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Meet the Team!
Hope Lee
Co-Director, 3D Animator, Story Artist
Hope Lee is a Director and 3D Animator based in Illinois, passionate about the creative freedom the animation medium offers. Driven by her love of bringing the imaginary into reality, Hope envisioned a film that not only pushed for striking visuals and technical skill but also prioritized creating a positive, collaborative environment for talented artists. She aimed to encourage every team member to showcase their unique skills while ensuring everyone enjoyed working together. Now, Hope is turning her ambitions toward founding an indie animation studio. As a visionary and storyteller, her goal is to bring together talented artists to create fresh, unique stories that challenge viewers to expand their horizons to what animation can be.
Daniel Smith
Co-Director, Producer, 3D Animator
Daniel Smith is a 3D animator passionate about both storytelling and team collaboration. He is incredibly grateful for the opportunity to have led the OBELUS team. As Co-Director and Producer, Daniel worked to create a visually striking and technically ambitious film, pushing his team to succeed while fostering a positive and creative environment. He was involved in every stage of production, from animation to compositing, and also managed ShotGrid while providing ongoing feedback. Daniel is proud of the collaboration, challenges, and everything the team accomplished together, and will always cherish the memories made along the way. However when he’s not animating, you’ll find him walking through nature or on the pickleball courts.
Lauren Coursey
Animation Lead, 3D Animator, Story Artist
Lauren was drawn to OBELUS for the expansive scale of the world-building and storytelling, as well as the opportunity to animate different characters through primarily body mechanics. Lauren oversaw and offered critique for all animation on the film as the Animation Lead, in addition to contributing animation herself. She also aided in the concept design for the film- including storyboards, color scripts and posters. Working with the talented crew of OBELUS has given her the opportunity to push her story-building skills, as well as learning more about real-time rendering in Unreal Engine. When she's not animating, you can find her watching movies, hanging out with friends, or cuddling with her cat!
Victoria Collazo Hernández
CG Modeling and Surfacing Lead, Lighter
Victoria (Vicky) is a Technical Animation major and served as the CG Lead for modeling and look development on Obelus. During her time at SCAD she found a passion for 3D sculpting, merging her love for drawing with technology. Victoria aided in the development of V3XA and The Spire, two key components in creating a compelling antagonist for the film, thus expanding the world of Obelus. Furthermore, she established the Obelus project to integrate seamlessly with Perforce and developed guides to help her peers navigate the pipeline. Victoria loved working, collaborating, and learning with her teammates who have made her capstone experience unforgettable!
Joaquín Laca
Modeler, Surfacing Artist, Lighter
While pursuing his BFA in animation at SCAD, Joaquin Laca wanted to challenge himself for his final year. As a 3D Technical artist, he was fascinated by the pitch of “Obelus”. Due to the film's high stakes, which came with numerous technical challenges, Joaquin was pushed to become a better artist. Being challenged to learn new skills and apply previous knowledge to all the different stages of the pipeline, where he was able to help. By contributing to the modeling, look development, lighting, and rendering of the film. He was able to focus on the tasks that he loves, while also learning so much from some other amazing artists who were able to provide help with anything new the team needed from him. Obelus was an amazing opportunity that fostered an incredible environment for collaboration between all of the different concentrations. Whenever Joaquin is not working behind a computer, he often finds himself riding around Savannah on his bicycle, cooking a meal for his roommates, or making 3D Scans of his teammates (that might or might not be in the film).
Colin Cheng
Rigging Technical Director, Lighter, Compositor
Colin Cheng is a Technical Animation major and was the Rigging TD for OBELUS! In his free time he likes going to the gym, trying new foods, and exploring new places! He never thought that he would become an animator, but he loved the process so much that he wanted to do it for a living! When capstones were first pitched, OBELUS was his first choice because he loved the story, environment, and mechanical aspect of the characters.
Clara Perkins
VFX Lead, Surfacing Artist, Compositor
Clara Perkins is a visual effects artist with an interest in working in animation and commercials from Warner Robins, GA. Her interest in continued growth led to her joining Obelus to explore what it was like working on an actual production pipeline. As the lead visual effects artist, she spearheaded snow and electricity simulations using Unreal Engine’s niagra system and Houdini. Clara’s contributions spanned across environment texturing, lighting, simulations, and compositing. When she isn’t working, she enjoys playing video games, rewatching The Hobbit trilogy, and cuddling with her cat, Maple.​
Nick Solfa
3D Animator
As a 3D animator, Nick was drawn to OBELUS for its fast-paced, action-adventure style. He looked forward to the dynamic and energetic character animation that would come with an action-adventure short film. Collaborating with his peers on this project was a fantastic experience. Nick contributed early on by testing rigs and offering suggestions to improve them for the animation team. He also helped build a pose library and created animation cycles, as well as animating multiple final shots. Being involved in each stage of the animation pipeline for OBELUS has given him invaluable insight into how professional animation workflows operate in the industry. Overall, it was a great experience where he got to work alongside wonderful people!
Seungdong Sa
Story Lead, Concept Artist, 3D Animator
Seungdong Sa served as the Storyboard and Concept Lead and a 3D Animator on OBELUS. During pre-production, he worked on the creation of storyboards and concept art focusing on visual clarity and narrative flow. As a 3D animator, he tried to portray character emotion and intent through performance. As a whole, he collaborated with the team to support the project's visual direction and storytelling goals.
Xuan Jing (Cora)
3D Animator
Xuan was immediately drawn to OBELUS because of its intense fight sequences, dynamic camera angles, and the power of using Unreal Engine to bring it to life. The realistic art style felt like the perfect challenge for her animation skills. She focused on character animation and camera setup for the project, working to make every punch, kick, and movement feel as impactful as possible. Collaborating with the OBELUS team has been an incredible experience, and she has not only grown as an animator but also deepened her knowledge of Unreal Engine's potential for cinematic storytelling.
Check Out Our Sound Team!
Tatiana Zavala - Supervising Sound Editor
Christopher Conrad - Composer
Hayden Blocker - ADR Recordist, Dialogue Editor
Jacob Bouie - Rerecording Mixer
Billy Sheahan - Rerecording Mixer, SFX Artist
Yoni Cohen - V3XA Foley Artist
Aiden Jones - V3XA Foley Mixer
Lisle Gustafon - Arlo Foley Artist
Lolwa Gad El Karim - Arlo Foley Mixer
Petra Estrada - SFX Editor
Tara Magill - Music Editor
Ben Weigel - Backgrounds Editor, SFX Editor
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