Archon Defender is a feature length animated film, created as a solo production by Director David T. Krupicz over 3 years.
Archon Defender follows the path of a young woman, Colette, as she seeks her way through adversity to redemption, as the world she once knew is torn apart by war and tyranny.
The shard is the eternal remnant of creation.
It links all life, but lies just beyond our conscious grasp.
Nobody knows when their connection will awaken.
My father suspected I had the connection,
And knew that I was not safe under Lucia's regime.
Only through the help of his friends,
Was I able to escape to archon.
Only then, it was too late to save my mother and father.
The Empress Lucia has risen to power in Echelon, and is systematically persecuting the Shard Sensitive, and all who oppose her power.
Orphaned while fleeing from Lucia's Regime, Colette seeks refuge in the nation of Archon. Having Awakened to the Shard, her abilities become fully manifest under the guidance of the Archon Council. Joining the Archon Defense Wing, she must confront her own feelings of isolation and despair, to stand against Lucia.
Technology has advanced to the point where it is possible for an individual, or a small group of people, to create a full length animated feature film of a quality rivaling the big studios, in a similar production time.
I created Archon Defender entirely by myself in less than 3 years using obsolete older versions of production software running on second hand computers, in my spare time. While holding down a full time job.
Being a solo project, I was:
| Director | Script Writer | Storyboard Artist | Concept Artist | ||
| Set Designer | Character Designer | Costume Designer | 3D Modeler | ||
| 3D Rigging | Texturing | Lighting | Art Director | ||
| Animator | Renderer | Compositor | Effects Artist | ||
| Editor | Musician | Sound Effects | DVD layout | ||
| Website Designer | Promotion | etc. |
The only way to actually finish a project like this is to hold an image of the final project in your mind. It forces you to learn new skills and improve your abilities as you go along. The only difference between a feature and a short is simply the number of shots that need to be done. Making a feature forces you to learn how to streamline your workflow, forces you to improve your skills. I managed to get the film done in 3 years in my 'spare time' averaging about 4 seconds of new shots per day.
Archon Defender is actually the 5th such animated film I've made, although the first feature length film. Previously, I created Rocketmen vs. Robots, a series of four animated films about 20 mins each. You can watch the Rocketmen vs Robots films online or on my YouTube channel.
My previous work on the Rocketmen films certainly helped my workflow, but Archon Defender was the first time I actually created full 3D characters with a skinned animation rig. Originally I was going to do the character animation in 2D, but this became unwieldy (mainly because I'm a bad 2D animator). I realized early in the production that I would have to do the character animation in 3D if I wanted to have any chance of getting this film done.
