FROSTBITE
THE STORY
With an environment as unforgiving as the precolonial Canadian arctic, Frostbite shines a light on two strong sisters. Una, a young girl who wants to prove to her older sister, Noma, that she’s more capable than she looks, adventures in the woods by herself and gets into more than she can bargain for.
THe TEAM
NICHOLAS CHRISTIE, BRIAN LUONG, Stephanie MAccarthy
DIRECTOR
Lead Animator, Previsualization, Tech Anim, Layout, Rigging, Editor
CHARACTER TD
Character Modeling, Character Look Dev, Character FX, Simulations, Tech Anim, Lighting, Compositing
Environment TD
Environment Modeling, FX, Look Dev, Houdini FX, Lighting, Compositing
Why Frostbite?
In this film, we explore personal growth and relationship issues that transcend geographical and cultural boundaries. Una, a young girl who has had to grow up in the shadow of her older sister, always felt that she was inadequate. Una finds that she had the need to prove herself to her sister, her parents, and most of all to herself that she is more capable than she looks. Frostbite is not just a story about perseverance but about growing up. We want this film to show that these struggles are not unique to Una but are universal. When things are stressful it's okay to ask for help and to admit that you are not ready.
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Character explorations
By Emily Mai
Main Characters
The characters of Frostbite were the product of extensive research, constant reviews/feedback, and learning through multiple iterations. After receiving the character explorations from Emily, getting notes from my friend Nick, and compiling some additional references, I proceeded to Maya and Zbrush to further explore the character’s designs, shape language, and personalities.
Hair and fur
Since our film had a lot of fur and hair on the characters, I wanted to adopt a non-destructive, procedural workflow in order to iterate faster and return to a previous point if needed. The fur would then be simulated and cached out depending on the shots, in order to make files more manageable.
