Introducing Sticky Fingers: 3D Animated & Hand-Fabricated Short Film

Sticky Fingers is a 2026 capstone film for the BFA Animation/Illustration students of San Jose State University. At its core, this is a film about having empathy and challenging other perspectives. With a world so divided, we believe that this message is incredibly important today. We are SO EXCITED to bring our story and world to life, and we’d love to have your support!

Follow us on social media to stay up to date with our journey!

Instagram: @stickyfingers.film

LinkedIn: Sticky Fingers 3D Hybrid Film

What is Sticky Fingers? (Synopsis & Unique Visual Style)

When a self-righteous grocery store manager tries to punish a woman for stealing, a time traveling force interferes and sends him back to the stone age to learn a lesson.

Our story revolves around the moral of being more empathetic to those who are less fortunate. We believe our film can be enjoyed by everyone, as this message is very universal and important for all people to grasp.

We are using a mixed media approach to our visuals. We will be 3D animating characters and compositing them into our physical fabricated sets. We chose 3D animation to have the liberty to animate our characters as best as possible without the restrictions of a typical stop-motion puppet. We chose to make physical sets (like in stop-motion) as the handmade nature of it all creates imperfections that reflect the flaws of our characters— flaws we all as humans have. Furthermore, it gives us a lot more room to be creative, explore our world, and get our hands dirty making real, authentic props. Stop-motion is also just a fun medium that we love and want to pay homage to.

Characters

Robert is a well-intentioned perfectionist. He’s a rule-follower who sees right from wrong. However, he takes things too far for the sake of following the rules. When he discovers Amy shoplifting from his grocery store, he makes sure to stop her at all costs. But before he can reprimand her, a time-traveling force sends him spiraling back to the Stone Age! Robert’s beliefs are challenged when everything is stripped away from him. In order to return home, he must learn that survival is not a lone journey, and the world isn’t always black and white. It’s something you have to do together with empathy.

Amy is a young woman facing extreme poverty and food insecurity. She makes the desperate decision to shoplift out of necessity.

When Robert is transported back in time, we see a Stone Age version of Amy as well. In this world, Amy wields survival skills, from hunting to making shelter. When Robert approaches her in distress, it’s now Amy’s choice to turn him away or choose empathy.

Fabricated Sets

Grocery Store:

Robert’s grocery store is a small, dated place, but to him it feels warm, familiar, and dependable. He takes pride in the care he’s poured into keeping it running, even if it still looks like a neighborhood market straight out of the 1970s. The faded tiles, retro signage, and simple rows of produce and packaged goods mirror Robert’s meticulous personality. Like his store, he is a neat, orderly, and deliberate perfectionist who rarely steps outside of his comfort zone.

In designing this set, we’re drawing inspiration from real corner markets that have remained unchanged since the end of the last century, combined with the tones, lighting, and mood of LAIKA films like ParaNorman. The slightly surreal yet balanced atmosphere of Shaun the Sheep and the handcrafted textures of Fantastic Mr. Fox also guide our design, helping us capture the cozy, nostalgic world Robert has created for himself: a place that feels safe, familiar, and deeply personal.

Stone Age:

The Stone Age is Robert’s worst nightmare. Where his grocery store is clean, orderly, and predictable, this environment is rough and erratic. It’s all jagged rocks, strange plants, and wide stretches of empty land that make the landscape feel both dangerous and lonely. Nothing here is uniform or comforting, as it’s messy, alive, and frightening.

The look of this set is shaped by the playful exaggeration of Early Man by Aardman Animations, the exotic wildness of The Croods, and real Stone Age references. We imagine rocky cliffs and deserted valleys broken up by bursts of foreign foliage, with shapes and textures that feel alien yet authentic. This setting pushes Robert completely out of his element, forcing him into chaos and survival - the exact opposite of the safe little store he calls home.

Why This Project Matters

We are making this film to teach people to be more empathetic towards those who make morally questionable choices. We often are inclined to judge those who do not match our idea of “correct,” but you truly never know what someone may be going through to lead them to make such decisions. It may be out of desperation, or they may even feel like they have no other choice.

In our short film, we challenge this mentality by asking the question: “What if it were YOU in their desperate situation?” Would you do the same?

It asks us to look beyond quick judgments and remember that circumstances shape people in ways we often don’t see. Our main character is a perfectionist who sees the world in black and white. However, by transporting him into an absurd situation, we use comedy to open the door to deeper reflection: how can we treat those who have less with more humanity?

How The Money Will Be Used

Fabrication: $300

Festival Application Fees: $200

TOTAL: $500

With $300… we can build the BEST sets possible to immerse audiences into Robert & Amy’s world! The money will go towards fabrication materials for creating our unique environments.

With $500… we can apply to film festivals! Once our film is complete, we would like to share our work with the WORLD and enter lots of film festivals! Sticky Fingers has a universal theme about empathy, and we’d love to bring it to new audiences.

Production Timeline

Production: October 2025 - March 2026

Post-Production: March 2026 - April 2026

Final Delivery: May 2026

This past summer, our visual development team explored different styles for our environments and character designs. Our animation team did style tests to create a look that’s reminiscent of stop-motion. We are currently in pre-production designing our props and rigging our 3D characters. Our next step is to build our set, which we need your help with!

What Inspired This Film?

Melanie Mendoza, co-director: The idea for the film was loosely inspired by the current political climate. I always wanted the moral message to be about how much people today lack empathy for others and just automatically look down on those less fortunate than themselves. So I thought a story where one person judges another and immediately gets put in their place felt very satisfying and something I wish happened more often in our own world.

Andrea Esmaeil, co-director: Individuals often condemn each other’s morally incorrect choices. But I find it beautiful when someone can put their ego aside, and without bias, try to relate to another person’s life, what led them to the choice, and why they may have done it.

We are sending Robert to the Stone Age to limit his resources, so that through struggling to survive, he may understand why Amy stole. Robert thinks he needs the world to be correct, but I want to prove to him that as human beings who think and feel, we should be able to shift our reactions depending on the nuance of the situation.

About the Crew

We are Animation/Illustration students from San Jose State University. After four years of studying together, we are collaborating on our BFA capstone film Sticky Fingers. We can’t wait to share our film with you all when we graduate in May 2026!

Through making this film, we hope not just to entertain, but to spark empathy and conversation. We want audiences to laugh, reflect, and leave with a little more kindness for those whose struggles may not always be visible.

Risks and Challenges

Sticky Fingers will definitely be finished by May 2026 as part of our university’s senior thesis & graduation requirements.

We will keep a careful budget of the money raised on GoFundMe and do our best to only purchase what is necessary, such as materials for our set. We are so thankful for everyone’s support! We will communicate if there are any hiccups in our production, but we also have a wonderful faculty supporting us throughout this film’s production, including weekly advising meetings.