The ultimate aim of this project is to create an animated film based on Feedback, the internationally award-winning play by the South African artist and drama teacher, Andrew Buckland.

The project is split into two phases. The first phase, which is documented on this website and was completed in 2003/early 2004), involved the creation of a five minute pilot scene to be used to raise interest and funds for the production of the full 80 minute film. We are currently raising money to begin work on the second phase (drop me a line if you can help :)). We are hoping that this will be South Africa's first full-length computer animated film.

The first phase was completed through a collaboration between animator and project director, Philip Boltt, and the Digital Arts Postgraduate Program at Wits University, headed by Prof. Christo Doherty. The idea was simple: combine a professional animator with six postgraduate students from different backgrounds with no prior experience in animation. The aim: get these students working productively in studio-style production environment within the year..

We attempted to replicate, in miniature, the entire process of making an animated film. During the first half of the year we held a weekly production meeting during which we discussed the pre-production elements of the project such as screenplay adaptation from the original play, design of the characters and environment, and storyboard visualisation from the screenplay. The remainder of the time was dedicated to getting the students up to speed in Maya, the 3D animation package that we are using on the project. This basic tuition was supplied by Mike and Greg of Depth Animation. Thanks, guys!

We began production on the pilot in mid-July. The students began spending three full days a week on the project, using it as a focus to refine their newly-learnt Maya skills. Their spirits were lifted when Andrew Buckland and Lionel Newton put on a gala performance of the show in August to raise funds for additional software. Once they'd seen the masters at work there was no holding them back. Progress was initially slow, but picked up tremendously towards the end of the course. The majority of the animation and rendering was done in a two month period. A cracking 80 shots in 60 days!

The project, which recieved the majority of its funding from the South African National Film and Video Foundation, has both educational and commercial aspects. The commercial aspect is the creation of the film, while the educational aspect is the online documentation of the process of making the film. Our aim is to pioneer a method for making an animated film that is feasible for the South African environment (with it's tight budgets and limited experience), and to create an invaluable learning tool where production-proven methods can be accessed by any aspiring animator. This is why we've made this website just for you! I hope there's something that perks your interest or helps you have a better understanding of the computer animation production pipeline.