Escape Studios "60-90 Second Challenge"

60-90 Second Challenge

Here at Escape Studios we're announcing "The 60-90 Second Challenge" for all our students. The Challenge is aimed at all our students who are interested in pitching ideas and telling stories. 

Why 60-90 Seconds? Because that is the optimum length for the short films made at Escape Studios. It may not sound like a lot of time to tell a story, but many of our most successful film projects, such as Jerich0, Seeker and Quarantine Chorus have been under two minutes long.

60-90 Seconds is the perfect length for our short stories because it allows our animators to focus on quality over quantity. 

Pitches

Quarantine Chorus - 60 Seconds

At Escape Studios we make sure that our students make lots of short films, working together in small teams to tight deadlines.  

To ensure that all our students master the art and craft of film-making, it makes sense to make a number of short shorts, rather than a few long ones.  

For this reason our priority is to keep our films as short as possible. 

60-90 Second Challenge

Animal Lover - 60 Seconds

The 60-90 Second Challenge is a part of this process.  Any student at Escape Studios can pitch ideas, ideally in the form of a Storyboard Animatic, in which the main story beats (beginning, middle, end) have already been figured out. 

Now Pitch It!

Once the animatic is complete, the project can be pitched to our animation students and then turned into a short film.

To see some tips on how to pitch your project successfully, read this blog post.

Student Films 60-90 Seconds Long

Jerich0 - 90 seconds long

To see some examples of award-winning student films 60-90 seconds in length, take a look at the examples below:

• Jerich0 (90 Seconds)
• Quarantine Chorus (60 Seconds)
• The Crash (60 Seconds)
• Seeker (90 Seconds)
• Animal Lover (60 Seconds)
• Russell (90 Seconds)
• Vivi Ossa (60 Seconds)

How to Participate

To take part in the 60-90 Second Challenge, send your animatic to me at alex.williams1@pearson.com. To find out what exactly should go into an animatic, read this blog post. 

Film-Making Resources

To find more resources about film-making, and how we make films at Escape Studios, follow the links below:

Development & Pre-Production

• How to Write a Story
• How to make a short animated film
• How to pitch your film idea
• Why Animators Need to be Art Directors
• Why Animators Need Mood Boards
• Why Animators Need Colour Scripts
• Managing Group Projects
• Why Animators Need a Storyboard Animatic
• How to Record Voice-Overs
• Sound Design for Animators

Production

• Why Animators Must Wreck Their Rigs
• What an Animation Editor Does, Exactly
• Ten Rules of Animation Dailies
• Why Animators Must Check Their Hookups
• What are CBBs? (Could be Better)
• Using Lighting to Tell the Story

Post-Production

• How Animators Work with Composers
• Royalty-free music at Bensound
• Colour Grading your film
• Thanks and Special Thanks - Getting Film Credits Right
• How to Create the Perfect One-Sheet Movie Poster (and Why You Need One)
• Getting Yourself (and your film) Listed at IMDB
• Art of The Title

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.