Project
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Passage
Passage
Year
Year
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2019
2019
Category
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Director
Production
Design
CGI
Design
Animation
Concept Design
Art Direction
Synopsis
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Passage is a short film that explores the realm between our perceived reality and the human experience.
The Film
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Final Frames
This project collaboration with Friendly Robot was cultivated from a collection of our subconscious thoughts. After spending countless months diving deeper into the layers of their possible meanings, we created the final film imagery showcased here.
"The fundamental
questions of life..."
"...are still yet
to be answered."
Process
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Insight
Passage started as a simple conversation among two friends, that evolved into sketches, which grew into frames, and then ultimately, animations. The endless work and learning, extensive long nights and weekends filled with exploration, quickly added up to over a year having come and gone. To allow you a quick glimpse into our long journey, here are a few select moments from behind the scenes of its creation.
Process
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Fetus
Each scene within Passage is told like chapters in a book. The Fetus commences the story with the representation of birth, our origin point. Constructing the Fetus and the human Iris invoked many unique challenges and iterations before we reached our final visual destination. Here are a few looks at the creative process.
Process
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Artificial Construct
The humanoid skull was reconstructed with a symbolic third eye to signify the foresight to impending doom. The skull shown in Passage signifies death, the antithesis to the fetus, and the end of humanity by the hands of our own creation, A.I. The final placement of the image in the film took some experimenting to ensure fluidity from one shot to the other.
Process
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The Warrior
Every shot of Passage is filled with our own personal allegory, and this particular chapter of the film explores the idea whether learned violence and brutality from human experience could be transferred to A.I. Perhaps one of the most challenging tasks of the project was deciphering the many iterations of what A.I. may look like in the near future, but the final sequence expresses exactly what we had envisioned at the start of the project.
"Why are we here?"
"Who created us?"
Process
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The Empire
Early on during the inception stage of Passage, we knew we wanted to utilize iconic roman symbolism but with our own twist. We applied almost every tool and program we had to design the Empire Machine. Its dynamic presence in the film represents the decay and demise of past human civilizations and the foreshadowing of what is to possibly come.
Process
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The Thinker
Passage takes us on one continuous camera journey through time and space. The entire film essentially lives within the Thinker. Everything being a possible outcome of its reality.
"What is our true..."
"...defining purpose in life?"
Process
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The Queen
The Queen denotes rebirth, the resurgence of thought, and a new perception of reality. Since we started Passage in darkness, we chose to end it in light, thereby generating a full cycle of thought and forming a picturesque conclusion. We constructed the final scene in a creative frenzy, but it was all still so incredibly fun and came about quite naturally.
Credits
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A Film By - Ash Thorp + Friendly Robot
Score - Aeph
Sound Mix - Rich Aitken
Score (recreation) - Beethoven - Symphony No.7 in A major op. 92
Rendered Service - Rendersolve
Special Thanks
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Passage is created in loving tribute to the memory of Pierre Leroy.
We wish to extend sincere appreciation to our dear friends and family for their continuous support. As well as a special thank you to Patrick Letournaeu, Phillip Lakis of Rendsolve, Dade Orgeron, Turbosquid, Andrew Hawryluk, Billy Chitkin, Chad Ashley, Anthony Scott Burns, Ryan Cashman, Redshift, Greyscalegorilla, and Daz3D.
In-depth behind the scenes here.