"3D animation with a cartoon style, a distinctive style and layers of conveying a wide variety of emotions with its expressiveness..." Damian mused as he scrolled through all the new information on this animated short film, he was going to start with Kiwi.
His thoughts drifted to something he had noticed as he explored the memories of his new life. This world, despite its technological advances in every aspect, seemed to have skipped the organic development of animation altogether.
"It's funny," he thought, "with all their futuristic technology, the animation here is... limited. They went very quickly from rudimentary 2D drawings to the hyper-realism of 3D. There was no in-between, no style of their own developed over time."
Images crossed his mind of the animations that in his world had marked epochs: the emotional, stylized stroke of anime, the exaggerated expressiveness of Western cartoons, and hybrid styles that experimented with forms and narratives. But here, none of that existed.
"Neither traditional animation nor cartoonish styles," he reflected as he reviewed what little this world had to offer. "Just hyper-realistic CGI that seeks to mimic reality. Animation here is not an artistic medium, it's just an accessory to film."
For a moment, he hesitated. Presenting a short film like Kiwi! could be a risky move. In a world where everything animated sought to perfectly mimic the real thing, something so different could be seen as.... rudimentary.
"But what difference does it make?" he shrugged, though only to himself. "If I want to bring something new to this world, I can't stop just because it might draw a little attention. Besides," he added quietly, "I can't let this world miss out on such training."
With that resolution, Damian opened the interface that would allow him to begin creation. He had only three hours to complete 2 short films, a time limit that in his world would have been absurd for such an exam. But this was not his world.
"In this world, tools are everything," he thought, as he studied the interface options. The animation tools here seemed light years ahead of those he had known. Preset models, AI capable of generating basic NPCs, algorithms that automatically adjusted textures and movements, and an artificial intelligence capable of smoothing out any technical details in a matter of seconds.
"Three hours here is probably equivalent to weeks of work on Earth. All the technical stuff is pretty much taken care of," he reflected, taking in the possibilities at his disposal. "But what really takes time, even here, is coming up with the idea and polishing it to come up with something well done. And that, luckily, is something I don't lack."
Although the original Damian had been an average student. He was still able to learn to use the technical tools in a very adept way and his unique perspective of a parallel world he brought when he reincarnated in this body gave him an overwhelming advantage. Without intending to, he was going to stand out in a world where creativity was still searching for its identity.
Unfolding the options to create the protagonist of his short film, Damian began modeling a 3D object, concentrating his mind on the image of the kiwi. The AI picked up on his instructions and began to form the 3D model. Gradually the bird's body was molded, rounded and smooth, with its long beak and short legs. Damian made some fine adjustments: he trimmed the wings a bit, rounded the head more, and corrected the body proportions, all in real time as the AI responded with precision. In less than three minutes, the kiwi was ready, with a somewhat exaggerated proportion and somewhat plastic textures, which, although not realistic, offered a friendly and quite expressive appearance, something that reminded him of the artistic style of those famous 3D animated movies from his old world.
Now that he had the main character, it was time to create the environment and then animate the little story.
....
In another pod, Samuel Lorrick was working enthusiastically. His hands moved quickly over the controls as he watched his environment begin to change.
His idea was simple, almost too simple: an overcoming story about a young man training to defeat his powerful father. The character design followed a hyper-realistic style, as he guided the actors through the scene. Despite this, Samuel was confident that his idea was enough to impress the evaluators.
"I have confidence in this story" he thought, as he adjusted the lighting of a scene where the son was fighting a monster in his eyes.
A confident smile appeared on his face. Samuel knew he had an advantage that others didn't: he had tapped into family connections for previous ideas and guidance. His older brother, an up-and-coming director, had given him advice on how to structure the short film. Though he wouldn't admit it, much of his work was already prefabricated because of that.
He had prepared for any kind of exam, he was going to prove he was the best.
"Fucking pariah," he muttered with a hint of derision. "No resources, no ideas, what can an inept like him do? If he flunks, it'll be so much easier for me to get close to Aileen."
The thought of her filled him with a mixture of desire and frustration. Aileen, with her musical talent and recognition, was untouchable to someone like him, but the problem with his dear childhood friend made it even more complicated to approach her, which is why he wanted to use the hindrance as a bargaining chip, hoping she would agree to his approach in exchange for helping his friend with the following tests.
