In the “animation hallway” of the Talmage Building, signed posters line the walls, depicting famous animated films that have been worked on by BYU alumni.
Current animation students are now working on a project titled “Student Accomplice,” which follows a young girl who runs into some trouble on her driver’s test ― trouble in the form of a bank robber hijacking her car.
The film’s director, Spencer Baird, said this project is different from what animation students have done in the past.
“The amount of hours people have dedicated to this project already is kind of staggering,” Baird said.
Several teams of students are working on the project, animating everything from the characters’ faces to the city backdrop to the cars driving around the city.
Delaney Reed, part of the Modeling and Rigging Team for “Student Accomplice,” said, “This project is based in the city, and so there’s a car chase going on, and so the environment is a bit dynamic in that way. It’s kind of changing,” Reed said.
Reed is working on a tool to create a large number of new cars without the animators having to design each one individually.
While students have already spent an impressive amount of time on this project, the team is going to spend a lot more time on it in the coming months.
Baird said the film is set to be finished by April or May of 2024.
“My favorite thing about the animation process is probably how collaborative it is. I like being able to work together with everyone,” Reed said.
Baird, Reed and the whole team are proving that teamwork makes the Dreamworks.
