On the Way to the Mantis

Mostly Final Cut

2006-05-23T15:51:00.000-07:00

Here it is! The mostly finished cut of our thesis! Some minor changes will include and original score, a better end title sequence, final sound mix, and animation touchups on a couple shots, but for the most part it's done! Here is our past year's worth of work, for your enjoyment:

Way of the Mantis - spring cut on Vimeo

render testing

2006-05-17T22:28:00.000-07:00

It's coming to the end of the quarter, and in two days our thesis will be turned in to be screened and it will all be over...for a few weeks until we come back to it to make some fixes. So while i wait for another shot to render, here's a render test of the environment in its nearly final state (minus some texture and noise overlays).

Winter Screening!

2006-02-26T00:21:00.000-08:00

So we've thrown together a rough cut of the film for RIT's winter screenings, and I thought I'd toss it up online for all of you who didn't see it the other day, or wanted to leave some feedback about what you see. Jed and I have received some great comments, and have a lot of things we'll be massaging into place before our final screening in the spring. So if you think it was worth your time to watch, or have some suggestions of your own, go ahead and let us know!

Way of the Mantis (winter rough cut)
(video requires most recent version of Quicktime 7)

Macquettes

2005-11-06T13:39:00.000-08:00

And here are macquettes of the master and student characters:

Story Reel

2005-11-06T12:14:00.000-08:00

So, I guess the first thing we'll post is a rough cut of our story reel. The music track is not final, and the timing and some of the boards are very rough, but it should give an idea of what we're going for.

In the beginning...

2005-11-03T19:59:00.000-08:00

So. This blog is going to be where Joe Daniels and I, Jedidiah Mitchell, post progress on our thesis animation project here at the Rochester Institute of Technology Film/Animation school. It's the story of a monk, a master, and a mantis, set in a Chinese medieval mountain monastery (what a lot of Ms!). We'll have some concept art, storyboards/storyreels, production stills, render tests, and most fun of all, probably some short bits of animation to see. And come May of 2006, a finished film (or so we'd hope). Enjoy!