STORY
It's the first boy-girl pool party Maxine, Lacy, and Ruby have scored an invite to....
![]()
What should be the most anticipated event of the summer feels like a nightmare for all three of them. The most popular boy in 6th grade is going to be there, which means one thing: he's going to see them in their swimsuits.
STORY
It's the first boy-girl pool party Maxine, Lacy, and Ruby have scored an invite to....
![]()
What should be the most anticipated event of the summer feels like a nightmare for all three of them. The most popular boy in 6th grade is going to be there, which means one thing: he's going to see them in their swimsuits.
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/fbaf39e4b5e5ca8946acb7a0f57d9f58c82e9cf80c2f6e5d5f3043d1c23cccb8/invitation.png)
What should be the most anticipated event of the summer feels like a nightmare for all three of them. The most popular boy in 6th grade is going to be there, which means one thing: he's going to see them in their swimsuits.
PURPOSE
Despite what many may believe, animation is not a genre, but a medium that can contain an infinite number of stories, characters, and worlds.
Enter Pool Party, an original short that captures the darkly comedic and oftentimes bizarre period of time that is the middle school experience. The film employs humor – both visual and verbal – to take viewers back in time, embracing embarrassment and nostalgia in equal measure. In doing so, Pool Party aims to prove that, in order to love who we are, we cannot hate the experiences that shaped us.
A story about young women, developed by young women, Pool Party provides an antidote to the lack of animated content about middle school girls. By addressing themes such as growing up in the digital age, body image issues, sisterhood, and friendship, this animated short comes at a time when we are beginning to acknowledge the power that lies in our "cringeworthy" pasts, in addition to the plethora of narrative possibilities that exist within animation.
Pool Party is a project produced under Pudding Cup Pictures, the animation production company I co-founded which develops the work of student animators.
ROUGHS
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/3e6173ee8ce116ebd54ff793959261eda364a45d404261d550e516c6b1e6b578/PP_sc01sh02_roughs_MJ_090923.gif)
IN-BETWEENS
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/8b9692d1381fe92d31477134e32dfeee19b0d7a7ab6bfefe206c0056deb36da1/PP_sc01sh02_clean_MJ_091723.gif)
CLEAN-UPS
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/bd4764cd97010ce377bbcd13b4af3a7909843290a112d6dcd6dadff8a96728ed/PP_sc01sh02_color_MJ_v4_091723.gif)
STORYBOARDS
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/54f7cdbba25506d4fe94af5b9d214f2d78d6838cb9be4204b117f99435abdcde/Screen-Shot-2023-04-03-at-1.01.52-PM.png)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/59a2ce7d84fe916bf005e14c24da40e8f4b67727d12d095b6fc85f0a67811b07/Screen-Shot-2023-04-03-at-1.02.11-PM.png)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/c65168cf81f69df199893aac822a0a15aeba77ffa3bb76e51dc9346270e03839/Screen-Shot-2023-04-03-at-1.02.19-PM.png)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/d1e6619fef71577569a53aaa1c2ded0f5ba8424f4f2ebc724f97c7622718df1e/Screen-Shot-2023-04-03-at-1.02.49-PM.png)
CHARACTER DESIGN
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/d3cb18c4098dd999c0ab8b2ca9550c1f6e897cc81fce5644760b04bd9d1ab3c9/character-design.jpg)
initial sketches + model sheet example
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/056a8ebec4ef420801028c6b7b4bba14d89401c6240fba3d8c13c9a0b225aff9/9.png)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/1d7690a2f02a98f1807e98f45cd933bbc15d95304f03a37f69dcc0cd15a5dc72/10.png)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/8ee39953d71a81cccef03cccb05d8fea808a44692e5559485f87610e948a4a36/11.png)