Why Did the Pigeon Cross the Road?

I joined Orange Shorts, Syracuse University’s student-run animation studio, as a first semester freshman. At the second meeting, I pitched the story of a hungry pigeon who embarks on a daring mission to cross the road for the only food in sight: a moldy bagel. To my surprise and delight, the rest of the team voted to produce it.

I took the lead on story development and wrote the screenplay for the project, incorporating the ideas of the other artists into my original vision to craft a narrative that excited all of us and included touches of everyone’s creativity. To keep the project on track, I managed the production schedule and asset list throughout the animation pipeline.

This was only the second year of our club’s existence on campus, and we were a small but mighty group. Over the course of the year, we progressed through storyboards, animatics, rough animation, and final animation, with each animator maintaining their own art style for their parts of the project. Although we were only able to fully produce the last sequence of the film, I am incredibly proud of our work. As development ramps up for the 2024-2025 school year, I am excited to announce that once again my newest pitch was chosen for production and I am honored to hold the position of Head Writer. I cannot wait to see what we create as our organization continues to grow.

Storyboard for final sequence

Animatic of the pigeon starting to cross the road