Solo CG Animated Short 'Machines Learning' Screens At Festivals
So, you've made your animated short. There are a couple of different routes you can take. You could release it online, reaching the largest potential audience. Or you could submit it to festivals first, with the possibility of winning awards, and putting your film in the spotlight. Many animators choose the latter, submitting their film to both film and animation festivals around the world. One filmmaker who is going that route is Anthony Koithra.
Koithra first appeared on our radar with his Rogue Squadron Star Wars / Top Gun fan film a while back. We were impressed with its spectacular visuals, which were created almost entirely using Epic Games' software Unreal Engine. Now, he's back with a new, more ambitious sci-fi short.
Machines Learning was created almost entirely solo by Koithra over the course of two years. During the production, he even found time to develop two additional film projects, now in pre-production and the Locodrome suite of character animation tools. Like the Rogue Squadron film, it was rendered primarily using Unreal Engine, with additional work done using Blender, Adobe Substance 3D and DaVinci Resolve.
One other individual was involved in the production. Koithra brought on composer Tyson Cazier to provide the film's score. This is the first time he has worked with a composer. Cazier created an electronic-fused score that sprung from Koithra's prompt that he wanted it to sound like "an industrial Tim Burton movie".
Machines Learning features a hapless lone worker in a futuristic robot factory. He must try to prevent disaster, as the machines seem to be developing a mind of their own. While it's something of a classic sci-fi story, it also could hardly be more timely in the age of AI. It shows us humanity vs robots, but also depicts corporate culture. The worker is just a drone, under the thumb of his unseen capitalist overlords. Whether it's a warning to avoid being overrun by technology, or a plea to be nicer to robots, we can't say. But it is definitely a remarkable piece of work, with slick animation and polished visuals. It's undoubtedly impressive that this was produced by one person, and can stand proud next to work made by much larger teams.
The film had its first festival screening in New York on October 4. Next, the film will be screening at Newport Beach Film Festival in California on October 17. Then it will be screened at the Academy Award-qualifying San Jose International Short Film Festival on October 24. Additional festival dates may be added at a later date.
If you can't make it to one of the festivals for reasons of timing. finance or geography, then worry not. Once the film has finished its festival run, it will be released online. In the meantime, you can check out the trailer below.
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