For the past five years, I've had the honor of teaching a Master's degree in Animation and Visualisation at the prestigious UTS Animal Logic Academy. Our program is designed to provide students with a real-world understanding of working as artists in the industry. We've created a unique learning environment that mirrors a professional animation studio, complete with the same tools, pipeline, and processes used by major studios. Throughout the year, our students collaborate on exciting animated short films. Here are a few of the incredible projects I've directed alongside these talented students during that time.
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ALEX WEIGHT
Oniko
UTSALA
Oniko
UTSALA
'Oniko' is a dark, stylised animated short set in Edo-period Japan, where a princess is forced to flee her snowbound castle with her newborn as samurai hunt her through the night. Driven into a storm-lashed forest and toward a cliff above the ocean, she must rely on determination, sacrifice, and a terrifying secret bound to her child to survive.
Blending historical drama with supernatural myth, 'Oniko' is a tense, atmospheric tale about motherhood, defiance, and the cost of choosing one’s own fate.
As the collaborative group project from the Masters of Animation and Visualisation 2025 students at the UTS Animal Logic Academy, 'Oniko' has been developed from story idea, through all stages of production by the student group under the guidance of the team of Leads who direct and supervise the development and production of the project.