The story was originally going to be much darker. The woman had an axe, she used heads for fertilizer, the reek latched onto headless corpses and used them for evil. The Monk and his botanical friends had no sense of purpose and their lives were nothing but agony... Well, that hasn't changed, but other changes were necessary for the story to fit into a small timeframe. After all, I only had one year to produce it - and half of that year was dedicated to conceptualization. 

The purpose of this project wasn't to be dramatic or thrilling. I simply wanted to bring viewers into a different world where the problems we face every day don't exist. It's refreshing, to travel to worlds like these. So my intention was to create one. 

With only one semester to animate an entire short film, I had to act fast. I used Animate for the linework and exported that to Photoshop to be colored. I learned a lot about character actions and also how to prepare files to pass off to other people. I was greatly relieved at not having to color the entire thing which surely would have been bad for my health.

And I got someone else to illustrate my backgrounds, which I am eternally grateful for. 

All the compositing was done in After Effects. I learned that Adobe programs can communicate with each other in ways like preserving layers. This helped me build a half 3D world with the 2D images I was given. The effects were astounding!

This project goes down as the largest production I've ever directed. The list of credits is long (as in there are more names than solely my own) and it makes me happy to know that so many talented people sacrificed their time to support my work. I love this film and I want it to be a testament to what students are capable of producing while attending college. 

Collaboration is what helped this film get made. Although I did all the animation, I didn't do the coloring, backgrounds, music, and some voice acting. I want more students to realize that they don't have to do everything on their own and that asking for help leads to great things.

This film holds a big place in my heart. I learned so much about the world of animation and the entire process was a huge blast that helped me rise as an animator and director.