Digital Media Students Win Rising Star Award For Animation 2025 with Work Reflecting Mother-Child Relationship
Congratulations to Team Bluberri Production, students from the Digital Media program at the School of Digital Media and Cinematic Arts, who received the Rising Star Award For Animation 2025 at the Bangkok International Digital Content Festival for their Degree Project "BOND" - a short animation reflecting the relationship between mother and child.
Team Bluberri Production Members.
- Nutchawee Lerthiransahakij, Producer
- Pariyakron Paijit, Producer
- Bhakorn Prangkaew, 3D Animation
- Thungthong Thimpia, 3D Animation
- Pakteema Meemunkong, 3D Animation
- Thanaphat Worajindapitak, 3D Animation
- Wongsatorn Boonsong, 3D Animation
- Panuphong Kamphontan, 3D Animation
- Mettasarn Boonyoros, 3D Animation
- Pawit Boonsongprasert, 3D Animation
- Paradorn Witthayakhajorndej, 3D Animation
- Panithi Munrawang, Sound & Music Productio
- Chonlatorn Wonglun, Sound & Music Production
Inspiration from Music to Moving Images
The BOND project began with simple inspiration from the song "Monsta" by Benee. The team used the emotion and energy from the song as a foundation, then gradually expanded it into a complete story. A team representative shared, "What we wanted to prove to ourselves was overcoming our previous limitations. So we intentionally chose a tone and style that wasn't easy to work with. You could say it was a challenge that was both pressuring and exciting at the same time." Throughout the creative journey, the team faced many obstacles - exhaustion and uncertain times - but every difficulty became motivation to work harder, until finally they saw the work gradually take shape, step by step.
Cutting-Edge Technology Combined with Determination
As students, producing international-level animation is a multidimensional challenge involving story content, technique, budget, time, and human resource management. Particularly for BOND's story, which features snow appearing throughout almost the entire piece, the team had to research and develop programs with sufficient capability. They chose Unreal Engine 5 as their main engine, specifically the Niagara Effects plugin for creating highly realistic snow effects. They also used Houdini to create footprints in the snow - a program the team wasn't familiar with that required much time to learn and experiment with before achieving results close to their vision. "This experience taught us that creating animation isn't just about design, but also requires specialized software and technical problem-solving. Although difficult, once we got through it, we gained new skills that can be applied to our careers."
Standout Features That Won Over the Judges
What made BOND different and able to win the award wasn't just the beautiful visuals or modern animation techniques alone, but the heart of the story. The team representative said, "What makes BOND different and outstanding is the 'simple yet profound relationship' between mother and child in a world full of change, loneliness, and distance." BOND doesn't just move images, but can touch viewers' hearts, allowing them to feel and understand complex human nature more deeply through emotionally-rich storytelling and deliberately crafted visual techniques.
Success Through Faculty Support
This work's success came not only from students' efforts, but also from full support from the Faculty of Digital Media and Cinematic Arts. "All student works pass through the eyes of instructors - whether it's software usage support, consultation when problems arise, and readiness to find solutions to every problem alongside students," the team shared.
Learning about workflow from experienced faculty is crucial in helping understand what processes are needed to achieve desired results. "Without the caring guidance of our instructors, this work would not have ultimately succeeded," the team representative concluded.
