Alone on the dying red planet, among the ruins of human civilization, one last android desperately guards the last essences of life. In her pursuit for meaning, she finds her own soul hanging in the balance.
Red Gaia is a tone-poem meditation on life, death and rebirth, destruction and creation and the cycles of existence, drawing inspiration from the Bhagavad Gita, Dante's Purgatorio, the Kabballah, the Tibetan Bardol Thodol as well as the legendary science fiction writer Isaac Asimov.
Growing up in South Africa, at a time of severe social upheaval has imprinted within me, a deep fascination with societal contrasts. Science vs religion vs philosophy vs culture vs nature vs nurture. An opportunity to artistically convey poignant messages within these encompassing spheres of the human condition is an absolute privilege to me.
Red Gaia is my first personal project after 20 years of honing my skills as a visual effects artist and designer. It happened to be the emergence of covid19 and the subsequent lockdown which inevitably presented me with some quiet time at home to put pen to paper and stylus to wacom tablet. I can also say that the permeating specter of mortality accompanying the pandemic lent more than a subconscious influence to the theme of the story.
The mammoth task of producing a short story, in the CGI medium on my home desktop computer, was cast to the back of my mind as I enjoyed researching the cultural, historical, and religious subject matter whilst blending science fiction into the mix. The countless long days, weeks and months of designing, texturing, animating, rendering, and compositing melted away as I could see the story take shape. I was fortunate enough to have some friends come on board to help with editing, audio and character animation, areas in which my pencil still needs a lot of sharpening. Dan, James, Juan as well as Tash, who brought the character to life with her voice, helped me to produce this film on less than $1000 budget. Parliament studios, where I work at my day job, was kind enough to allow me to piggyback on their render farm to output the final shots.
An integral aspect of the character in the film, her multilingualism, came through a chance conversation with a friend, who led me to meet two university professors in the fields of eastern religious studies. They were instrumental in helping me with the Sanskrit and Tibetan languages and associated religious content which feature prominently in the film.
Creating this short film has been an immense labor of love, I hope this fact shines through.
Alone on the dying red planet, among the ruins of human civilization, one last android desperately guards the last essences of life. In her pursuit for meaning, she finds her own soul hanging in the balance.
Red Gaia is a tone-poem meditation on life, death and rebirth, destruction and creation and the cycles of existence, drawing inspiration from the Bhagavad Gita, Dante's Purgatorio, the Kabballah, the Tibetan Bardol Thodol as well as the legendary science fiction writer Isaac Asimov.
Growing up in South Africa, at a time of severe social upheaval has imprinted within me, a deep fascination with societal contrasts. Science vs religion vs philosophy vs culture vs nature vs nurture. An opportunity to artistically convey poignant messages within these encompassing spheres of the human condition is an absolute privilege to me.
Red Gaia is my first personal project after 20 years of honing my skills as a visual effects artist and designer. It happened to be the emergence of covid19 and the subsequent lockdown which inevitably presented me with some quiet time at home to put pen to paper and stylus to wacom tablet. I can also say that the permeating specter of mortality accompanying the pandemic lent more than a subconscious influence to the theme of the story.
The mammoth task of producing a short story, in the CGI medium on my home desktop computer, was cast to the back of my mind as I enjoyed researching the cultural, historical, and religious subject matter whilst blending science fiction into the mix. The countless long days, weeks and months of designing, texturing, animating, rendering, and compositing melted away as I could see the story take shape. I was fortunate enough to have some friends come on board to help with editing, audio and character animation, areas in which my pencil still needs a lot of sharpening. Dan, James, Juan as well as Tash, who brought the character to life with her voice, helped me to produce this film on less than $1000 budget. Parliament studios, where I work at my day job, was kind enough to allow me to piggyback on their render farm to output the final shots.
An integral aspect of the character in the film, her multilingualism, came through a chance conversation with a friend, who led me to meet two university professors in the fields of eastern religious studies. They were instrumental in helping me with the Sanskrit and Tibetan languages and associated religious content which feature prominently in the film.
Creating this short film has been an immense labor of love, I hope this fact shines through.