KOJI

Koji has been entrusted an impossible task by his late Master.
He is the last remaining hope of defeating an ancient evil and restoring balance to his world.

I pitched ‘Koji’ to Lead Artist Glen under the pretense of creating a short, animated action scene. This has developed from a side project of a cool fight sequence, to a fully fledged short film the whole company worked on.

 

I wanted to create an intentional nod to samurai classic “Yojimbo” – but in a fantasy setting better suited to animation. Applying the stylistic question of ‘What if Akira Kurosawa directed Kung Fu Panda?’

 

Coming from the world of live action film making, it’s been incredibly freeing to work on a project without the limitations of that medium. The visual storytelling that is possible through animation, allows unrestricted camera movement and direction. Resulting in dynamic and entertaining action.

 

Taking the idea of the ‘drifter hero’ – has meant we can take this character into other situations and stories in the future.
It’s been an honor to collaborate with the talented artists at Ammonite during the realisation of this short.

 

Robbie McFadzean, Writer/Director

CHARACTER DESIGN

Designing Koji was a rewarding challenge. My goal was to push the low-poly art style to the point where every polygon contributed to the character’s shape and form. I view this style almost like a 3D sketch, maintaining a very low fidelity and allowing the viewer to fill in the details. One aspect I hadn’t anticipated was how vital lighting tests would be during the entire modeling process. While the character might look good during modeling, it’s only when you see the final render that any mistakes become glaringly obvious. Each shape and shadow interacts in ways that can quickly appear unnatural, especially for a character as stylized as this. It took some back and forth, but I am happy with the end result.

 

Glen Johnston – Lead Artist

Creating the Golem was a super fun challenge, from which I gained valuable knowledge and experience. I took inspiration from anime and Samurai Armour for this character, and I really enjoyed working in the low-poly art style. It has had its challenges, as the Golem is made out of stone, and it took some iterations to find the rock style that would work for the character… but I’m now satisfied with the result!

 

Lara, 3D Generalist

ANIMATION

I’ve worked on Koji for quite a while and this is basically how it’s going. I go on the roof of my building, I film myself pretending to be a samurai, then I go back to my computer, animate a character that strangely looks a bit like me, and all the while I try to avoid eye contact with my neighbours who definitely think I am nuts.

 

Esteban Lenquette – Character Animator

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