailey Bame - Early Production Assistance & Development