March of the Potguins

by abazley, adikahvfx , luciek, lucyharris, mariangiusca, stuladhar, and voddenvfx on 20 Apr 2020 for Rookie Awards 2020

Two penguin salt and pepper pots must overcome many hazards to find safety in the far reaches of the kitchen. A short film made by third year undergraduate students from Escape Studios.

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March of the Potguins

by voddenvfx

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Two penguin salt and pepper pots must overcome many hazards to find safety in the far reaches of the kitchen.

March of the Potguins is a short film made by a team of third-year undergraduate students at Escape Studios in London. We made the entire film, from concept to final, in twelve weeks as a collaboration between the animation, 3D VFX, and 2D VFX departments.

We shot all of the plates on-location in a kitchen in North London.

On-set with our Director of Photography, Clement Gharini.

Lucy Harris, our animation lead, drew the concept art for the potguins. These designs (at the right-hand ends) were used to guide the 3D team's art style.

These are the final models and textures that were put together by two of our 3D artists: Mariam Hussein and Sandeep Tuladhar.

Adikah Patterson, our 3D lead, recreated the lighting of each shot in Maya using our neutral-graded HDRI and additional lights.

Lucie Krausova, one of the animators, rigged the potguins. The flippers were rigged to have both an IK/FK switch. The legs were locked into IK for simplicity.

A combination of British weather and some deliberate lighting made the film look very cold to replicate an Antarctic environment. However, in the grade, we neautralised the temperature to aid the narrative and add to the charm of the film.