It is easy for siblings with large age differences to feel distanced. However, a single moment of connection can bring them back together and help them form new bonds.
RINSE is a 4 minute family-oriented short film, animated in the style of 3D animation using edited pre-made character rigs and 2D effects. In this film I focus on character acting and emotional narrative connection, as well as learning new 3D skills like clothing laying, editing rigs, and using complex visual effects.
Over the course of this film I strengthened my character animation as well as improved my storytelling abilities.
Pre Production
This story, at its core, is about relationships, specifically sibling relationships. These narratives are not simple or easy to explain, because no siblings are the same or have the same relationships. Therefore, once I knew this was the story I wanted to tell, the moments I wanted to capture needed to come from an authentic place.
I knew this story was the one during a drive. My own sister and I were out one summer day, and a song that we both loved came on. I started freaking out and singing, and then my shy and quiet teen sister chimed in. We do not have a lot to relate to in the first place, so this moment was something that I wasn't going to forget anytime soon.
RINSE was born that day on route 28.
Characters
The characters of the film, Adult Mavis and teen Adrian, had a lot of changing and interesting developments in their personalities. At first, the story was simply that Adrian was upset that Mavis was leaving her for college and was using a dismissive attitude to express herself. In that version, the sisters were much closer in age as well.
But as the story started to shift, I came to understand that this duo's challenge was much deeper. The center of this story is their age difference, and the divide that can come when those ages are at pivotal changes in the characters' lives.
Mavis is 24, a new adult going out into the world for probably the first time to make a life for herself. As a soon to be graduate at a similar age, I can understand Mavis' uptight energy, as well as the perfectionism that comes from being the oldest child. You put a lot of pressure on yourself to set the best example, but you also see your siblings and the memories you have together as something to protect. This was something I wanted to plant deep into her character.
Adrian, on the other hand, is in a whole other world. At 14 years old, she is beginning the thing every adult remembers dreading - puberty, and all the emotional hurricanes that come with it. She does not hold onto the things that her older sister does, and she sure doesn't see why Mavis is so serious and rigid all the time. Adrian is introverted, and uses this alongside her attitude as a defense against those around her.
Remodeling
This is the final retopology for the Adrian rig.
Topology on original model was under a UDIM texturing system
All coordinates within the UV's are represented together, instead of a few larger textures representing one area of a mesh. Therefore, at first the mesh wouldn’t cooperate or allow new maps onto its surfaces.
I fixed this by breaking the connections, then reconnecting each part of the mesh with my new textures
Storyboards