The drawn animation for the thesis film took me about two months and several “trifecta weekends” to complete.

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A trifecta is three consecutive twelve-hour days of animation, an anti all-nighter work model proposed by our thesis adviser Patrick Smith. The idea was to work in the animation lab from 9am to 9pm without procrastinating or mindless internet browsing. The only break was 1 hour for lunch. Everyone had to unplug from their computers, and we made it a point to go out and eat lunch off school grounds. At 9pm everyone had to go home and rest. No more work or animation for the rest of the day. We weren’t required to participate, but for the people who were a part of it, it became an agreement that each of us would held each other to. 

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Patrick made a good point that all-nighters pretty much ruin the next day of work. And if you do it several nights in a row, you pretty much turn into a zombie. Up until then, I have always done my projects at night and always worked well into the morning. I haven’t been a morning person in a long time. Those twelve-hour days were long and painful but, between the silent but strong motivation and awesome lunch breaks, I have never been more productive.  

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I don’t know if I would have been able to finish my thesis in time for graduation if it wasn’t for the trifecta group, which is why almost every time I talk about my thesis I need to give Arjun Chatterjee, Tripp Yeoman, and Patrick Smith a shout out.

 

YEY TRIFECTA!