A team of students from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Academy for Creative Media (ACM) spent the first weekend of October competing with hundreds of students around the world in the 17th 24 Hours Animation Contest.
The five animation students, with the team name SPICY AHI, worked on a 30-second animated film. They had 24 hours to create the short from October 4-5. This year’s theme: What does family mean to you? There were about 1,500 students from 64 schools in nine countries competing.
The group included ACM junior Chandelle Oliver and ACM seniors Gavin Arucan, Mia Clause, Kalilinoe Detwiler and Sophia Whalen.
“We kept each other going with calisthenic exercises, fun music and yummy food,” said Clause about the team’s ability to work tirelessly for 24 hours straight to complete the film.
“I got energy from being around people,” said Arucan.
“I used all my animation skills in the last 24 hours,” said Detwiler.
Animation is a time-intensive craft, where 24 drawings comprise one second of a 2D hand-drawn film, equating to 720 drawings for a 30 second film. In 24 hours, the students conceived an idea based on the given theme, storyboarded the concept, designed every element on screen from scratch, animated anything requiring movement, added color, designed the sound and exported it to the final movie.
“The 24 Hours Animation Contest was a fun learning experience for the students, and they were able to interact with the international animation community,” said ACM Assistant Professor Brittany Biggs. “They got to flex the skills they’ve been developing from their classes while working together as a team. They walked away from this contest with the confidence that they can handle the pressure of tight deadlines in a professional production setting. I’m incredibly impressed and proud of the work they achieved.”
