SCAD Animation Studios ‘Hex Limit’ premieres at AnimationFest
Written by Ali Grutchfield, Images courtesy of SCAD Animation Studios
The Savannah College of Art and Design is constantly spearheading new waves of storytelling. SCAD Animation Studios is a facet of the animation department that produces a new animated project each year. Their newest release and second project, “Hex Limit,” was featured at this year’s SCAD AnimationFest. SCAD’s Chair of Animation, Chris Gallagher, and a few of the most involved students guided viewers through the entire development process of “Hex Limit” from pre-production to distribution.
“Hex Limit” Director Jordan Flemming, a fourth-year animation student, highlighted that “starting this production, we had one goal: to create an action-comedy. In the beginning, Hex Limit wasn’t our original concept.” “Hex Limit” was the final concept, though it did not come easily. After sifting through “wildly different ideas for our film, such as storybook fantasies, samurais, and witches, we eventually branched off the witch concept and developed it into the fantastical race of the century.” While managing a team of over 80 domestic and international SCAD students, Flemming had to coordinate with a multitude of writers and creators to form a story that had the voice of every student. “Hex Limit” Producer Dejanna Price, a fourth-year animation student, attributes their success to “emphasizing the collaboration and friendly bonds in greeting a truly great project,” and how everyone found the motivation and value in “practicing their animation and storytelling skills on something truly worthwhile.”
Once the actual plot was established, Head of Story and recent SCducing students and projects that are shattering glass ceilings aAD graduate, Colors Giraldo, focused on “something very important, which was defining our three racers, since we wanted to make their personalities very clear and the audience could quickly become invested in them.” Because “Hex Limit” was a story without dialogue, the overall production team did not want to be hindered by underdeveloped characters, and thus prioritized their beings from the start. According to Giraldo, “throughout the entire process, we were always thinking of new ways to make it more exciting and really push the limits of what this film could be.” An example of their creative innovation is found within the blending of animation styles. Although the film features entirely three-dimensional characters, it deviates from a traditional animation style by including two-dimensional effects on top.
“Hex Limit” Art Director Julia Kartcheva, a third-year animation student, credits constant communication and collaboration with leading to Hex Limit’s successfully unique visual and environmental appearances. “We built up the world of Hex Limit to blend traditional gothic fantasy elements with more urban cyber-punk ones,” Kartcheva said. “Our biggest goal was to push what we can do style-wise with a three-dimensional film. Drawing inspiration from video games, we discovered that the true key was in developing stylized and painterly textures.” The film features the characters within eight different locations, all of which needed to be created from scratch. Kartcheva said this was predominantly accomplished by “breaking down brushstrokes into graphic shapes” and completing a comprehensive style guide.
“Even though I know all of the easter eggs within Hex Limit, I feel like I could look at this environment forever and continually discover new things in it,” Flemming said. Kartcheva said that she was proud that “within just one year, we were able to develop a visually stunning look to go with the fast-paced and thrilling story of Hex Limit.” These SCAD students are defying the odds of a remote society, and rather than put things on hold for the past year, they created a film that is successful in its appearance as well as its depth of the story. Now the question everyone is asking is, what will they do next?
