Shania Zhou: "Rock" Short Film Process

"Rock" is a 3D animated short film by me and my thesis partner Julia Edwards. This work was directed and produced during our senior year at Ringling College of Art and Design. In this film, a rock is zapped to life by an evil witch’s wand and is terrified of her newfound sentience. A chill frog helps her experience the joy of friendship and learn to appreciate life.

This is the full "Rock" short film. Through this entry, I will cover all aspects of the film that I was responsible for.

Below is all the work that I contributed to the short film "Rock". From visual development to animating to compositing, I really enjoyed exploring all parts of the pipeline during this project.

Developing the main characters Rock and Frog was a fun challenge. It was important that they were simple, round, and fun to pose.

I was responsible for developing the forest, underwater, and pond locations. The forest was one of the biggest challenges because of its sheer size. In order for the magic blast to travel through its path, a lot of effort was put into staging the forest efficiently and aesthetically.

The underwater scene was only a few seconds long, but required a lot of different elements. From rigging and animating the bubbles and seaweed, to creating water caustics in Maya, this shot offered some interesting challenges.

The pond environment was a fun set to model and texture. The lily pads and water lilies specifically were enjoyable to hand paint. Animating the water texture was interesting to experiment with, as it took quite a bit of trial and error.

The high scene went through many changes over the past year. It was important to make it funny, terrifying, and flow with the rest of the story. I animated this scene using a combination of Maya, Nuke, and After Effects.

Co-directing and producing "Rock" has been an incredible learning experience, and has helped me grow immensely as a 3D artist. Thank you for taking a look at my entry and I hope you enjoyed our film!