And for that he had left nothing to chance. Samuel had sent two of his lackeys in the classroom to tamper with Damian's capsule at recess. Disconnecting Internet access was a risky move, but no one would suspect him. "And Damian is too dumb to realize he fell into a trap," he thought. "Without access to outside resources, he'll be lost and in the end he'll just think he failed because of his lack of talent without knowing they had that facility."
....
In the capsule room, Professor Meredith sat behind a large desk, reviewing some digital documents as the capsules cast a faint bluish glow. Occasionally, her eyes would slide to the screens displaying student data: what resources they were requesting, the time remaining, and brief previews of their progress.
Most of the students were asking for considerable amounts of resources: actors, pre-built sets, advanced visual effects. It was expected. After all, the tools were there to be used.
And while most resources were given by the academy, other things like actors were simply students and if they wanted access to better talent they could only draw on their own resources.
As he went through the list, his gaze stopped on one name: Damian Grant. He frowned slightly. According to the records, he had applied for absolutely nothing.
"Nothing?" she thought, somewhat surprised. Her finger gestured slightly to check Damian's data in more detail. Not an actor, not a prefabricated scenario, not even external references.
"Is it possible I still don't have an idea?" she mused, somewhat disappointed. She remembered Damian as an average student, someone who barely stood out. But this was troubling even by his standards. "I guess some people just don't have what it takes for these exams."
He sighed and diverted his attention to other, more promising students. There was little to expect from someone like Damian, and it wasn't worth spending any more time on him.
....
Damian was sitting in nothingness as he had a screen showing a video editing program with which he was refining Kiwi's short film, it had already gone through the process of 3d modeling, animation, the music, which luckily wasn't that complex to create, and finally the editing.
Damian watched with satisfaction the final result of Kiwi's short film. In just one hour he had managed to complete an animation he was proud of.
However, as he looked at the remaining time, he knew that the most challenging task still lay ahead: he had to recreate Tuck Me In, a live-action short film.
His thoughts paused for a moment as he reflected on how different the industry was in this world. Here, instead of filming on real sets with flesh-and-blood actors, everything was done within virtual spaces. Actors didn't need to physically appear, as they could project their talent using custom CGI avatars.
But Damian faced a critical problem: lack of internet connectivity. He couldn't solicit actors, a common practice in film projects in this world, or access resources to facilitate the process. Everything fell on him.
"So I get to be director, environment creator and actor at the same time," he thought with a mixture of defiance and resignation. He knew he had to model not only the characters, but also act both roles, the father and the son, using motion capture and generating the realistic environments the project required.
It was quite a complicated task, he was even a little surprised that this level of difficulty was given in the exams of this academy, a little worried about Clara, Damian could only resign himself to continue working.
With that determination, he adjusted his interface options by closing the editing program and with the animated short saved he started working on his next project.
Creating a new project, the now familiar white space appeared again, Damian began with the environment, changing the setting to a nighttime environment, a child's room and a simple hallway.
The modeling process for the second short film was more demanding, as it had to mimic reality accurately, which required a much higher level of detail than in his previous project. However, thanks to the information provided by his system, he had a key advantage: he could visualize the final result surprisingly clearly.
The system's advanced interface and artificial intelligence simplified the technical work, allowing him to save considerable time. The tools adapted textures, proportions and elements with impeccable precision, leaving Damian to concentrate solely on fine-tuning the details.
"It's like all the effort is in the creative, not the technical," he thought as he manipulated the modeling options. Creating a chair was quick, something even a beginner could do in seconds. But recreating an entire room with all its details, from lighting to the smallest elements, required more careful planning and time, that was the challenge for the people of this world.
Luckily, Damian already had clear references for the room. Every corner, every detail was etched in his memory.
In a matter of minutes, the model of the room began to take shape, realistic down to the smallest details. Damian couldn't help but be impressed by the efficiency of these tools, but he didn't let that distract him. He still had a lot of work to do.
With the environment finished, Damian moved on to creating the characters: a blond boy and a father with the appearance of a typical American man. Fortunately, the tool had default human models, which saved him time and effort. He only had to adjust a few details such as age, clothing and facial features to align them with the exact vision of the short film. In no time, the characters were ready to perform on his virtual stage.
