The Hut: Thesis Film

The Ask:

The Hut is my thesis film created for my MFA in Computer Arts Program. Made in my final year of the MFA program, The Hut is about an 11 year old girl who is trying to save her brother from a magical hut. I pulled inspiration from Baba Yaga folklore and Deadvlei dead forest in Africa.

By doing the preproduction, texturing, animating, editing, most of the modeling, was a great learning experience in the different aspects of 3D animation.

Story:

I have loved myths since I was very little and took inspirations from them when writing this story. This story theme is grief.

Design:

For the overall design I wanted to incorporate 2d aesthetics with 3d models. Using Substance Painter and Photoshop to draw and paint all the textures.

For the main character's appearance, I wanted to avoid falling it to the usually gender stereotypes that are common in animation. When designing, I was thinking about what an 11 year old girl might dress if the rules about gender that are in the U.S. culture were not a thing.