FJORG 2008 Entry: "Loveless End"

Well I survived the grueling Iron Animation competition FJORG! It was one of the best experiences I've ever had. I was on one of 16 teams who had 32 hours to complete a 15-45 second character animation about a common theme. This years theme was "The saddest story ever told". I was on Studio TeAM (AM for animation mentor) along with JJ Pastore and Chris Schloemp who are fellow AM students.

We decided to tell the story of a relationship that was never worked on and allowed distractions to come between them which in the end resulted in no love at all. The three of us are married and we thought that would be the saddest story. While we are very proud of our film, in hindsight we realize that we didn't focus on which way we wanted to go with this one (funny or sad) and therefore have a bit of a mushy blend. But given the scenario and the fact that every hour there were new distractions from Disney animators giving talks to Shaolin Monks giving martial arts demonstration. Oh and then there was the techno music until 3am. I got a total of 30 minutes sleep on this, so I'm amazed we turned anything in!

Unfortunately we didn't place in the top five but thats ok as there were a LOT of great submissions. The competition was extremely tough this year. Either way it was an honor to be a part of the competition. I had direct feedback on my work from animators that work at Disney, Dreamworks (Shrek Co-Director!), Pixar (Andrew Gordon!), Imageworks, Rhythm & Hues, etc.

Here is a documentary they shot during the competition! This gives you a great idea of what the event was like and how much pressure we were under!: