Animation students’ short film accepted to Atlanta Film Festival

After a year of intense collaboration, late nights and artistic evolution, 16 animation students, including 11 seniors, premiered their short film The Flock of Forgotten Faces at their capstone showcase.

Under the guidance of A.B. Osborne, director of the animation program and professor in the Department of Art and Design in the Katherine Reese Pamplin College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, the team crafted a five-minute animated film that blends steampunk aesthetics, avian characters and deeply human themes.

 The students’ hard work paid off as they recently learned The Flock of Forgotten Faces was accepted into the Atlanta Film Festival’s Short Fest.

“For a film like this, you want to take a year and submit to festivals before debuting it,” Osborne said. “We’ve just started submitting to festivals, so getting into the Atlanta Short Fest so quickly has electrified the team. We’re not submitting this as a student film; we’re submitting it in the main animation categories. We’re competing against projects with budgets and big names, but we’re hopeful we’ve crafted something that speaks to those who watch the film.”

Set aboard a mysterious train, the story explores concepts of chaos versus order and the emotional masks we wear. The students drew inspiration from modern animation trends like Arcane and Spider-Verse, embracing non-photorealistic rendering over traditional CGI.

“They wanted to push back against the idea that realism is the only path forward in animation,” Osborne explained.

Co-directed by standout student Emily Hogue and Osborne, with Jaime Del Rosario as producer, the team divided tasks across modeling, rigging, texturing, animation and 2D visual enhancements. Each student brought unique strengths, from designing the haunting antagonist “The Conductor” to hand-drawing over 3D renderings to add expressive lines reflecting characters’ emotions.

Students reflected on their growth, the challenges of pipeline management and the joy of seeing it all come together.

“Watching the final render with the music and effects, I smiled through the whole thing,” del Rosario shared.

Another added, “We were all small parts of a big machine, but seeing it completed made it feel real.”

“This group had no ego, just talent, heart and hustle,” Osborne said. “They built something bigger than themselves.”

The team included:

• Co-directors – Emily Hogue and A.B. Osborne
• Producer – Jaime Del Rosario
• Previsualization & Concept Art – Jason Boyd, Alex Copher, Katherine “Violet” East, Emily Hogue, Jasmine Lary, Taylor Lawson, Trish Marcano, Jazmine Robinson, Taylor Shockley, Chloe Weeks
• Environment Lead – Jazmine Robinson
• 3D Modeling – Alex Copher, Jaime Del Rosario, Shaneice Driskell, William Dunbar, Katherine “Violet” East, Caleb Hale, Emily Hogue, Jasmine Lary, Taylor Lawson, Trish Marcano, Trey Mitchell, Taylor Shockley, Chloe Weeks
• Technical Art Director – Darreon Harris
• Render Wrangler – Alex Copher
• Texture Lead – Trish Marcano
• Texture Artists – Shaneice Driskell, Katherin “Violet” East, Taylor Lawson, Jazmine Robinson
• 3D Animation Leads – Will Dunbar, Emily Hogue
• 3D Animation – Jason Boyd, Alex Copher, Jaime Del Rosario, Shaniece Driskell, Caleb Hale, Darreon Harris, Trey Mitchell, Taylor Shockley, Chloe Weeks
• 2D Animation Leads –Katherine “Violet” East, Jasmine Lary
• 2D Animation – Jason Boyd, Alex Copher, Jaime Del Rosario, Shaneice Driskell, William Dunbar, Darreon Harris, Emily Hogue, Taylor Lawson, Keeferner Manalac, Taylor Shockley, Chloe Weeks
• Cast: Lacuna – Mandy Le