Meet "Street Ratz"

"Street Ratz" is a teaser/trailer written directed by Austin Hill, a graduate student at Escape Studios studying for his MA in Storyboarding & Previsualisation.  The film was a collaboration between storyboard MA students, undergraduate students in the final fourth year of our BA/MArt in the Art of Computer Animation, undergraduate animators in their second year of studies, and the Pearson College Business School.  The project, which involved by far the most ambitious cross-discipline collaboration we have attempted so far, was produced by Jack Wright and overseen by animation tutor Amedeo Beretta and Storyboard tutor Iliana Franklin.

"Street Ratz"
"Street Ratz" is a teaser/trailer set in a dystopian urban universe, following the adventures of a young girl "Tal", who, accompanied by her robot friend, must escape the underworld to find her mother on the top level of a city. "Zhu", the gangland mafioso, will do anything to stop her.

Director Austin Hill
"Street Ratz" was written and directed by Austin Hill, a student at Escape Studios studying on our MA in Storyboarding & Previsualisation. The storyboard animatic was pitched to our 4th year animation students studying for their MArt in Computer Animation, as a possible collaborative project.

Covid-19
The film was completed entirely from home during the Covid Pandemic. Our students collaborated remotely, animated and rendered their shots relying entirely on their own home resources.

Software
"Street Ratz" was storyboarded with Storyboarder, animated in Maya, textured in Substance Painter, rendered in Unreal Engine, and edited in Premiere.

Storyboard animatic

"Street Ratz" softwareStoryboard animatic

The project was originally pitched at Escape Studios as a storyboard animatic, and was picked up by our undergraduate students in the final fourth year of our BA/MArt in the Art of Computer Animation.

Additional resources were brought in from a number of our undergraduate animation students, in their second year of studies, who helped get some of the complex action shots over the line. So the film ended up being a collaboration between multiple departments - just like in industry.

Animatic
A storyboard animatic is the best way to test the strength of an animation idea, and make sure the story is working. To see how to an animatic is put together, read this blog post.



Modeling and rigging
The team created original models and rigs for all the characters. The modeling process was begun in Z Brush, with the final models being made in Maya, and rigged in Maya. They also modeled and rigged the various drones that inhabit the city.

"Zhu" from "Street Ratz"

Credits

• Austin Hill - Writer, Director, Cinematography, Art Direction and Editor
• Jack Wright - Producer
• Paulette Vassell - Music 
• Leroy Dias - Concept Art
• Molly Babington - Concept Art
• Eleni Fouya - Concept Art, Texture Art, Animation
• Piotr Noworyta - Lead Animator, Previsualisation, Pipeline Development, Lead Rigging TD
• Tendai Mande - Modelling, 3D Layout
• Shannon Martin - 3D Layout, Lead Modeller and Texture Artist
• Alex Budulan - 3D Layout, FX TD
• Paloma Zhu - Animation, Rigging
• Callum Wylie - Animation
• Nickoel Izharudin - Animation
• Jessica Hiles - Animation
• Eilin Berrio Pena - Animation, Rigging
• Emily Lim Sarrias - Animation, Rigging
• Samira Bello - Lead Look Dev TD

"Zhu"

Street Ratz in Film Festivals
Street Ratz has already been selected for three festivals:

• Kosice International Monthly Film Festival, June 29th
• Prague International Monthly Film Festival
• First-Time Film-Maker at Pinewood Studios, June 21st

Street Ratz at IMDB
You can find Street Ratz here at the IMDB.

The Escape Studios Animation Blog offers a personal view on the art of animation and visual effects. To apply for our BA/MArt in 3D Animation, follow this link.  To apply for our storyboarding evening class, visit this page here.  For the next 12 week animation course, click here.