The Verdict

Yes, we stayed up and worked all night before the presentation. But it was all worth it. The project came together really well and we couldn't have done it without Lance to begin with. To put perspective to that achievement: he was learning on the job. We asked for an interactive interface and he gave us exactly what we wanted. It allowed for an immersive interactive experience that we wanted from the get-go to set us apart. And although we didn't manage to finish all our character drawings, our stick figures came to life when Kurt and Derick edited the movie and threw in some killer sound.

I must admit that I was initially uncertain about the line art look we were going for. It would be a hit-or-miss. But I'm glad we took the risk, because George appreciates it and I'm impressed beyond expression with how the varying drawings have come together. The way the scenes of the mysterious object interrupts the stories works just as we expected. Daniel's big (whale) eye ball was a hit with George and we couldn't have realized it without Tiffany's expert Flash animation skills.

The lesson we took away from this was to:

1. storyboard more efficiently and spend more time on production and postproduction
2. either use drawings or photographs, not both!
3. work as a team--which we did exactly and that's what got us through it all

Now, the things we have to fix for the final deadline:

1. reduce file size to optimize playback
2. get the eye to blink at some point
3. finish the drawings!!!!
4. if time permits, work on characters' acknowledgment of the mysterious object's descent

Great work, team!