Sara K. Sampson

PRODUCER

SONDER

SOBA Productions

For years, Finn and Natalie walked the same path, but when their time together comes to an end, Finn finds himself lost in a mysterious land. Paralyzed by the fear of moving on, he is at risk of losing himself. Through self-discovery, Finn must gather the strength to forge a new path.

SONDER (2018) is an award-winning independent short film from director, Neth Nom and producer, Sara K. Sampson. By the time production wrapped, the crew totaled in 150 remote artists working across 9 timezones. Sonder is one of the first narrative shorts to utilize the real-time game engine, Unity.

Sonder Poster

CAIFF Award

Incredible Maya Projects Showcase

Sonder Poster

1/7

AWARDS + SELECTED SCREENINGS

Los Angeles Independent Film Festival 2018 // BEST PICTURE
Sioux City International Film Festival 2018 // AUDIENCE CHOICE AWARD
California Independent Film Festival 2018 // BEST ANIMATION
California International Shorts Festival 2018 // BEST ANIMATED SHORT
Spark Animation Film Festival 2018 // OFFICIAL SELECTION
SIGGRAPH Asia 2018 // OFFICIAL SELECTION
Bucheon International Animation Festival 2018 // OFFICIAL SELECTION
Cartoon Brew // SHORT PICK OF THE DAY
Vimeo // STAFF PICK

PRESS + EVENTS

Annecy International Film Festival 2018 // MODERN ANIMATION PIPELINES
Made With Unity SPOTLIGHT
THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
VARIETY
CARTOON BREW
Oscar Qualified Short FILMS
GDC 2017 PANEL
Unite Berlin 2018 // PANEL + SCREENING
Unite LA 2017 + 2018 Panels, featured in FORBES
CTNX 2016 - 2018 PRESENTATIONS
CG-MEETUP
Interview with TONKO HOUSE
Interview with N3rdabl3

BEHIND THE SCENES

Sonder Crew: Wrap Party May 2018 - 150 Crew Members Worldwide

Sara K. Sampson + Neth Nom: Annecy International Film Festival

Sara K. Sampson + Neth Nom: Annecy International Film Festival

Sara K. Sampson - CTNX 2017 Presentation: "FIRST LOOK: Sonder"

SONDER: STAND-ALONE TEASER 2016

SONDER: MAKING OF

UTILIZING REAL-TIME:

When SONDER started production in 2015, the team, working on a micro budget, built an animation pipeline from scratch while maintaining high-level cinematic quality.

The pipeline was built around Unity, leveraging real-time rendering capabilities to achieve desired graphical quality in half the time, and at half the cost, without needing a render farm.

A proof of concept was released in November 2016.

KEY COLLABORATORS