In this world, the motion capture technique was among the few that had been developed in a decent way, being widely used in virtual productions. Despite this, Damian didn't feel particularly confident in his acting abilities. However, he knew that for this specific short film, overly complex acting wasn't required but he wasn't going to settle for amateur quality.
Looking again at the original Tuck Me In, he detected certain deficiencies in the acting and other details that, from his perspective, could be improved. As he had done with the Kiwi graphics, Damian set out to raise the bar on this project, adjusting the performances to convey greater emotional impact.
Out of curiosity, he logged into his system and looked in the performance category. There he found a few resources, including books and some videos. To her surprise, several of these materials were available for free. His goal was clear: to absorb as much information as possible in the time he had left. Although he understood that moving from theory to practice was not immediate, he was confident that this knowledge would help him improve at least the basics of his acting.
So Damian took advantage of the short time he had to refine his performance and replayed the scenes as many times as he could until he was satisfied with the result. With only half an hour left, Damian had to rush to create a short piece of background music to set the mood, tweak the characters' voices, lighting details, effects and the sequence.
The clock read one minute to the end of the exam when Damian finally finished the second short film. The capsule emitted a soft warning that time was about to run out. Damian breathed a sigh of relief, grateful that he had managed to meet the challenge, albeit at the limit. When the timer reached zero, the virtual environment disappeared and the capsule opened, bringing him back to reality.
Still somewhat disoriented, Damian stepped out of the capsule and took a moment to adjust his eyesight to the classroom lighting. All around him, several classmates were also emerging from their pods, some with worried or desperate expressions, clearly not having completed the exam. Others had already left, having finished with time to spare. Samuel and Aileen appeared to have been of that group as their pods were empty.
However, near the teacher's desk, he saw Clara, who seemed to have decided to wait for him. Sitting with her hands in her lap, she looked up as she noticed Damian approaching.
-Students, remember to send your projects to my panel for evaluation," the teacher announced from her seat, checking some data on her personal screen.
Damian nodded, opened his panel and selected the two short films he had saved, submitting them with a couple of flicks. Finished with the task, he turned to Clara, who was looking at him with a mixture of curiosity and concern.
-How did it go? -she asked quietly, with a tone that revealed her nervousness.
Damian gave a small smile, trying to reassure her.
-I did well, or at least I think I did. I finished just in time. And you?
Clara fiddled with her fingers before answering, her shyness evident.
-I think I did well too, although... I'm not sure how good my short films will be.
-I'm sure you did great," Damian said calmly, seeking to ease her doubts.
She looked up and gave him a grateful smile, though she still seemed a bit nervous.
-You are dismissed," interrupted the teacher, closing her panel. The results of your first exam will be published tomorrow," she added, giving Damian a confused look.
Damian and Clara nodded without noticing this and headed together towards the exit. As they walked, Clara seemed to relax a little more, although she was still pensive. Damian, meanwhile, was reflecting on how tight his own exam had been, even Clara had finished with time to spare.
....
The classroom was completely empty, it was dismissal time for the students. Professor Meredith remained at her desk, still confused by what she heard.
-Did he finish her exam? -she mumbled to herself as she reviewed the data recorded in Damian's capsule with her Panel.
The first thing that caught his attention was what he had already noticed during the exam: Damian had not requested a single resource. This had not changed. However, as she reviewed the records more closely, she noticed that he had indeed submitted his two short films to the system.
His curiosity turned to bewilderment. He rose from his chair and approached the pod Damian had used. She turned on the control panel and began to inspect the technical logs. What she found left her momentarily speechless: the capsule had been off-line during the entire test, it had been tampered with.
Meredith frowned and her gaze became more serious. She understood what that meant. Damian had completed his exam from scratch, without access to the network and without any outside help.
-This doesn't make sense," he muttered, trying to rationalize what had happened.
In the creative industry of this world, it was not unusual for top professionals to work from scratch when wanting to create a unique style, but that required a level of skill, experience and time that no student possessed. Let alone in a test of only three hours.
He leaned slightly towards the capsule, thinking about why he did such a risky thing, or if this was his mistake and he unknowingly had to adapt to doing everything from scratch, it needed to be investigated.
Whatever Damian Grant turned in, it was at least worth looking at and if in the end what he turned in didn't show any talent then she could just discard it, she didn't need to waste more time and resources on mediocre students.
Finally, she whispered to herself, with a mixture of intrigue and confusion:
-What did you do, Damian Grant ...?