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Amelie Brosien, Editor-in-Chief
Amelie is ChargerInk.'s Editor-in-Chief. Amelie is a senior here at Champion, and this is her third year with the newspaper. She absolutely loves writing,...
Senior Places 3rd in State Animation Competition
May 11, 2022
Rebecca Spade, a senior at Champion High School, placed third in the University Interscholastic League (UIL) State 2022 Traditional Animation category. She entered an animated short film titled ‘Longing’, and was awarded one of the best in the state. The competition began in January and continued until Spade finished at state.
When students choose to enter the Traditional Animation category, they are judged based on multiple categories including writing a meaningful story to keep the viewer engaged and animating the story in a way that displays their talents. Their concepts are also evaluated to ensure the film conforms to the moral standards of the community.
“I was just thinking, a lot of people for UIL have these stories about like, friendship and getting through problems,” said the writer and animator of Longing, senior Rebecca Spade. “I felt like doing something a little darker and more mature would help it stand out and just make a bigger impact.”
The short film Longing illustrates a man struggling with depression and addiction, periodically displaying him with ‘Happy’ pills. The man falls into an ocean, and appears to be drowning before a woman with a flower in her hair tumbles into him. They smile, and land on their feet in the choppy waters. They dance together, a petal periodically falling out of the woman’s flower. Finally the last petal falls away, symbolizing her death. The video ends with the man lying alone in his bed with the ‘Happy’ pills and a wedding picture beside him before he sits up and throws the pills away.
She initially entered into UIL because it was required for the course, but soon discovered her desire to create and animate something new and different. She succeeded, with her entrance making a big splash next to the other top competitors. UIL’s animation categories are incredibly competitive, requiring contestants to be put through several rounds of rigorous judging regarding both the story and the artistic ability of the contestant.
“We would finish our animations and then some teachers picked which ones they liked the best,” said Spade. “From there, they would do ‘early judging’, where they would point out what they liked about it, and they would decide whether you would move on or not. Later on, the judges get a little more harsh with their criticism, and tell you things you could have done instead.”
Spade worked every animation class period for nearly four months just to complete her three minute long video. Spade herself is just starting out, and offers some tips for aspiring animators.
“I like to listen to a lot of music; it just gives me ideas. I like a lot of instrumental stuff, just because it allows for a lot of room with creativity and imagination,” said Spade. “I’ll go on walks and from there, I’ll kind of sketch out a storyboard and then come up with bits and pieces as I go along as well.”
Spade also encourages aspiring animators to “just go with your gut on what kind of story you want to do. Don’t worry if it’s too safe or not, or too drastic, just follow what you want to do, and if other people don’t like it, that’s their opinion. As long as you like it, that’s fine.”
During the interview, Spade discussed her future in animation. She plans to keep the craft as a hobby, and will pursue other career options.
“I learned that animating is hard, and definitely not something to scoff at,” said Spade. “I learned to really respect it as an art form.”
View Rebecca Spade’s work here:
Div 2_Traditional Animation_Boerne Champion HS_Longing.mp4