After Dark Animation | Creative Motion Design Studio

Full film is viewable upon request

Doing the Robot, set in the 2100s, is about PRIYA RAJPUT, a 28-year-old Indian-American waste picker who gets dumped by her boyfriend and returns to work, where a male sex android she's dismantling begs to save him from the scrap heap. Feeling lost and alone after her breakup, she passes her android off as her human boyfriend, changing her life forever. This scene is one part of the pilot.

What was the pitch?

We started out having a few calls with Ravi Guru Singh, the writer behind "Doing the Robot”. We asked lots of questions about the project and the film to help us get a really good picture of what it needed to achieve and how it would be used.

We decided to start the process with some strong character designs to set the scene. Designing a sex robot from the future was an interesting brief and we initially went with this design as a starting point. We wanted him to feel a bit like a sex toy, saturated and plastic. Priya on the other hand needed to add contrast next to him feeling like a cosy no fuss type character, not a girly girl, wearing earthy tones.

Ravi went away and polished off the script, we sorted a contract and deposit meanwhile he put together an incredible cast of actors to play the characters. We sat in on a table read over zoom with all the cast and Ravi which was hilarious and not something we usually get to do. It was so helpful when coming back to the page and having our notes on the actor's mannerisms that they added during the table read. We updated the character designs after to make Priya a bit more edgy, giving her a modern and practical bob haircut. With Richard+, Anthony did such a good job of embodying him, and with notes from Ravi to make him more real and able to pass off as an actual person later in the series we essentially changed the design to be a model of Anthony.

Where do we start?

With script and audio files from Ravi, it was time for us to get started. We developed an animatic using rough drawings and edited them together with the audio files from all the actors, working on the new characters. Jenny starts to rig the characters in Adobe Animate and Joe starts working on the background art and props.
After another meeting and making some adjustments to the animatic we locked in the story and then we are ready to animate!

How did we do it?

Jenny animated each scene in Adobe Animate, usually not in chronological order. It’s best to start on some easy shots and work up to some of the more complicated animation so Jenny can fix any issues with the character build slowly. Joe will finish off the background art using a mix of Procreate and Photoshop making sure to add in lots of little details to make sure they are believable, even adding some easter eggs. Our multi-talented Joe will then take the animated shots and composite them together adding lots of extra touches, shadows, and glows to truly make the film come to life. The whole process took about 3 months.

Is It Done Now?

We then send the first draft off to Ravi and see if he has any feedback, we also go through the film ourselves multiple times to make sure there are no issues, wandering eyes, or limbs acting oddly.
Once we're done we package up the final file and send it over to you

What's in the Package?

All our films come with a digital package of promotional material that you can use to share on social media to advertise your film.

This can include:
- Final film in a couple of resolutions (4k / HD)
- Poster
- A collection of high-resolution stills
- Gif’s
- Short .mp4 clips
Or let us know what you need and we can make it!

Written, Directed & Produced

Ravi Guru Singh

Animated

After Dark Animation

Cast

Anthony Misiano as Richard+
Madhulika Krishnan as Priya
Lena Purtu as Maria
Jean Rosolino as Operator

Awards

SeriesFest – Late Night Competition – Audience Award and Honorable Mention
Sydney Underground Film Festival – Official Selection
Coronado Island Film Festival – Official Selection
New York Shorts International Film Festival – Official Selection
Maui Film Festival – Official Selection
Paris Film Festival – Best Animation Short – Nominee
Sunday Shorts Film Festival – Animation – Quarter Finalist
Silk Road Film Awards Cannes – Best Animation – Winner
Oniros Film Awards – New York – Best Animation – Finalist
Golden Nugget International Film Festival – Best Animation Short - Finalist

As a first-time director and writer, I am so lucky that I was able to work with the After Dark team to create the animated sketch, "Doing the Robot." From the start, Joe and Jenny were excellent professionals, responding to emails within a reasonable time frame and delivering quality work product. Being a first-timer, I was anxious about whether I would mess things up. But the team guided me well. We spoke over the phone and via google, and walked through every stage together, from storyboarding to the final cut. They added in audio, helped me with picking voice actors, and ultimately produced an animated short that has won top prizes at film festivals in Paris, Cannes, and New York. If given the chance, I'd love to work with them again, and can't recommend them enough.

Ravi Guru Singh
Director

You may also like