Making Benny the Worm: My First Animated Short

 Our final project in class was to create a 1 minute long animation about anything that we wanted. I chose to create a Spongebob-esque character named Benny the Worm and make the short about his daily misadventures. The YouTube link can be found here: https://youtu.be/wo_DxJC3lDI

For making the actual animated segments, I wanted to create a sense of simplicity, comfort, and joy in every scene. As such, every scene uses bold, bright colors and the set pieces are simple places you may find in a typical American home. The scenes towards the end utilize animation techniques from 90's cartoon slapstick from shows such as Spongebob Squarepants and Rocco's Modern Life.

For the film's musical soundtrack, I utilized GarageBand to create the mood and tone for my scenes, as the music is just as important as the animation. I wanted to drive the feelings of comfort further in the opening segments, incorporating smooth jazz and simple percussion. For the ending sequence, I wanted to do a total 180 in both tone and pace, as the animation follows suit. I used not only conventional instruments like trumpets and french horns, but I also used Chinese Woodwinds and Latin drum beats to drive the suspense and momentum of the scene.

Some Reviews of the Film:

"The day in the life of a worm. That's awesome Lucas! I like the music selection. A little breakfast, exercise and a shower before relaxing to become bait for fishing. Great job!" -Dad

"I love it! I love the worms expressive eyes and the music is perfect!" -Mom

"The video was so cute. You could see the story behind the worm. And loved when Lucas went outside and was picked up the worm. Liked the music in the back ground" -Lauren, Friend of Mom

"The flow of the story and the animation was really good. I like it a lot." -Joey Mauro, Class of 2023 UCLA Graduate