Two newly introduced travelers flee a giant cat.
Animated in Dragonframe 2024. VFX in Adobe After Effects. Edited in Adobe Premiere Pro.

Lucas Pandolfo – Barley
Skylar Alley – Danae
Brian Kay – Mosgiel
Caleb Noel – Devon
Tina Lombardo – Alana
Margaret Decarie – Olivia

Casting Director: Daniela Anne Cantu

Matte Painting and Watercolor: Kate Stammler

Advisors: Collin Kluchman, Julie Gourdain

The melancholic quality of wintertime was the emotional fuel for Sunshiners’ first draft, along with a central question: What does one do when they have no certain way forward, but must continue anyway? In other words, what does one do at the end of the world?

Sunshiners was an expansion on my previous animated film, The Library, in essentially every way. More story, more settings, more characters, more music, all in only a slightly expanded time-frame. The entire production process from casting until final export was completely breakneck. But throughout it, I had a clear vision in mind for the end product that pushed me forward, and I’ve moved into the film’s festival run confident that I’ve captured it.

This film was my first experience mixing for 5.1 surround sound, and it might be the most fun I’ve ever had working on such a tight timeline. Although I also made a stereo mix for the film so that it can live beyond the theater without relying on a direct stereo mixdown (the whole concept of which I loath completely), the film’s empty, voidlike settings and the characters that pierce through them come alive so much more in surround.