- CollegeLondon College of Communication
- CourseMA 3D Computer Animation
- Graduation year2025
Checkmate is a short animated video that uses the metaphor of a chess match to examine psychological conflict, tension, and strategy. I had to use lighting, camera work, and performance animation to bring a character's emotional journey to life for this project.
Throughout the project, I used Unreal Engine to produce cinematic shots, animated character actions, and Blender to create stylised chess elements and intro images. In order to produce a dramatic, noir-inspired visual style, I also played around with shading, post-processing, and atmosphere. Checkmate is a metaphor for my development as an animator, from having little experience to confidently creating and animating a whole storyline.
Final work
Seeing the Field
A still of the protagonist starting to visualise the chess game from the perspective of the board and seeing the game on the field.
Game On
a still of the main character playing a pre-game and warm-up before the game starts
Research and process
Project
This still image comes from my animation project Checkmate, which was made with the Sequencer workflow in Unreal Engine 5. It highlights my efforts in lighting, camera composition, character acting, and real-time rendering and is one of the short's most important character animation moments.
I utilised Sequencer as a whole cinematic environment for this project, not simply as a timeline tool. I managed animation clips, blended character movements, and employed precision timing to refine emotional beats.
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