“THE BELL AND THE BLADE” — HIGGSFIELD FILM FESTIVAL

A YEAR OF ATTEMPTS

I’ve always believed in the possibility of AI animation.

Ever since I started getting hands on with the models and tools three years ago, I tried to put together animated styles. I have years of characters in sketchbooks that I want to animate. But early on, the tools just weren’t precise enough for me.

When the Higgsfield Global Film Festival came around, I decided to try again. The festival was open to all kinds of films, not just animated, but I was inspired by seeing that one of the festival judges was Ed Catmull, co-founder of Pixar. I went back into my sketchbooks and looked for stories.

One fun part of this project was inviting our daughters along for the ride. I would show them character designs and early cuts of the film. Watching their reactions was priceless. Some of the early AI hallucinations and glitches really cracked them up. And they were brutally honest when things weren’t working. They didn’t know they were giving feedback, but that’s exactly what I gleaned from their reactions.

While the perfectionist in me still has things I’d tweak, I was happy that the emotional throughline and story came across. It made our daughters giggle in all the right places. It made them fear for the little chicken’s safety, and then grow excited to see it turn the tables on the would-be assassins.

This project has reignited my goals in AI-animation, and I have an active pipeline of new characters and stories in development. Including the further adventures of the Ronin and Chicken Samurai. Stay tuned.