CMU seniors Marta Kalumbala, Mikayla Dixon and Diana Malla created a short animation film for the original screenplay The Sand Ryder Souk Fight.

The story is centered on a bounty hunter named Azare who is the character saving Sarai. The animation is featured in Africa, and it’s a futuristic world. The film is about two and a half minutes long, not including the credits.

Azare the bounty hunter has to find Sarai, while she spends most of her time in the Sahra. Azare is more reserved and described by the team as stoic. Sarai is the women Azare has been charged to find, and she is also described as naive and a bit of a princess. The two go on an adventure together as Azare must save the kidnapped women.

Kalumbala started working on the story about two years ago for another class. They have since expanded on the main character, Azare’s storyline. This year, the team worked together to create the animation from characters and a setting that Kalumbula had already created.

Kalumbula started to recruit Malla and then eventually Dixon joined the team. All three students are animation majors.

“We’ve been classmates throughout all our animation courses. Last spring me and Diana worked on a PSA and that was when I knew I had to work with Diana again, so I recruited her to help with this,” said Kalumbula.

Malla stated that at first she focused on concepts for the background and characters, which is 3D. Kalumbala then took these drawings and made them animations. Malla stated that she enjoyed the designing of the characters as she normally focuses on the environment.

“I just drew out what they would look like and what the world around them would look like,” said Malla. “I don’t know how she did it but she brought them to life, so they look exactly like what I drew, so I think that’s cool.”

Dixon stated that she worked on a turn around bit for the production. A turn around bit shows multiple sides and dimensions to to the characters. With the work Kalumbula had done for the characters and the production, Dixon didn’t find this task to be too difficult.

“It was one of my favorite bits to do out of this entire production,” said Dixon.

One of the challenges the team faced was making sure their work was completed on time. The team did manage to finish their assignments before the due dates. Kalumbula had stated that they did not know if the team would finish after spring break, but that they pulled through.

Another challenge was working with new computers that would shut down frequently.

“The 3D side rendering out the backgrounds was difficult because like our new computers kept crashing all the time and it was hard to get those rendered out,” said Kalumbula.

The team enjoyed seeing the final product of their work. It was one of the most rewarding parts for Kalumbula and Dixon.

“For me I really like the pre-production part which is like the designing and story that we made last semester, but this semester I really liked when I finished coloring and compositing and seeing it all come together,” said Kalumbula.

The animation department is hosting a showcase for the students on Tuesday, May 5. There will be food and drinks, and a screening of all the student’s films. In previous years, the department handed out awards for the students but have since stopped doing so.

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