“Values” by University of Southern California

  • ©Van Phan


Conference:


SIGGRAPH Video Review:


Track:


    24

Title:


    Values

Length:


    4:32

Director(s):


Company / Institution / Agency:


  • University of Southern California

Description:


    This animated film was inspired by the filmmaker’s relationship with his late father. In a minimalist manner, using primitive shapes such as spheres, planes and cylinders, the filmmaker tells a story about parent-child relationships. By simplifying the character design and locking the camera to primarily a master shot, the film­maker tells his story mainly through the acting and lighting. Because the elements are kept to the minimum, viewers can project more of their own experiences into the story. Less can sometimes be more.

    Produced at the USC Cinema-Television School Division of Animation and Digital Arts, this thesis film was inspired by the filmmaker’s relationship with his late father. In a minimalist man­ner, using primitive shapes made out of spheres, planes, and cylinders, “Values” tells a story about family relationships. Story elements are kept to a minimum. Characters are reduced to faceless icions. The camera is locked to primarily a master shot. And audio is limited to music only. It was hoped that this simple approach would draw the audience closer into the story. Less can sometimes be more.

    The film was animated and modeled using Maya. Each frame was rendered using the Maya renderer at Dl resolution and resized to 2k for film exposure. Everything was textured procedurally within Maya. AliaslWavefront Composer was used for compositing and editing. A Dell Intel Pentium III computer was used for rendering.

    Student Work: University of Southern California

Hardware:


    Dell Intel Pentium III

Software:


    Maya. Alias|Wavefront Composer


Additional Contributors:


    Director, Producer, and Animator: VAN PHAN, Cinema-Television School University of Southern California

    Composer: MICHAEL SEAN COLIN

    Production Manager: MAR ELEPANO

    Special Thanks: MY FAMILY AND FRIENDS, KHANH PHAN, ALIAS|WAVEFRONT, NOEL GOIN, MAI DOAN, EASTMAN KODAK, KATHY SMITH, MITCH COCKERHAM, INTEL, ADRIAN ILER, LORETTE BAYLE, SPI, ISHU PATEL, BARRY WEISS, TOM SITO, CHRISTINE PANUSHKA, BRETT RUTLAND, LAN PHAN, VIBEKE SORENSEN, SGI, ERIC ARMSTRONG, KAREN KNIGHT, RICHARD WEINBERG, HENRY ANDERSON, SERGIO RAMIREZ, ERIC FURIE, PAULINE TS’O

    Dedicated to Nguyen Phan

Animation / Video Overview:


Type: