“The Ocean Duck”
ROLE
Production Manager
OVERVIEW
The Ocean Duck is a hybrid 2D animated film that utilizes both traditional hand-drawn animation and puppet animation. The Ocean Duck, an animated short film combines the beauty of ancient poetry and illuminated manuscripts with the modern story of a young woman and her grandmother. It is based on a poem in Rumi’s Masnavi, describing a duck that is raised by chickens, despite its true home being the ocean – a symbol for the eternal. The Ocean Duck is a visual expression of how folklore and magical realism can help achieve a transcending experience.
Directed by Huda Razzak and co-directed by My Anh Ngo
Link: https://theoceanduckfilm.com/
DUTIES
Collaborate with a team of 30+ artists to produce a 6:15-minute hybrid 2D animated film that utilizes both traditional hand-drawn animation and puppet animation.
Conduct 2D team meetings to kick off, maintain, and conclude project scopes.
Briefing team members on delivery objectives and keeping everyone informed on the progress of the project.
Create a naming convention to be used throughout the film.
Coordinate the organization of Toon Boom Harmony project networks.
Foresee and address possible planning/production issues, translating the complexity of the project into lucid language that team members can understand.
Communicate with the director to ensure the film stayed on vision.
Plan and organize the production schedule using Trello.
PROGRAMS
AirTable : Asset list creation
Trello : Team shot completion
Toon Boom Harmony : Scene setup
Google Docs : Task organization
Google Sheets : Task organization
Google Hangout : Communication
Discord : Communication
PROCESS
Consult with the director on production’s best practices by drawing from my industry experiences.
Review the animatic, and find shots that could be consolidated or eliminated to reduce the film’s overall run-time.
Strategize ways to consolidate character poses to reduce asset creation and character rigging.
Separate animatic into individual shots, and place them in Toon Boom Harmony scene files with the corresponding assets and reference footage.
Assign shots to artists based on the level of difficulty and time it will take to complete.
Track the completion progress of each shot using AirTable.
EXPERIENCE
The greatest challenge I faced on this production was the wide variance of skill levels I had to accommodate for with the artists. The majority of the artists had limited animation experience, so I had to adjust the pipeline and my communication methods to help up-level their skills.
PRESS
Animation Magazine, “Director Huda Razzak on Her Prize-Winning ‘Ocean Duck’ and Rumi’s Quest for Eternal Love”
Animation Magazine, “NYICFF: ‘The Ocean Duck,’ ‘She Dreams at Sunrise,’ ‘To the Bright Side’ Win Top Prizes”
AWN, “SCAD Savannah Film Festival Announces 2021 Winners”
Cartoon Brew, “SCAD Alumni Share Valuable Industry Advice at AnimationFest 2021”
SCAD, “AnimationFest presents ‘The Ocean Duck’”
FILM FESTIVALS
Winner, Jury Award for Animated Short, Academy Award®-Qualifying, New York International Children’s Film Festival, 2022
Honorable Mention, Golden Gate Awards, San Francisco International Film Festival, 2022
Atlanta Film Festival, 2022
Animayo Film Festival, 2022
Palm Springs International ShortFest, 2022
Winner, Best of the South Award, ASIFAC-South Animation Festival and Conference, 2022
HollyShorts Film Festival, 2022
Hamptons International Film Festival, 2022
Arab Film Festival, 2022
NewFilmmakers Los Angeles, 2022
Austin Film Festival, 2021
Winner, Best Animated Short by a SCAD Student, SCAD Savannah Film Festival, 2021
Chicago International Children’s Film Festival, 2021
St. Louis International Film Festival, 2021
Light in Motion Competition, Foyle Film Festival, 2021
