A handful of students (from left): Pamela Pantin, Belinda Paine, Aurora Endres, Michael Morales, Calysta Standard, Ella Maines, Kaylee Gabalski, Rylee Crandall and (keeling) Quentin Moss are relieved and sleepily celebrating after having recently submitted their films for judging. The students, from two different teams, were encouraged to bring along overnight gear, such as blankets, pillows or stuffed animals. That created an opening for the actor/filmmaker Danny DeVito cutout, who took on the role of team mascot.

Valuable collaborative experience was a key takeaway for State University of New York at Fredonia Visual Arts and New Media students in the 24 Hour Animation Contest.

Seven teams competed in the very challenging animation filmmaking competition by creating 30-second animated films based on the theme “AI and its Effect on the Future.” Without a doubt, it was a formidable task for students to complete within 24 hours.

The international contest really lived up to its name, according to senior Animation and Illustration major Kadence (Kady) Oborne, the lead organizer in charge of registering SUNY Fredonia teams for the contest.

“It is no easy feat to work tirelessly on an animation, let alone under such a time constraint,” Ms. Osborne reflected. “However, I’ve seen students struggle, learn, laugh, adapt and grow as artists through it all.” And that’s what inspired her to keep SUNY Fredonia as a participant in the competition.

“The whole point of the contest is to get teams of five students to create a 30-second animated short, based on a random prompt given during a live streaming, right before the contest starts,” Osborne explained.

All seven teams successfully completed and submitted their films by the 24-hour deadline, reported Department of Visual Arts and New Media Assistant Professor Abbey Paccia. Teams used a variety of animation techniques that included paperless digital animation, 3-dimensional CGI (computer-generated imagery) animation and traditional hand-drawn and painted animation on cels (transparent sheets on which objects are drawn or painted).

“The contest was not a required part of a course, but a challenge that many students rise to because of their passion for animation,” Ms. Paccia remarked. “It’s also a great way for students to share their work on a world stage and connect with animation students from other schools around the world.”

Participating students are enrolled in the Department of Visual Arts and New Media, and most but not everyone is majoring in Animation and Illustration.

Students from around the world had the same 24-hour window – 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 4, to 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 5 (Eastern Daylight Time) – to take their films from conception to completion. A panel of industry experts judged the entries. Overall, there were just five winning teams.

“We didn’t end up placing this year, but that’s no slight on our students since there were 559 teams from schools around the world in the competition. It’s a very challenging contest,” Paccia noted.

“The contest teaches students much about working together, meeting deadlines and making creative decisions under pressure. It is also a lot of fun! It’s an initiative that motivates students to produce really great work in a short amount of time,” Paccia said.

“I loved the community-building aspect that it builds at Fredonia,” Osborne said. “I loved to see Animation and Illustration students working together; that’s good for the future industry experience that they will have.”

Osborne helped students navigate the rules of the competition and coordinated lab spaces, ensuring all equipment and software programs were up to the task, and also arranged deliveries of food for the competitors.

In addition to individual student films that were made, Osborne, a member of the campus’ Animation and Illustration Club, assembled a “behind-the-scenes” reel to recap the process of students creating their movies. It’s a recognition that’s separate from the overall competition. When Osborne was a sophomore, SUNY Fredonia’s overview of the movie-making process placed in the top 10 in this part of the competition.

This was the second year in a row that 35 SUNY Fredonia students participated in the contest.

A year ago, over 2,000 students from 86 schools in 33 countries participated in the contest.