With its battery drained and the clock ticking, a toy robot must contend with a colossal threat to recharge.
Charge! is a 3D animated short film that follows a small robot toy, TIN-3, who is low on power.TIN-3 begins to journey toward their charger, but finds themselves assailed by a nightmarish monster, the family dog, Champ.
This film was created over the course of 16 weeks and serves as my capstone project here at the Digital Worlds Institute at the University of Florida.
Original Animatic
This is my first completed animatic for the film. Over the course of the semester, through feedback from my instructor and classmates, I was able to pare down the film and finetune the timing and compositions. This feedback was invaluable to the final version of the film.
Production
The Enzo rig from Long Winter Studios was the perfect candidate for the character of TIN-3, but it needed some adjustments to feel a bit cuter. To accomplish this, I enlarged the size of its head and shortened its limbs. This made the proportions less spindly and made the character feel smaller. I also added a crucial detail: a little hat!
Okay, so not a literal hat, but something within the character's design that approximates a hat! This warning light accomplishes a story purpose, flashing on and off to indicate TIN-3's low battery, and also helped to make the silhouette of the protagonist more friendly. This was created in Cinema4D and then brought into Maya to be attached to TIN-3.
Another object I knew would be especially important was TIN-3's charger. Since this object serves as the ultimate goal for our robot friend, I wanted to make it myself to ensure it stood out. I went with green and yellow, both colors that are associated with energy and tried to make the design as graphic and clear as possible. This was also modeled and textured in Cinema4D.
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