ABOUT
Venari is a short and funny, stop motion animated Film about a clumsy robot and and some bugs. The title "Venari" comes from the latin word for hunting, thus a slight hint at what the story brings along. Everything you see, has been designed and created by myself under the supervision of the fantastic german stop motion animator Albert Radl.
STORY
By the year 2518 planet earth lays in ruins – mankind eventually destroyed its own home. A post-apocalyptic scenery inhabited by tough bugs and robots trying to master their wretched lives is all that is left. In this desperate struggle to survive, a rather peaceful robot called Moto sets of for his daily quest to conquer only a few droplets of vital energy...
PUPPET DESIGN
Making of
Construction of the main character Moto. His shell is made out of fiberglass. The legs and face are made out of metal plates and screws, while the head is attached via a ball joint. The outer shape of the face and legs, as well as the shell plates, were formed out of super sculpy, a modeling clay which hardens upon baking.
In order to be able to stand and move correctly, Moto had to be placed onto a rig, which allowed to move the legs freely during the shooting of the scenes. The rig was mounted onto a rail which was fastened underneath the set. This allowed to slide the character through the scene and created a seamless movement.
The look of the characters shell plates was created by burning them (left). On the right, the structure of the sets mountains and platforms was formed out of cut and stacked styrofoam plates, which were later coated with plaster and red dirt.
The whole film was shot on these three set plates. The use of a green screen allowed to easily composite the background in post-production.
Storyboard
vs. final shots
