Students in their first year at the UCLA Animation Workshop create a short film. When I was there the only thing we were allowed to use a computer for was to master the sound. I followed that rule. Pretty much.
The rule was there because at some point in the 1990s, as computers became more more helpful in amateur filmmaking, some of the students in the workshop took advantage of those digital tools a little too much. It got to the point where some of them were just phoning in their work, turning in films that were, at best, of questionable merit. So the professors of the workshop decided that it would be appropriate to require all first-years to work completely traditionally, with no help from a computer. That would keep them from using the too-easy shortcuts that computers provided.
Not exactly the solution I would have arrived at, but that’s a debate for another time and place. Really it’s a moot point now, since the rule has all but disappeared. Thankfully, first-year students are now allowed to use computers, now simply held accountable for the quality of their films.
Anyway, this is all to preface the presentation of my first-year film. This is it, animated the old-fashioned way, on cels with brushed lines and painted fills. I added digital energy sword effects after finishing it for school, but other than that it’s full-on old-school. I hope you enjoy it.