Still from the animated film “Lumin”

An advanced animation class at CCAD has just completed a project that is now being entered in national festivals. The Advanced Time-Based Projects class, taught by Associate Professor Tom Richner, created an animated short named Lumin.

Lumin tells the story of a young boy and his escape from dozens of monsters who pursue him for one thing, his light.

The 17 students in the class spent four months creating the film from start to finish, working on all aspects from script writing and sound development to animation and final editing.

“We [the Animation faculty] have been talking about working on complete films during the course of a class,” Richner said. “When we saw the talent that was in this past fall’s class we knew we had to make a film with this group.”

The class included Animation seniors Christopher Campbell, Tyler Crowley, David King, Arianni Kurniawati, Laura Maue, Bekah Nunn, Jonathan Pezzatta, and David T. Reed; Animation junior Kelly Cumpson; Cinematic Arts seniors Alan Becker, Patrick Kain, Lauren Thornberry, and Mariah Ward; Cinematic Arts juniors Grace Kim and Aaron Zawisa; and recent Animation graduate Victor Dearing (CCAD 2012) and Cinematic Arts graduate Alex Trimpe (CCAD 2012).

“I was really impressed about how all the students handled the whole semester,” Richner said. “There was never a point where we got behind schedule. They all bought into the project and took ownership and worked very hard.”

“A lot of these students have aspirations to go work in studios, big and small, and the nature of animated films is that you need a lot of bodies to get these projects done. Working in a studio environment means that they are going to be collaborating with people, so I think giving them that chance to do it here gives them the opportunity to fine tune those skills they’ll need in the real world.”

The class had to make some decisions in order to finish the project on time, such as creating it in black and white instead of color and keeping the length of the video managable.

“Even though we did do some things on the design end to make it easier, we didn’t cut any corners in terms of the story we wanted to tell; we did what we set out to do,” Richner said.

Character line-up from the animated film “Lumin”

To complete the project, the class used Toon Boom, animation software package.

“It is a great thing for students to be exposed to this software in school since a lot of studios are currently using it,” Richner said. “We’ve had it in our classrooms here CCAD for more than 10 years now, and we were some of the early adopters of it.”

Alumni have said that their experience with Toon Boom in CCAD classrooms was beneficial as they began their careers.

“We have heard from animation alumni who have been able to stand above their peers when they can express to directors that they know how to use the software,” Richner said.

The class’ work isn’t done yet. They have submitted the film to more than 30 festivals internationally and nationally and have already been accepted into festivals including  Chile Monos, Leeds Young Film Festival, Ohio Shorts, taafi Official Selection, and Sff International Film Festival.

The spring Advanced Time-Based Projects class has a new group of students; they’re developing an animated film called Aria, which they plan on entering into festivals and contests as well.

Lumin will be shown during CCAD’s animation screenings at the opening reception of the 134th Annual Student Exhibition on May 10.

Becker is from Dublin, OH, and graduated from Dublin Scioto High School; Campbell is from Worthington, OH; Crowley is from Milford, NH, and attended Milford High School; Cumpson is from Chesterland, OH, and attended West Geauga High School; Dearing is from Westerville, OH, and attended Saint Francis De Sales High School; Kain is from Kettering, OH, and attended Kettering Fairmont High School; Kim is from Surrey, British Columbia, Canada, and attended North Surrey Senior Secondary School; King is from Hamilton, OH, and graduated from Ross Senior High School; Kurniawati is from Salatiga, Indonesia, and graduated from Loyola Catholic Secondary School; Maue is from Bellbrook, OH, and attended Bellbrook High School; Nunn is from Wilmington, OH, and graduated from Wilmington High School; Pezzatta is from Columbus, OH, and graduated from Fort Hayes Metro Education Center; Reed is from Ashland, OH, and attended Ashland High School; Trimpe is from Cincinnati, and attended Elder High School; Thornberry is from Cambridge, OH, and attended Cambridge High School; Ward is from Cincinnati, and attended the School for Creative & Performing Arts; and Zawisa is from Columbus, OH, and attended Grandview Heights High School.

Update on April 25:  Lumin won a Telly Award in the “use of animation” category.

Final image in Nationwide video, painted by Alan Becker

Twenty-five students in CCAD’s Pipeline Project recently created a video for Nationwide to display in the lobby of their downtown Columbus corporate offices.

The Pipeline Project, now in its sixth year, is an extra curricular program at CCAD that provides students a chance to produce a film in a collaborative, team-oriented manner that mirrors professional practice.

The project was led by Assistant Professor Thomas Richner, who met with executives from Nationwide throughout the process and presented the final 30-second video.

The final video focused on the history of Nationwide. It featured a white eagle flying over different Ohio landscapes and a chronological succession of buildings bearing Nationwide’s logos.

“The Pipeline Project allows students to work with real-world factors such as deadlines, meetings, and client requests,” Richner said.

Mardi Girard, a senior in Animation, has participated in the Pipeline Project twice.

“This project was not only a resume builder, but it also taught me how to work with other animators when trying to make a cohesive animation,” Girard said.

Animation senior Bekah Nunn was excited to work in a large group.

“It modeled what we will be doing when we leave school,” she said. “I was able to network with other students and get more experience in completing a team project start to finish.”

Other students who worked on this year’s project include Animation sophomore Kelly Cumpson; Animation juniors Joann Cundiff, Jonathan Pezzatta, Donald Yoakam, Chris Campbell, and Tyler Crowley; Animation seniors Brittney Kellogg, Victor Dearing, Shannon Beech, and DeJuan McCoy; Media Studies juniors Alan Becker and Manuel Austin; and Media Studies senior Jessica Miera.