2020
Hybrid 2d and 3d Animation, Completed in May 2020.
Directed by Justin Lee Produced by Justin Lee, Aerik Bertulfo, David Diba
Faculty Advisor: Raquel Coelho
BFA team: Justin Lee, Aerik Bertulfo, David Diba
The team needed advice on how to handle the 2d animation pipeline production. They also were looking for feedback on their storyboards and were looking for ideas to spice it up the martial art scenes in their film. We paired them with Lighting Artists Youri Dekker and Ryan Eways (both alumni).
After it was completed in May of 2020, “First Born” was screened in several film festivals nationally and internationally, and won several awards.
Testimonials
“Youri Decker and Ryan Eways’ mentorship throughout the production of “First Born” was pivotal to what the film evolved to in the end.
In the beginning, we never really focused on adding fantastical effects to the kung fu sequences. We originally just wanted to showcase the awesome moves that Arthur does. When the two of them pitched the fantasy idea to us, we really took it to heart and explored various ways to bring out Arthur’s mental world into the film.
As pre-production carried on, Youri was able to give insightful feedback on some of our storyboard sequences. Later on, he helped us even further by sharing some of his experience working with sound for his own film “The Blue and Beyond”. That gave us a solid foundation on how we planned to do sound design for our film.
Without Youri and Ryan’s helpful advice and guidance, I don’t think “First Born” would be the same film we have today. We are very thankful that they put in their personal time to help us create our thesis project”
“We had a great experience working with the team on First Born! Justin, Aerik, and David were open to any notes and thoughts that Ryan and I had on their film, but also very professional in the way they set up meetings and interactions with us.This made the whole process of consulting on their film very easy going and enjoyable!”
“Working with Justin, Aerik, David and the First Born crew was a really fun experience! Both Youri and I were impressed with how much great work they put into their initial pitch and story at the start of production. Based on our own short film experience at SJSU, it was exciting that we could share with them the lessons we learned first-hand not only from an artistic viewpoint but from a production/pipeline viewpoint as well. They were always really open to feedback from the beginning and ended up creating an amazing short film!”
A little bit about
Youri Dekker and Ryan Eways
Youri studied character animation and storytelling at San Jose State’s Animation/Illustration program and graduated in 2015. In his final year at school he directed the 2D animated short The Blue & the Beyond. He has worked on various projects at numerous studios, including Sony Playstation, Penrose, and Blue Sky. He is currently working as an Animator at Pixar Animation Studios.
Ryan Eways graduated from San Jose State’s Animation/Illustration program in 2015, studying character animation and character design. He has worked on multiple short films, both animated & live action, including The Blue & The Beyond and The Green Ninja Show series. He is currently working as a Concept Artist & Animator at Funomena.
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