In the period of uncertainty that followed COVID’s entrance onto the world stage, it quickly became clear that each department at Viterbo University would need to create unique, new, or altered ways to deliver its content and learning objectives to students. The Theatre and Music Theatre Departments were no exception, creating the Student Theatre Initiatives to provide creative opportunities to students through the pandemic. One of these projects is an animation series, currently in the works, titled “The World Hereafter.”
In the period that preceded the Student Theatre Initiatives announcement, Viterbo junior Grant Barclay, the project’s leader and creator, saw a need and filled it while tapping into his own ideas for his professional future. “I came here to study theatre,” Barclay remarks, “but I am hoping to branch into other areas of entertainment.” In the project, he said, “[I saw] an opportunity to expand my portfolio [beyond] live theatre…and have cool opportunities for my friends [fellow Theatre and Music Theatre majors] to perform.”
Tapping into childhood television experiences with Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon hits like “Adventure Time” and “Avatar: The Last Airbender,” Barclay combined “an exploration in different forms of animation” with his academic learning to cultivate a unique style for “The World Hereafter,” which will be visible in the teaser trailer. This preliminary window into the developing project will be released on the Lumen website.
In that trailer, featuring videography by Rachel Muñoz, viewers will see one of the primary animation techniques employed by Barclay and his team: rotoscoping. The process involves capturing live footage and then drawing layers of animation over it. This is prevalent in the featured fight scene, with 12 frames of animation needed to cover every action-packed second. This scene was choreographed by Cristian Nieves, who is also voicing one of the mysterious main characters, named Sable. The other main voice will be provided by Audrey Accardo, in the role of Jess.
As Barclay notes that a full rotoscoping project “isn’t sustainable without an animation team,” he and the other creative directors have decided that the majority of the ten-episode series will be executed in the motion comic style, where traditional still comic animation is enhanced with moving layers.
In his creative vision for the project, Barclay stressed the importance of including “themes that hold up for young children and adults,” hinting that “a few episodes will include similar themes” to his childhood favorites–some of which also utilized rotoscoping in their production.
As the first episode’s 240-page script reaches its completion and the show’s first private readthrough sits on the horizon, Barclay is excited for the future after an entire semester of pre-production planning. Perhaps “The World Hereafter” will go on to change the world “here and now,” as other Viterbo students, faculty, and projects have before it.
