CGT students premiering short film on Valentine's Day
"The Note," an integrated short film created by computer graphics technology students Chris Staehler, Thomas Haley-Hermiz and Adam Gasper, follows a movable wooden art figure as he chases a love note around Purdue's West Lafayette campus.
For computer graphics technology students Chris Staehler, Thomas Haley-Hermiz and Adam Gasper, the idea of love is more than something that is celebrated today with chocolates and roses. It is the driving force behind their short animated video, "The Note."
"The Note," an integrated short film created for a production for computer animation course, follows a movable wooden art figure as he chases a love note around Purdue's West Lafayette campus.
"The concept evolved from a story about identity to a story about love after we felt our original story lacked something," Haley-Hermiz says. "We asked ourselves, 'What drives all people?' and although we laughed about it, 'love' was the answer, and we knew it could work for our film."
Once the plotline was in place, the students spent last fall filming, animating, lighting and combining real-world action with the animated main character. Each instance of the figure, which the creators nicknamed Art, is 3-D computer-generated in the film.
By filming human faces out of focus in a style that mimics the faceless Art, the creators hoped to give viewers the chance to take away personal messages from the film.
"The film at first glance is cute, but we feel a real connection with the audience is created through the character's chasing something that seems to always be out of reach," Haley-Hermiz says. "Whether it is purpose, love or anything else, everyone is able to connect with that feeling."
Staehler, Haley-Hermiz and Gasper -- members of Level 3 studios, a student-run production house within CGT at Purdue -- took on several roles in making the video; among them, Staehler was director and Haley-Hermiz was producer. They plan to submit the 4 minute, 58 second video to film contests across the country.
Staehler says, "We hope our film will show practicing professionals in film and effects industries that student filmmakers are capable and inventive and that some of those students are right here at Purdue. We also want the film to inspire students to do their best work in whatever they're studying."
A screening of "The Note" will be hosted by the Special Interest Group on Computer Graphics and Interactive Technique (SIGGRAPH) tonight at 6:30 in Matthews Hall, Room 210. Following the short film and a few words from the creators, SIGGRAPH will show the movie "50 First Dates." "The Note" will be available online following the screening.
For those who cannot attend the screening, a link to view"The Note" online will be provided in Purdue Today after the debut.
