“Piccolo’s Encore” by SGI
Conference:
SIGGRAPH Video Review:
Track:
- 08
Title:
- Piccolo's Encore
Director(s):
Company / Institution / Agency:
- SGI
Description:
Piccolo’s Encore is an improvisational short film about a precocious little character named Piccolo, who belongs to the cybergourdus genus of the hybrid animal-plant kingdom. He can produce distinctive musical voices by striking himself in various places, and this is how he communicates thoughts and emotions to other cybergourds.
When he gets hooked on a fantasy (becoming a big-time enter-tainer), Piccolo awakes to the intoxicating rhythms of a Latin acid-jazz groove. As he gyrates into a trance, he finds himself in a compromising position and must find a creative way to escape.
This animation began humbly, as a character study and motion-test for a longer story involving several characters, but it quickly became a tale of its own. The “straight-ahead” animation approach encouraged a more spontaneous and serendipitous performance from the character. The result was improvisation inspired by the soundtrack.
Hardware:
SGI O2 & MaxImpact Workstations
Software:
Alias|Wavefront Maya v1.5
Additional Contributors:
Director, Producer, and Animator: Sam Chen
