Fighting Spirits

Fighting Spirits by Gene Kim. Fighting Spirits is Gene’s thesis film from NYU Tisch School of Arts, this animted short contains over 5,000 individual drawings…

Who?

I created virtually everything in the film including some music. My friend Vincent Hon created some mechanical designs and a small team of colorists (Isabelle Gedigk, Demi Chen, Kaishu Mennella & Ashley Jin Kim) helped me too.

What?

In the distant future, 2 rival ballerinas face off at a final audition that takes a turn for the unexpected.

Why?

I woke up with the image of a bionic ballerina one day my freshman year in college and wanted to do something with that image ever since then. I also wanted to create something with the energy and atmosphere of Crouching Tiger, Amadeus and X-Men.

Note: I started this project a year before Black Swan came out – strange how that happens. I still haven’t seen it.

How?

Everything was drawn in Photoshop with a Cintiq.

Next Project?

Im Starting to develop my next film, not sure what it’ll be. Professionally, I’m working at Blue Sky Studios in their camera & staging department doing some stuff with their next film entitled Epic.

Which animated film would you like to have made?

Spirited Away or Wall-E.