What is the Short Project?

What happens if I win a Phase?

There's more to an animated short than just the animation, what about the other stuff?

What program will The Short Project be created in?

Why Lightwave?

What if I use a different 3d app, or don't do 3d at all, is there anyway for me to participate?

Can I enter with a friend?

Can I win more than one Phase?

What is going to happen with the final short?

Will I be able to view the final short on line?

Can I buy a DVD of the finished piece?

Why should I get involved?

I want to participate as a sponsor, how do I do so?

I'd like to do an interview or to write an article on this exciting production.

Who is this Greg guy and why is his name all over this site?

Is it the 'Short Project' or 'The Short Project'?

What is the Short Project? - The Short Project is an exciting experiment in animated short film production. The process of creating the actual animation for the film that will be created has been broken into eight competitions, which are called Phases. The winner of each Phase has their entry used directly in the finished piece. They also receive a variety of prizes. The final short will be entered into festivals.

The objective is to draw on the talents of the very active online communities for something more than one off competitions like many on the web today. Instead of just creating a character sketch or building a model for the sake of doing it, Short Project participants are actually contributing to an active production.

Hopefully the first cycle of the Short Project will go so well that the pipeline can be used again and again to create more and better short films.

What happens if I win a Phase? - You will receive the appropriate credit in the show, and with as little delay as possible you will receive the prizes for that Phase as listed on the Prizes page. Prizes are being sent directly from the sponsors them selves so time frames may vary. Flakey sponsors will be tarred and feathered in as many forums as we can find, but we don't fore see any issues.

You will also be asked to remain involved in the project. If for example you won the Character Design Phase (and opted out of competing any further) you'd be invited to offer input in choosing the winner of the Character Modeling Phase, Character Texturing Phase and Animation Phase. Winning a Phase makes you a member of the team and you'll be invited to participate in the rest of the production as much or as little as you like, to the extent of your talent. All winning participants will have a profile with picture, bio and link put permanently at ShortProject.com.

There's more to an animated short than just the animation, what about the other stuff? - Scoring, sound FX, editing, duplication, mastering, rendering, festival logistics and entry fees, web site design, server space, DVD mastering, DVD sales and any other necessities that arise will be handled by the Short Project production itself. For the most part that means these services will either be donated to the project or paid for by ArtOfSullivan.com.

What program will The Short Project be created in? - The 'corner stone' 3d application will be LightWave 3d 9. Other apps include Premiere Pro 2, After Effects 7 Pro and Photoshop CS2.

Why Lightwave? - A few reasons, not the least of which is Greg's ability to use it. Your director is a LightWave animator and as the director he'll need to be able view and judge the animations in a familiar app. Also, to ensure the integrity of the project, no person other than members of the Short Project production team will have all the assets of the show at one time. That way we won't find that we have a rogue copy of the show out there not under our control. Future Short Project cycles may use other apps.

What if I use a different 3d app, or don't do 3d at all, is there anyway for me to participate? - For the first several stages the answer is yes. Character design, set design and story boards can all be done in any app or even with pen and paper. Modeling can be done in any app that can export into any of LightWave 9's support formats. Its even possible that texturing can be done in another app, but that could prove tricky. After that is pretty much a LightWave only show.

Can I enter with a friend? - Yes you can, team entries are allowed. Your team will receive credits for the show, and mention on the site, however you will have to work out who gets the prizes between your selves.

Can I win more than one Phase? - Yes, but you can only win one Phase at a time. If for example you entered a 3D rendering into the Set Design Phase and won, you then have to enter your model into the Modeling Phase and would have to compete against other people who have modeled your set based on your renderings.

What is going to happen with the final short? - At the end of this whole crazy project we will have a short film that should be pretty dang good. The finished short will be entered into as many festivals as possible with its appearances and any eventual awards listed on this site.

Will I be able to view the final short on line? - Not at first. Many festivals don't allow entry of shorts that have been screened online. Winning participants will have DVDs for personal viewing mailed to them. Other than that you'll have to catch the short at festivals, at least for a while.

Can I buy a DVD of the finished piece? - We are looking into the logistics and expenses involved in creating DVDs for sale. In a perfect world we'd make the DVD available for purchase after we've hit the major festivals. Such a DVD might have commentaries by the participants and a making of documentary, but we'll have to wait and see.

Why should I get involved? - There are a lot of reasons. There are the prizes, which at the very least will be a training DVD and some cash. There's the credit, one of the hardest things to get for an up and coming artist is a credit in a completed piece. There's the reel fodder, as a winning participant you can use footage from the completed piece in your reel. There are the points; the production will pay points on any proceeds after recouping expenses to all participants. And then there's the reference, I'm not Spielberg but I'll sing praises to anyone who calls me about a Short Project participant.

I want to participate as a sponsor, how do I do so? - You may contribute a prize to a specific Phase, for which you can grab a piece a rotating ad space for the duration of that Phase which will show in proportion to your contributions value. You are more than welcome to contribute to as many phases as you like, and there by have your product or service advertised to participants in all of those phases. You can also contribute money to cover the Projects hard costs or to add to the prize pool.

I'd like to do an interview or to write an article on this exciting production. - Great, publicity for the participants and our eventual short film is a large part of the whole point for even doing this, drop us a line at info@shortproject.com.

Who is this Greg guy and why is his name all over this site? - Greg Sullivan is the owner of Art Of Sullivan Productions, a small animation studio in Hollywood, CA. The Short Project was his brainchild and for the first production he is serving as Executive Producer, Director and Screen Writer. Future Short Project cycles may have other directors or writers, but Greg will almost certainly stay on as EP for those productions.

Is it the 'Short Project' or 'The Short Project'? - We haven't decided yet, so you'll see it both ways all over the site.