Colby Tassinari

BFA in Animation

SP 2023

Last semester in FMX 338 with Dana Corrigan, we had to create a short animated film that told a story. She had us on a production schedule from start to finish, beginning with pitches. I was stuck between two options: Death attends a speed dating event and meets an unlikely match and Death goes grocery shopping before his date with Mother Nature. The caveat is he cannot touch the food or else it molds, so he must choose food that can age. Though this wasn’t the idea that I wanted to do for the class, idea two was the best option time wise. When it came time to pick out an idea for senior project, I wanted to challenge myself to create idea one. This is how Death Goes Dating was conceived.

When it came to creating the short, my main focus was storytelling. The idea is silly and I wanted to put in as much detail as I could, like including small gags. Additionally, I wanted my backgrounds to stand out. Perhaps I spent too much time on them, but I felt they made the world more believable. Lastly, I improved my technical skills when it came to using Toon Boom Harmony. I created peg based rigs for all of the characters and implemented nodes to add masking to a few of their body parts, as well as using Libraries to bring templates into each scene. Exploring the program in depth improved my abilities in troubleshooting and problem solving. Overall, these skills combined made the creation process enjoyable.

However, that doesn’t mean there were weaknesses and low points in production. I have a tendency to procrastinate which results in poor time management. Perhaps if I had gotten my voice cast together sooner and spent more time animating in March, my character animation and lip syncing would’ve been cleaner and more cohesive. On any project I do going forward, I want to prioritize the animation over the backgrounds and plan out my time more accordingly.

This project has made me realize that I would love to go into storyboarding or layout design. I feel these jobs are where my skills would go to use best. Another realization I’ve had is that I love to create Adult Swim style content, but wouldn’t be opposed to creating something with a more dramatic tone either. I’m excited to create more shorts and face new challenges after graduating from the University of Tampa.