Maria Tyan

Ashes Capstone Project

Ashes is a short dark-fantasy cinematic about a knight kneeling by a grave. I wanted to explore grief, remembrance, and letting go through the knight's actions and symbolism rather than explaining the story through dialogue or dynamic action. The butterfly and female spirit are connected to his past, while his decision to leave his sword behind at the grave suggests that he may finally be ready to move forward. I was inspired by dark-fantasy games and animated works, particularly Elden Ring (FromSoftware, 2022), Berserk (Miura, 1989-2021), and Ghost of Tsushima (Sucker Punch Productions, 2020).
I worked on the project independently, modelling the knight in ZBrush, creating his rig using RapidRigModular in Maya, texturing him in Substance 3D Painter, and animating the scenes in Maya. I also developed the storyboard, planned the environment and the use of third-party assets, and worked on the lighting and camera shots. Some parts of the original plan changed during production as I worked around technical and time constraints.
Making Ashes helped me understand how much planning and work goes into even a short cinematic. I also learned that I need to test my workflow earlier and leave more time for rendering and finalising the sequence. Although I couldn't achieve everything I originally wanted, I completed the project and developed my skills in modelling, animation, and cinematic storytelling. I hope to keep improving and learning from this experience.