Dulce is a short 3D animated film that explores the loving relationship between a mother and daughter while balancing the heavy concept of death. I created this film along with my teammates Aleyda Ortiz and

Lok Cheang as thesis requirement to graduate from BFA 3D Animation and Visual Effects at the School of Visual Arts in NYC.

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   Production on Dulce began in the summer of 2022 as my teammates Aleyda and Lok developed the story boards and look of the film around an early story draft that Aleyda had created years prior. Shortly after the original pitch was completed, I joined the team. From the early stages of pre-production through to the final mix, I was responsible for managing the production, rigging, animation, and sound design. While my teammates began working on modelling the characters and environment, I turned the existing storyboards into a full previsualization of the film in 3D. 

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   After the characters, props, and previsualization had been finished, I began rigging all of our assets so that they could be animated while my teammates worked on hair and clothing simulation, visual effects, and textures. As 2023 came around, we were moving into completing shots of animation one by one, and updating the edit as we went along replacing the rough pre-visuals with amazing finalized shots. 

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   After finishing animation, I moved directly into developing all of the sound effects for the film. We hired voice actors to give authentic representation to our characters and a band to create an original score for the film. At the same time, my teammates worked on color correcting and finalizing the visual effects.

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  In April of 2023, almost a year after pre-production began, we turned in our completed film. We had our first private screening hosted by SVA for industry professionals in and around New York City. At this point we were selected for the Alumni's Choice Award, which was given to us by alumni of the 3D Animation program who were able to watch all of the graduating class's films and vote for their favorites.

 

   At the same time, we were also selected as one of SVA's Best of 2023. Because of this nomination, we were flown out to Los Angeles where we screened our film for another party of industry professionals in and around LA. There were also multiple days of mixers where we made invaluable connections with our peers and seniors within the industry, a tour of Nickelodeon's Burbank studio, and an invitation to the animation screening section of the Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival. 

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   After returning from LA, we got to work applying our film to film festivals around the world. We received so much more recognition that we could have ever asked for. All of our nominations and awards can be seen below.

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   Wearing multiple hats throughout production was challenging but incredibly rewarding. Each role informed us of the others, and being so involved in every aspect of the film helped us maintain a cohesive vision from start to finish. This was all of our first time creating a full film. After a year of day-in and day-out work to finish, we are unbelievably proud of what we made together. The ability to produce a film independently with all of the tools and support from SVA helped all of us to grow immensely, both technically and artistically.

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As of the start of 2025, our film festival run has ended and we have all moved on to new projects, building our careers toward becoming integral parts of the CG community around us. 

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