Sean the Baby
Sean the Baby (2025)
7 min 4 sec | 2K | Surround/Stereo
Master’s Thesis Project
Directed and Written by Jee Suk Kim
Produced by Jiyoung Choi, Shagun Kanwar
Music by AMELIA., Cameron Adams
Sound Design by Doris Shen
Role: Director, Writer, Producer, Production Designer, Character Dev, Character Modeling and Rigging, Animator, Editor
Logline
In his dreamland, three years old boy Sean leads his stressed-out dad on a surreal adventure—where a vacuum robot, a toilet castle, and a Evil Dad force them to rethink what it means to grow up together.
Synopsis
On his third birthday, little Sean is still struggling with potty training—and his dad is starting to lose patience. After a disastrous party and a restless night, Dad is mysteriously pulled into Sean’s dreamworld, a place where reality bends and the rules of parenting no longer apply. Guided by his brave young son, the two set off on a surreal journey filled with bizarre creatures, unexpected threats, and a toilet-shaped castle known only as Minas Toileth. Along the way, father and son must navigate fears both real and imagined, learning that growing up isn’t just the child’s job—it’s the parent’s, too.
Full Version of The Film
Password will be provided upon request.
Awards & Recognition
Best Animation - Noho CineFest 2025
Official Selection - Bucheon International Animation Festival
Official Selection - Catalina Film Festival
Official Selection - Kids First! Film Festival
Story
The Characters
The characters and creatures were brought to life through a four-stage process, evolving from initial sketches to polished final models. The entire journey was a careful balance of creative freedom and technical precision.
Step 1: Ideation
The characters and creatures in our film are inspired by real people and everyday objects. I began with free-form drawings to capture their unique personalities. As the story and themes were developed, the designs were continuously refined to sync with the film's overall concept.
Step 2: Design
This stage focused on defining each character’s proportions, scale, and appearance from all angles. I carefully considered how to balance stylized exaggeration with a sense of realism to give them a distinctive look.
Step 3: Blocking and Polishing
Using ZBrush, I quickly created rough 3D models. We then refined the designs with repeated paint-overs, a crucial step for ensuring our 2D concepts would work seamlessly in 3D space. Special attention was given to the father and Sean characters to ensure they were expressive and could hold dynamic poses.
Step 4: Final Modeling
The finalized designs, refined through ZBrush and Photoshop, were brought into Maya. Here, we cleaned up the topology and finalized the models. The entire process, from a simple sketch to the finished model, was an iterative journey to perfectly align the character design with the film’s central themes.
The World
In Sean the Baby, two distinct worlds come to life. There is the Real World, which is inspired by my actual home, and the Dream World, a warped version of it.
Real World
The Real World is the everyday space where Sean and his family navigate their daily routines, tasks, and obstacles. I designed this world to be as grounded in reality as possible, aiming to create a sense of familiarity and closeness for the audience.
The everyday spaces of the Real World include a main area composed of the bookshelf, kitchen, dining room, and bathroom, as well as the family bedroom.
Artists: Jee Suk Kim, Hyunsug Han, Eunsil Bae, Sujung Kwon, Eunchong Shin, Jisoo Kim
Dream World
In contrast, the Dream World is born from Sean's imagination and subconscious. While it's based on the Real World, this space is an exploration of Sean's mind. As the father and Sean journey through it, the audience gets a unique glimpse into the baby's inner thoughts and feelings, turning a simple, real-world task into an imaginative adventure.
This imaginative space is born from Sean's subconscious. His journey through it leads us to fantastical locations, including Bookshelf Canyon, Fries Field, Mega City, and Minas Toileth.
Artists: Jee Suk Kim, Habini Bae, Cecil Boey
Music
Music was one of the most vital elements in creating our musical film, Sean the Baby. To achieve the best possible result, I brought on board two incredibly talented composers, Cameron and AMÉLIA.. As the writer, director, and producer, my focus was on empowering them to create their best work.
We met every two weeks to discuss the story. In our sessions, I deliberately focused on the situations and the narrative itself, rather than trying to dictate the specific musical direction. This allowed the composers to organically discover the tone and mood of the score, which they masterfully brought to life with beautiful lyrics and music that perfectly fit the film. The result was three amazing musical numbers.
To capture the ultimate performance, we assembled a dozen musicians and a chorus for a live orchestra recording. The session was held at the renowned John Williams Scoring Stage at USC, and I am incredibly grateful to all the musicians who gave their all to bring our music to life.
Stills
Credit
Production
Director, Writer: Jee Suk Kim
Producer: Jiyoung Choi, Shagun Kanwar, and Jee Suk Kim
Composer: Cameron Adams, Amélia (AMÉLIA.) Rolland
Sound Designer: Doris Shen
Visualization
Production Designer: Jee Suk Kim
VFX Supervisor: Hyunsug Han
Layout Artist: Jordan Kim, Jee Suk Kim
Asset Artist: Eunsil Bae, Jisoo Kim, Sujung Kwon, Yeni Lee, Eunchong Shin
Real Time Artist: Habini Bae, Cecil Boey
Animator: Jee Suk Kim
Sound
Sound Mixer: Doris Shen
Music Mixing Engineer: Michael Gossard
Music Recording Engineer: Aric Lopez, Su Lee
Orchestra
Composer and Conductor: Cameron Adams, Amélia (AMÉLIA.) Rolland
Musician: Liam Diethrich, Angela Bergman, Elaina Spiro, Jai Ahuja, Abigail Torrence, Antonina Styczen, Alexander Varvne, Nichagarn Chiracharasporn, AMÉLIA., Cameron Adams, Xinqian Li
Choir: Flora Sun, Kate Kristova, Satoki Takamatsu, Myles Anderson, Antonio Medellín-Fajardo, Marcus Leitner, Shengyuan Li, Andreu Diport, Chen Gao, Robert Lampkin, Charlene Soo, AMÉLIA.
Cast
Topher, Zein, and Sean
