The Last Dungeon is a short action fantasy animation featuring three adventurers exploring an abandoned temple and quickly discovering it has been corrupted by a powerful necromancer, the “Lich King”. The three heroes must fight back against an onslaught of the undead in order to survive The Last Dungeon.
As with all of Scad Animation Studios' projects, we faced unique challenges while bringing The Last Dungeon to life. Our goal was to construct the film in Epic's Unreal Engine, which required us to create a streamlined process for working with the software from the beginning to the end while taking advantage of all of its capabilities. Furthermore, we had to deal with the intricacies of animating and simulating sizable crowds, all while collaborating with more than 100 gifted students.
Our production team relied on two essential tools to keep everything running smoothly: Google Sheets and Shotgrid.
Google Sheets was our go-to for scheduling, tracking shot completion, and organizing contact information. Maintaining our spreadsheets was crucial for staying on top of everything that needed to be done.
Shotgrid was an absolute lifesaver for managing assets, uploading dailies, and keeping everyone up-to-date on the latest notes and versions.
When I first became involved with the project, I started as a PA but eventually worked my way up to Co-Producer. My primary duties included taking notes for the modeling and texturing team, as well as keeping Shotgrid assets up to date and properly maintained.
In the beginning, I had limited knowledge regarding the technical aspects of 3D animation, so I was excited to delve into this new side of animation production.
Throughout development, my role evolved from a PA to a co-producer. It was an exciting transition as I had the opportunity to work closely with the entire team, including the director and executive producer.
As a co-producer, my main responsibilities shifted towards communication and coordination, which played to my strengths as I am a great communicator. I am particularly adept at listening and problem-solving, and I take pride in keeping team morale high. By the end of the project, I found myself relying heavily on Slack as it became my go-to app for communicating with the team. It was an incredibly satisfying experience to be able to contribute to the project in such a significant way through my communication skills.
It was my responsibility to establish our presence on FilmFreeway and identify suitable festivals to submit our work. This involved careful research and consideration of our film's unique qualities and strengths.
Additionally, I played a crucial role in preparing and delivering a captivating hour-long showcase that offered a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the creation of our film. This showcase was well-received and was presented to a large audience of over 200 people before the premiere.
A stage of production I learned to appreciate on this project as a producer was towards the end, specifically during the rendering phase and the refinement of the visual effects. This was an exciting part of the production as it involved a combination of my favorite aspects of producing.
The project was in a constant state of flux and evolution, requiring diligent tracking and updating of new developments. As the pace of the project accelerated, I found myself providing continuous communication and invaluable assistance. While not traditionally trained in visual effects and compositing, I was thrilled I got the opportunity to work closely with some of the most talented and skilled visual effects artists, finding their work to be truly inspiring. As someone who loves every step of the production process, I thoroughly enjoyed this stage of the project.
