Last September, we received the assignment to create a short animated movie as part of a school project at NAD UQAC. Over the past 6 months, we meticulously conceptualized, created and animated every aspect from scratch to produce this one-minute short film. Additionally, we made use Houdini’s Karma render engine in conjunction with a full USD pipeline for this project.
We held numerous brainstorming sessions to determine the central themes of our short film. Our goal was to infuse the overall movie with a comedic touch, while maintaining a subtle seriousness in the plot. Drawing inspiration from our cherished childhood movies and cartoons, we established a starting point for the entire team. Ultimately, we came up with a narrative centered around the aftermath of a global cataclysm triggered by deadly mosquito bites.
Synopsis
" In a post-apocalyptic world, a famished mosquito scours the desolate remnants of Earth. Having gone days without a meal, it craves human blood. Its journey takes it through territories ravaged by human avarice. Frustrated by its fruitless search, it ventures into a once-thriving city. There, it encounters its fleshy prey. Summoning its last reserves of energy, the mosquito launches a final attack: it lands and greedily feasting on blood until it swells to the brink of explosion! "
To evoke the post-apocalyptic ambiance for our short film, we aimed to craft an environment utterly devoid of life—a desolate landscape that bore witness to the remnants of human civilization.
Inspirations & References
AI generation from concepts
Final concept art
Props modeling & texturing
Lighting & Final renders
The primary design pillar for the characters was to convey that they were teetering on the edge of survival, that their existence was hanging by a thread. Simultaneously, we aimed to weave their narrative into their visual design and evoke their emotional depth.
Original concepts & Inspirations
Modeling
Final renders
For our final renders, we made the use of Houdini’s Karma render engine and Houdini’s Solaris. Additionally, Nuke was utilized for compositing and color grading in the final shots. These tools allowed us to achieve the desired visual quality and coherence for our short film.
Compositing breakdown
Final shots
Here are some of the promotional posters that were made to advertise our animated short film to the public.
Anne-Frédérique Gagnon - 3D generalist, concept artist, layout artist, compositing, making-of editor
Justine Gagnon - Lead modeling artist, environment artist, concept artist, compositing, video editor
Jean-Marie Gariépy - Lead pipeline, lead environment artist, video editor, sound editor
Special thanks to:
NAD UQAC - Gino Vincelli
Nicolas Poteet - François Lord
