KITTY BRAVO IN FREEFALL FAILURE, 1min,. USA
Directed by Spencer Bryant, Gabrielle Chiong, Megan Hecklinger, Anthony Juarez, Corain Marneweck, Hannah Paul, Emma Peace, Ashley Smith, and Noel White.

This animated short film is an action-packed rollercoaster featuring daredevil cat Kitty Bravo!

https://www.instagram.com/kittybravo3d/

Get to know filmmaker Spencer Bryant:

1. What motivated you to make this film? This was my senior short film while at Texas A&M! I was on a team with two other seniors, three juniors, and three sophomores. We wanted to make something cartoony, comical, and iconic. Corain Marneweck pitched the story, Emma Peace wanted the character to be a cat, Hannah Paul drew our character in the Johnny Bravo pose, and Kitty Bravo was born! We all also wanted to further our skills of course! I had a wonderful experience leading the team as Production Manager, Megan Hecklinger excelled as the Prop Model and Motion Graphics Lead, Emma Peace expanded her skillset as a look development artist as the Groom FX Lead, Gabrielle Chiong added Unreal to her software tool belt as the Lighting Lead, Anthony Juarez studied new cloth simulation techniques as the FX Lead, Noel White deftly navigated between Maya and Unreal as the Layout and Set Dressing Lead, Corain Marneweck iterated quickly to deliver Kitty Bravo's final model as the Character Model Lead, and Hannah Paul and Ashley Smith delivered a great final edit as the Compositing Lead and the Sound Lead. I'm proud of the whole team and I'm so glad the world is seeing our hard work!

2. From the idea to the finished product, how long did it take for you

to make this film? We made this short film in a single semester, from August to December.

3. How would you describe your film in two words!? Orange-cat behavior.

4. What was the biggest obstacle you faced in completing this film? About halfway through the project we realized rendering with Pixar's Renderman may be too long and risky of a move considering the number of effects in our short. We opted to render in Unreal Engine instead, which required transferring the entire layout into Unreal and performing rigging, animation, and effects tests. Ultimately it was the best decision for the short!

5. What were your initial reactions when watching the audience talking about your film in the feedback video? I was so glad to see everyone's positive reactions! It was especially nice to hear which aspects people liked most, like the art direction, sound design, and animation.

6. When did you realize that you wanted to make films? I realized I wanted to go into animation while watching The Good Dinosaur in theaters in 8th grade.

7. What film have you seen the most in your life? The Mitchells vs the Machines!

8. What other elements of the festival experience can we and other festivals implement to satisfy you and help you further your filmmaking Career? As someone who could not attend in person, I would love if in-person festivals sent out screeners for accepted filmmakers.

9. You submitted to the festival via FilmFreeway. How has your experiences been working on the festival platform site? Pretty good!

10. What is your favorite meal? Tacos!

11. What is next for you? A new film? For most of the team, they are completing their undergraduate degrees and have some more short films and their capstones in their futures. Keep an eye out for Gabrielle Chiong, Anthony Juarez, Corain Marneweck, Hannah Paul, Ashley Smith, and Noel White in the 3D animation industry! Megan Hecklinger is currently a graphic designer at HP, and myself and Emma Peace are currently on the job hunt, though we're always working on some new project!