The maker of industry leader animation software Maya is recognizing two Ringling College alumni for their continued success with their award-winning short film Period Drama.

Period Drama was created by Anushka Nair and Lauryn Anthony, both 2022 graduates of the Computer Animation program at Ringling College, as their senior thesis project, using Maya, 3D animation, and visual effects software.

In an article published on Area, an online community for the fields of animation, games, film and TV, VFX, design visualization and advertising, run by Autodesk, the makers of Maya, the duo discuss their time at Ringling College, the inspiration behind Period Drama, and their process. 

Period Drama is a Victorian-era tale about 11-year-old Georgiana Crimsworth, who gets her first period “before ever having gotten the talk.” The two-minute animated short, addresses the implicit taboo surrounding periods, and by extension women’s health as a whole.

“The internationally renowned Computer Animation program at Ringling threw us headfirst into the entire CG [computer graphics] pipeline,” they said in the interview. 

“We learned modeling, texturing, rigging, animation, simulation, fx, lighting, rendering, and compositing,” said Anthony. “And to ensure we had a strong understanding of the entire filmmaking process, we were also expected to storyboard and develop our own concept art. Every year leading up to our senior thesis project, we made 10-30 second animated shorts from the ground up. We were trained not only to be artists but also to be writer-directors.”

In the interview, the two talk in detail about the timeline and technical process of creating the film following the traditional workflow of a VFX studio.

Shortly after graduating from Ringling College, Nair and Anthony both accepted jobs in the industry. Nair is an associate modeling artist at Blizzard in Irvine, California. Anthony is a junior lighter/compositor at Icon Creative Studio in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Period Drama has been recognized in film festivals and competitions across the globe, most recently winning the Best Student Project at SIGGRAPH Asia. The film was also a finalist for the 2022 Student Academy Awards (and was the only student work selected from the United States).

Watch Period Drama here.