Sprite Fright
About Sprite Fright
In 1980s Britain, Ellie and her classmates camp in a forest for a biology project and meet small mushroom people who introduce themselves as Sprites and offer peppermint tea. The others damage the woods. The Sprites kill those classmates. Ellie, who had tried to leave the habitat alone, gets back across a fallen log, and a bird she helped earlier pulls her away from the Elder Sprite.
Cast & crew
More about Sprite Fright
Blender's 13th Open Movie. Matthew Luhn, a former Pixar story supervisor, wrote and directed it, with Hjalti Hjálmarsson as co-director, Andy Goralczyk as art director, and Ricky Nierva on production design. Francesco Siddi produced and Ton Roosendaal was executive producer. The stated technical job was pipeline tools for artists working together. Luhn worked remotely, then came to Amsterdam in late September 2021 for the last weeks of post. The film went live on 29 October 2021 at 5 p.m. CET.
Themes
Background
The short was finished while the Blender crew was still split by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the story is set in Britain in the 1980s.
In film history
Blender published the shot files so other artists could open the production.
Making
Julien Kaspar's production log of 25 October 2021 says the premiere was the end of that week. Luhn had already spent more than a year on the film from a distance before the Amsterdam visit.
Technique
The Blender press note says the film was used to push pipeline tools, so artists could share work more easily inside an open-source production.
Music
Ben J. Lee wrote the score. David Drury and Phil Peterson wrote the songs.
Preservation
Blender Studio keeps the film with its production files, assets, and breakdowns.
Notes
- Valerie LaPointe voices Ellie. The catalog also lists Gabriel Bisset-Smith, Nicole Davis, Homer Todiwala, Ed Kear, and Eric Peterson.
- Rik Schutte led animation. Sander Houtman did the sound design.
- A Blender Studio production log called 25 October the last week of work and pointed to the Friday premiere.
- Production files, assets, and breakdowns went up on the Blender Studio site, as with earlier Open Movies.
- The studio's making-of reel shows Grease Pencil effects, simulations, and z-depth denoising.
Scenes
- The Sprites greet the teenagers in a clearing and offer peppermint tea.
- Ellie reaches the log bridge after the others have been killed.
Also available
- Blender Studio (studio.blender.org/films/sprite-fright)
Quotes
Could I interest you in some peppermint tea?
We are Sprites.
We really shouldn't disrupt their habitat.