A WORK IN PROGRESS was my thesis film at the Florida State University Film School. Being my forth and last student film before graduating, I decided to seriously challenge myself. Having pulled off a few visual effects shots for previous films, I somehow came to the naive conclusion that creating a few minutes of full CG animation on my home computer was totally feasible. So I set out to do just that -- create the school’s first animated short of a what was essentially a children’s book come to life.


Originally, I intended the film to be entirely animated, in other words no live-action. In fact, I had designed the characters, most of the locations, and were starting to animate when I came up with the idea to bounce back and forth between the live action artist and her computer generated imagination.


My friends [crew] and I scrambled to put the live-action shoot together. We scheduled the use of our school’s Super16 ARRI for one 10-hour day on a Saturday, and got to work on casting the roles with local kids from Tallahassee. This wasn’t easy based on the number of kids we needed. Two of the supporting actress’, Faith Galloway and Carolyn Crabtree were cast from previous films I had worked on. But the main role was cast with Melissa White, someone I had never worked with before. A quick side-note, there is an interesting story behind the band-aid on her chin. Two days before we shot, Melissa was attacked by a dog walking home from school. It bit clean through her lower lip. Obviously, I was going to cancel the shoot or re-cast the part, but Melissa wouldn’t hear of it. We caked on the makeup, covering the wound as best we could. But it still wasn’t enough. Finally, at the last minute, I said to toss on a band-aid. It was a real “the show must go on” moment. She’s one tough girl.


Now, it’s worth mentioning that I was at thesis level by the time of this film, so I had access to just about everything in the equipment room. HMI’s, G&E trucks, a Panther Dolly, steadicam, and even a 30’ jib I dreamed of using all through school. But I’m proud to say we kept things simple. We shot 400’of 16mm film on an old doorway dolly with two reflector boards. It ended up being my smoothest set experience of my time at film school. Although I will say, I’m still jealous of my friends who got to use the jib.


A WORK IN PROGRESS was seriously ambitious, but a true growing experience. As it stands, it’s probably my best student film, and certainly my most awarded. Here are the notable ones:


  1. ✴Winner of the Bronze Student Academy Award in the Animation Category.

  2. ✴First Place Animation in the Fort Lauderdale Film Festival Kodak Film Student competition.

  3. ✴First place at the Wolfson II Media Awards in Miami.

  4. ✴Jury and Audience Award in the animated short category at Film Fest New Haven.

  5. ✴Named a Silver Award Winner at the Crested Butte Reel Fest.