DIGIPENDENCE - declare yours!

Thanks to Phil Rice for pointing me towards this film.

Animator David T. Krupicz is the rarest of the rare, a one-man film studio.

He writes, he produces, he directs, does all his own graphics & artwork as well as all his own sound design and effects. Previously he created the four-part Rocketmen vs. Robots series.

With that exacting experience under his belt, David decided to create a feature-length film. Over the last 3 years, he held down a full-time job at a call center and came home every night and used second-hand computers and obsolete production software to produce a visually-stunning 3D movie.

Completely original, and 66 minutes in length, it’s called Archon Defender; here’s the detailed production blog.

Archon Defender follows the path of a young woman, Colette, as she seeks her way through adversity to redemption, as the world she once knew is torn apart by war and tyranny. The Empress Lucia has risen to power in Echelon, and is systematically persecuting the Shard Sensitive, and all who oppose her power.

Orphaned while fleeing from Lucia’s Regime, Colette seeks refuge in the nation of Archon. Having Awakened to the Shard, her abilities become fully manifest under the guidance of the Archon Council. Joining the Archon Defense Wing, she must confront her own feelings of isolation and despair, to stand against Lucia.

Archon Defender 2009 Trailer

Originally, he was going to create Archon Defender in 2D and did the first shots in July of 2006, but he realized that 3D was the way to go, and did the first 3D shots in October of 2006. The final shot was finished March 28, 2009.

In April, he began the voiceovers and sound effects editing and design. At the end of July, he began to work on both DVD authoring and film festival submissions.

Archon Defender was just awarded first place in Animation Category at the SkyFest Film and Script Festival in Asheville NC, and will have its World Premiere theatrical debut on October 7, 2009 at Toronto’s famed Revue Cinema.

First shot:

Last shot:

According to David:

The only way to actually finish a project like this is to hold an image of the final project in your mind. It forces you to learn new skills and improve your abilities as you go along. The only difference between a feature and a short is simply the number of shots that need to be done. Making a feature forces you to learn how to streamline your workflow, forces you to improve your skills. I managed to get the film done in 3 years in my ’spare time’ averaging about 4 seconds of new shots per day.

David’s solo work on this project included, but was not limited to: Director, Script Writer, Storyboard Artist, Concept Artist, Set Designer, Character Designer, Costume Designer, 3D Modeler, 3D Rigging, Texturing, Lighting, Art Director, Animator, Renderer, Compositor, Effects Artist, Editor, Musician, Sound Effects, DVD layout, Website Designer and Promotion

Archon Defender 2008 Trailer

David is very supportive other other independent filmmakers and people to go ahead and make their own feature:

Making a animated film is easy. All you have to do is write the script, storyboard it, create the concept art, design the characters and environments, build the 3d sets, props, models, characters, texture and light, rig the models, animate, lip sync, render, comp, fx, edit, sync audio, music, final comp, and done! The only difference between a short and a feature is the number of shots you have to do.

Okay, that’s a bit tongue-in-cheek, BUT, it’s a good explanation of what needs to be done. And on his blog, he explains his workflow and process which is a helpful guide. And he also shares some of his tools and methods.

One thing that this director is really clear about is copyright and trademark issues, something he learned about when making his Rocketmen vs. Robots series. While the story was original, he didn’t own the rights to the Lego style minifig characters he used. He thinks that it’s important for filmmakers to tell their own stories and explains why in some detail, including:

Why make half a film, that you don’t own the rights to and beg all over your website to not be sued because you’re not doing it for money etc… Go the whole way, come up with something original, and if it’s epic enough it just might take off. The independent filmmaker revolution can’t overtake the money studios if we keep riding on their coattails.

Screenshots

In 2005, Shane Ackerman took gold in the Student Academy Awards for his short, 9. The film also took best in show at SIGGRAPH, first prizes at Animex for 3D character animation, as well as Best Animated Short at the Florida Film Festival and Newport Beach Film Festival, along with a number of other prizes. Working on and off for four-and-a-half years and with the help of five other animators and three other lighters, Shane used Maya 1.5–5.5, Photoshop for the textures, After Effects for compositing, and Premiere for editing. That short has now became a feature produced by Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov. It stars Elijah Wood, John C. Reilly, Jennifer Connelly, Crispin Glover, Martin Landau, and Christopher Plummer. Read Sam Chen’s interview with Shane Acker on AnimationTrip.com. Here is Shane’s original short:

Another day at an Israeli checkpoint near a Palestinian village, everything looks ordinary - until a Palestinian man arrives at the checkpoint.