<About the film>
Shyāma is a 3D animated science fiction short film that depicts a dystopian scenario for the future of humanity.
The piece was created for my bachelor's degree final project in graphic design and visual communication.
The aim of Shyāma is to raise awareness to the fact, that by prodigal, present-day behavior, such as reckless exploitation of natural resources, humans are endangering their very existence and putting the life of future generations at risk. If we are not willing to change these circumstances for the better, our planet might become uninhabitable and the scenario depicted in Shyāma reality.
<existential risk>
As research shows, there are at this very moment a variety of manmade [anthropogenic] threats, like climate change, atomic war, pandemics, bio-terrorism or nanotechnology, that could potentially endanger the human existence. The existential risk [meaning: the probability of all intelligent, earthly life prematurely dying out, or the irreversible destruction of any hope for a desirable future] thus created, is estimated to amount to 10-20% in the course of the 21st century. With the growth of the human skill set inescapably grow the consequences of their actions and power - positively as well as negatively [further reading: (1) & (2) ].
<StorY>
The movie takes place at the end of the 21st century and depicts a destroyed planet earth, sickened by environmental pollution and reckless exploitation. As space colonization and interstellar travel are still far beyond human abilities, mankind find itself inevitably trapped on its dying planet. The consequences of a prodigal way of life have caught up with a species, whose science was not prepared for the fatality of this manmade chaos. With yet no other life confirmed in the universe, humans might be about to extinguish all life that ever existed.
Facing this bitter realization and aiming to nonetheless save the beautiful gift of life, some of the few remaining scientists set up one last space mission, equipping a space probe with resilient microorganisms, such as bacteria, fungus and algae [further reading on "directed panspermia": (3) & (4) ]. Sending the probe out into the unknown depths of space, they hope for it to someday find a habitable planet, which will serve as a new home for the precious seeds of life, and thereby eventually induce a new evolution.
The mission will by no means save humanity. It can be seen as an act of selflessness, an apology and way of paying reverence to the beauty of existence. The mission is designated to give life a second chance.
<naming>
Shyāma is a Sanskrit word meaning black or dark, whereby it reminds of space and is thus also associated with the mysterious unknown, infinity and eternity. Furthermore the Hindu goddess Kali is sometimes called by the name Shyāma. With Kali incorporating the destruction of old structures, the power of change and the radical rebirth, the name shines light on the deeper meaning of the film: Mankind had to be extinguished in order for life to get a second chance and blossom.
<probe>
The futuristic probe can be seen as the protagonist of the film, whose mission consists in safely shipping the microorganisms to a habitable planet far far away. Its outer case is made out of several metal plates. The top ones function as hatches storing and protecting the microorganism samples. The opening of these hatches reminds of the unfolding of a flower, the process of new life awakening, and thus subliminally hints at the probes determination - awakening new life on a foreign planet.
<Work in progress, R&D and & Deleted scenes>
▼
<behind the scenes>
As Shyāma was created for my bachelor's degree final project, the circumstances gave me a lot of space to experiment and expand my own skill set. I dove into the project with very little experience in 3D Animation, ambitious to learn, fail, improve, struggle and eventually succeed. The process was really challenging and pushed me far beyond my comfort zone, but at last left me more than proud of the work I created. Due to the scenes being really versatile and requiring different approaches, I gained a lot of knowledge on different techniques throughout the course of the project, be it for example in modeling, texturing, animating, MoGraph or compositing.
The programs I used are Cinema4D, Substance Painter, After Effects, Premiere Pro and Gaea. The 3D scenes were rendered with the corona render engine and altogether it took about 360 hours to render all the shots!
<credits>
Designed, written, directed & animated by: Lynn Huberty
Score by: Melodysheep
Sound by: Sebastian Schubert, Melodysheep
Voice Over by: Martyn Owen
Animatic music by: Chris Warner
VXF Breakdown music by: EVA
A warm thanks to my teachers, friends and family who guided, advised an supported me throughout the project:
Sebastian Hirsch, Etienne Heinrich, Robert Price, Leo Gillessen, Pascale Huberty, Roland Huberty
Special Thanks to the super talented Melodysheep who created the beautiful score for the film.
It was an honor to work with you.
The film was created with the use of assets, footage and photos form:
Beeple, Jvarts Studio, Kitbash3D, Mantissa, Mitch Martinez, Mitch Myers, Nasa, Oleg Ushenok, Quixel, Rocketstock, Sergej Majboroda, Vitaly Bulgarov.
<Festivals>
2D & 3D Animation Film Festival [Official Selection]
Kurzfilm Festival Hamburg [Official Selection]
Obscura Filmfest Berlin [Official Selection]
Obscura Filmfest Hannover [Official Selection]
Short of the Year - Spring Edition [Special Jury Mention]
Wigan & Leigh Film Festival [Official Selection]
<Films that inspired me>
<Further reading>
[1] Armstrong, S. & Pamlin, D. (2015). Global Challenges – 12 Risks that threaten human civilisation. Global Challenges Foundation.
[2] Bostrom, N. (2012). Existential Risk Prevention as Global Priority. Global Policy Volume 4, 2013 (Issue 1), P.15-31.
[3] Mautner, M., N. (2004). Seeding the Universe with Life – Securing our cosmological Future. Weston: Legacy Books.
[4] Matloff, G., L. & Mautner, M. (1979). Directed Panspermia: a technical and ethical evaluation of seeding nearby solar systems. Journal of British Interplanetary Society Volume 32, 1979, P. 419-423.
[4] Matloff, G., L. & Mautner, M. (1979). Directed Panspermia: a technical and ethical evaluation of seeding nearby solar systems. Journal of British Interplanetary Society Volume 32, 1979, P. 419-423.
