Eugenia Rocha Méndez goes behind-the-scenes on Seedling

In Seedling, a little dandelion seed wakes up after being blown away by the wind. When the seed finally lands on the ground, it realizes that this is a competitive world in which everyone is trying to bloom: It needs to find a hole in the ground to become a flower.

Eugenia Rocha Méndez created the short as her thesis film while attending Vancouver Film School. Eugenia has since graduated, and is now a 2D animator at Titmouse as well as a freelance illustrator. We caught up with her to learn more about what inspired Seedling, the challenges she faced in making her film, and her advice for animation students.

What inspired this story?  

Originally the story was actually much darker. I always cared very much for the environment, and I wanted to create a film that would comment on the impact of climate change. I wanted to teach a lesson about how pollution is making it hard for nature to survive, especially in urban areas. The original idea was to have the film set in a city where a seed would be fighting against elements, like pollution and acid rain. 

When I ran this idea by my classmates they liked it... but they agreed that it was a bit dark and sad. I’m not typically the type of person to create sad stories, so I decided to find a way to lighten it up. Honestly, part of it was that I knew with the original idea I’d be painting dark, grim backgrounds, and I thought it would be more fun to work on brighter backgrounds.  So I changed the setting of the film to be out in nature, and came up with a fun storyline for the seed.

Were there any sources of inspiration for Seedling, in terms of visual style?

I was inspired by different references, but the main one for Seedling was Studio Ghibli. I really love Studio Ghibli movies. Especially because they’re often set in nature. I wanted to capture that Studio Ghibli aesthetic in my backgrounds and in my characters. The goal was to get the film to look and feel colourful and bright. 

Aside from Studio Ghibli, I’d say my inspiration was a mixture of all the references that I see and like, from animated series and movies to artists that I follow on Instagram.

Can you tell us how you developed the visual style for your short? 

It’s hard to say that I really developed the visual style, just because the process of making this film was so fast. Student films are made on such a tight schedule, it’s hard to plan really meticulously. I was under a lot of stress to meet deadlines, and so sometimes I didn’t really know how things were going to look.

For example, when I had finished animating I didn’t know for sure what the backgrounds would look like or even what colour the seed would be. I just hadn’t had time to think about it yet. The visual style developed as I went along, with elements of the look falling into place as I got them.

What aspects of making Seedling did you find the most surprising, or challenging?

The biggest challenge was definitely meeting deadlines for the film! The speed of the project made it pretty stressful.

I think the other challenge was just that I was a student, so I was still learning. The first time I’d actually animated something was 6 months before I started working on Seedling. When I started the film, there was a lot that I didn’t know how to do. I had to learn how to do things on the spot. For example: It took me an entire day just to animate the flower sprouting, because I’d never animated something like that before. 

It was a challenge, but making the film definitely helped me become a stronger animator. And it taught me a lot about the process of creating a film, from start to finish. Before making Seedling, I had just animated assignments at school which didn’t speak to me as much as working on my own story did. Because I was invested in my film, I felt very determined to do a great job. And that really pushed me to become a better animator in the process.

It was fun because I had way more liberty to make my own decisions when making Seedling than I did when I worked on assignments. That helped me focus on developing specific skills. 

Which features in Toon Boom Harmony did you learn about, or find particularly useful, while working on Seedling?

I was pretty intimidated by Toon Boom Harmony because it’s complicated software with so many different elements and features to it. I found it challenging when I first started. Especially because I started working with it right when COVID-19 started. Instead of being in the classroom, I had to work in the software from home; which meant I didn’t have classmates and teachers in the room with me to answer questions or help me with roadblocks. 

Little by little I got better at using Toon Boom, and came to appreciate the software so much because it had everything I needed to make Seedling. Any time I wondered if something would be possible to do with the software, it ended up that it was. Overall, working in Toon Boom Harmony on my student film was a huge learning curve but I came out of it feeling way less intimidated, and prepared to work on future projects in the software. 

Do you have any advice for up and coming animators that are working on their student films?

If you’re working on a student film and you’re feeling super stressed like I was, just keep at it and give it your best. I know that in the moment, when you’re tired and overwhelmed, it’s hard to feel good about your film. Especially because there’s so much pressure to do it well. When you graduate animation school, your student film is your main portfolio piece. Knowing this adds to the pressure. But once your film is finished, you will feel so proud. It’s worth it.

I’ll be honest though! When I finally finished Seedling, I was sick of it. I had been looking at the film every single day for so long. So I found that I was hyper-focused on every detail of it. I felt a lot of anxiety that the film might be bad. But now that it's been a few years, I feel really good about it whenever I re-watch it. Having space from it helped!

How have you felt about the positive reception of Seedling?

My goal when making Seedling was to have a really good portfolio piece that I could use to apply for jobs at studios. It’s been perfect for that so far. Other than being part of my portfolio, I’ve been really happy with how people have responded to it.

Friends, family, teachers, and the animation community have had really nice things to say about it.

What’s next for you in your animation career? Any upcoming projects in the works?

After I graduated two years ago, I got hired on by Titmouse. I’ve been freelancing for the studio ever since and have been really happy there. I’ve learned a lot working with the Titmouse team, and I really appreciate their flexibility when it comes to work.

I’m from Mexico, and getting a visa to be in Canada has been challenging. Titmouse allowed me to work from Central America, which is great!

Seedling was your thesis film for your program at the Vancouver Film School. In wrapping up your program, what advice do you have for people who are interested in studying animation?

When I started at Vancouver Film School I had barely any experience animating. I decided to do the program because I hoped that it would teach me everything I needed to know to start a career in animation, and it did! I went into the program knowing nothing, but graduated having created my own film, which helped me to get my first animation job pretty fast. It was an intensive, fast-paced program — I basically didn’t sleep the entire year — but it was worth it. 

I know some people are good at self-teaching and plenty of animators learn that way, but if you prefer to learn as part of a program, then an animation school is a great way to fast track the learning process. By the time I graduated from Vancouver Film School, I felt super prepared to start working. If you’re interested in studying animation, definitely consider taking courses! 

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• Interested in seeing more of Eugenia's work? Be sure to follow her on Instagram.
• Ready to discover more student films? Just try to stop thinking about our 2022 Education Showreel!
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