Reel Runner

One of my university lecturers, Veno Prendergast, approached me with an opportunity to collaborate with a group of VFX students, where I was given the role of animating an ostrich.

Analysing the references

Aware of the importance of realistic movement, my first step was to gather extensive reference footage of ostriches in motion. I studied the material closely, breaking it down into key poses to guide a more accurate and believable animation process.

Breaking down the motion

A comedic twist

The short film’s story follows an ostrich running rapidly across the savannah, until it's humorously revealed that the entire scene is being filmed in a studio against a green screen. This plot twist added a fun, comedic layer to the project and influenced my animation approach.

My primary focus was on perfecting a convincing run cycle, while also giving the ostrich a strong, cheeky personality to enhance the humour of the piece.

While I'm proud of the final result, time constraints meant I couldn’t fully realise every aspect of the animation as the piece is still a work in progress.

That said, the experience was incredibly rewarding. It was a pleasure to collaborate with such a talented team (Henry Ottley, Rachel Locke, Kirill Sinakovs, Max Davies), and I’m grateful to have contributed my skills to help bring their vision to life.