Meet The Team
We’re not just walking away with knowledge and demo reel material. We’re walking away with friendships we’ll hold onto for life. We’re proud of what we accomplished, and we know we’re all going to surprise each other again one day. We couldn’t have asked for a better team, a better group of friends, or a better family to be a part of. We hope you enjoy our craziness put into this film—Popped or Alive truly is something special.
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- Popped or Alive Team
Dani Fevola
Dani is a 3D character animator who likes to put a humorous spin on their projects. They have always admired the exaggerated movements and poses in cartoony work, and enjoy incorporating that into their own. As the director of Popped or Alive, they absorbed the thoughts and ideas of their crew to help make the story the best it could possibly be. Seeing their characters evolve from concept art to animatable 3D rigs, and then finally on the big screen was a fulfilling experience for them. They couldn’t be prouder of their crew and what they accomplished together.
In their spare time, Dani enjoys visiting the beach, drawing, and spending time with friends.
Megan Staton
Megan Staton is a 3D animator who prioritizes appeal through nuanced acting character movement. During the production of Popped or Alive, Megan had the opportunity to contribute not only their skills in animation, but also their skills in production management. As the Producer, Megan created and managed a series of resources, schedules, and assets that were necessary for the film’s completion. They enjoyed working together with such a talented team, and are excited to see Popped or Alive on the big screen! Outside of the film Megan enjoys illustration, video games, music-based visual content, and any hands-on craft they think looks easy enough to pull off.
Diya Ali
Diya Ali is the Rigging Artist responsible for designing and implementing the Balloot, Sheriff, and Mr. Smiley body and facial rigs and the Horsey facial rig. This necessitated the creation of a bespoke 2D facial system for Popped or Alive, as well as a custom script so that the 2D faces could be brought into unreal. Diya was also responsible for parts of lighting and even some animation.
Diya enjoys rigging, cooking, carpentry, and staring at the art in hollow knight.
Duda Bulhões
Duda Bulhões is a 3D animator who also greatly enjoys 3D modeling and compositing. Throughout the production of Popped or Alive, she had a chance to expand her knowledge in Unreal Engine, while also using their proficiency in Autodesk Maya and Adobe After Effects to work on multiple aspects of the film such as modeling, animating, lighting, and compositing. A part of the pipeline she didn’t expect to enjoy so much was compositing, but it ended up being one of her favorite things to do in the film, alongside animation. Outside of animation, Duda loves listening to music, playing video games, and drawing, and she enjoys combining those passions to create art.
Carter Hanson
Carter had to wear a lot of hats for this film. He was modeling, illustrating, compositing, animating, storyboarding and doing silly little doodles of the crew behind their back. More often than not, Carter was described as a “Jack of all trades” and he feels like he really gotta show that in Popped or Alive. The degree might say 3D animator but he thinks he’s got some more stuff to show than that. There’s a whole world with stuff to see; he’s here to have some fun and help out where he can.
Ellie (Ez) Sykes
Ellie(Ez) Sykes is a creature animator who works in both 3D and 2D animation as well as modeling. While anyone who has met them can say Ez is a bit on the quiet side, they love being around funny people and doing fun things with them. As a more realistic creature animator, this film was a fun challenge for her to work on. It was absurd and silly and Horsey wasn’t a real horse so they couldn’t animate him like one. Ez had to break out of their usual animation ways to make something more cartoony for the Balloon people and animals. Outside of animating, Ellie loves to read, write, listen to music, and spend time with her dog Appa.
Julienne Sones
Julienne is an Environment Artist that specializes in stylized realism. Over the course of the production of Popped or Alive, Julienne took a role in ensuring the overall cohesion and setup of the 3D environment, creating resources and troubleshooting issues related to Unreal Engine and Perforce, and setting up environment lighting for the film. Over the duration of the film while also expanding their knowledge on Unreal Engine, Julienne also found an admiration for lighting and compositing. When there is free time, Julienne enjoys playing the guitar, playing video games, and listening to music.
Rachel Li
Rachel is a 3D character animator who thrives on every stage of the 3D animation pipeline. For this film, she took on animation duties, as well as modeling and texturing some of the props. She loved the creative adaptability demanded by working in a small team and can’t wait to tackle more projects in the future.
Requel Bloom
Requel Bloom is a 3D animator with a passion for concept art, 3d modeling, rigging, and lighting. During the production of Popped or Alive, Requel had the opportunity to utilize and expand upon their existing knowledge to help with multiple different parts of the pipeline. From doing the concept art, modeling, to animating, lighting, and compositing, she got to experience and learn while also utilizing her existing knowledge to help the team the best she could. Requel found Popped or Alive to be an amazing film to be a part of, especially about her fellows and the close bond everyone formed over development. When not animating, Requel enjoys music, reading, 3d printing, drawing, and 3d modeling.
Zag Cook
Zag is a 3D animator who works tirelessly to be as versatile and proficient as possible. Through animation, modeling, texturing, rigging, lighting, rendering and compositing, Zag worked to push their well-trained proficiencies to their absolute limit while absorbing any and all other skills they had the opportunity to partake in. Thriving in an environment of intense communication and constant feedback, Zag found Popped or Alive to be one of the most utterly enjoyable experiences they have ever been involved in, seeing their team members more as family than simply peers. When relaxing and recharging, Zag can often be found playing online shooters, skating or tinkering with their RC short-course trucks.
