Saurora - Sci-fi short film
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- Опубліковано 1 жов 2024
- Sci-fi short film Saurora (2016) made with free and open-source toolset.
An underwater rescue mission on a remote planet centered around two co-workers in heavy submersible suits takes shortly an unplanned course.
pavelsiska
Visually, there were some lovely moments in this short film. However, the narrative was impossible to follow. Somehting fell out of orbit. There were some boats. A character was trying to rescue another. Weird shit happened. I have no idea what. A halocline appeared. The rescuer had a spasm or was attacked. Did the rescuer mutate? Some Aura Borealis type thing was underwater. Perhaps there were sea-monsters, or perhaps sea-monkeys? I'm confused about so many things. I accept that telling a short story is challenging. However, the first thing required is a story that is told in a clear and logical manner. Bring a comprehensible story to the effects and you'll have something.
Looks good but I just have no idea what is going on, lots of tumbling grunting and yelling.
Am I the only one who could only see blurs and hear grunts and groans (as if someone in an exoskeleton had to exert actual strain)? If someone at the gym was such a drama queen with physical exertion, he would be kicked out of the club.
I could just barely follow the shadows and words enough to scrape a bit of the plot. Seems like the ending here might be the same as the ending of Skyline, but who knows, it was like looking at fog through foggy goggles with black contact lenses. I have great monitor & resolution, btw.
Would it hurt you so much that you couldn't even squeeze in a tiny nice comment?
Apparently Pavel worked on this with almost zero budget and went through some nights without food
"Apparently Pavel work"ed on this with almost zero budget and went through some nights without food"
If the goal of all this suffering was to create decent FX, then mission accomplished.
If the goal was to tell part of a story, then the one-sentence description ("An underwater rescue mission on a remote planet...") conveyed more information than the film.
That was the whole point. It was genius, I believe if you could see all the details and could clearly see what was going on it would not be nearly as suspenseful. Each person has an opinion, and an artist Pavel Siska makes their choices intentionally. He intentionally made it hard to clearly see.
(And yes, someone in an exo suit would have to exert physical strain.)
your channel doesnt have videos, so i guess you are not in the filmmaking business. let me just say that your gym-club guidlines are not relevant here. for the rest of your rant, i simply invite you to try better. ;)
nm-8 .com So let me get this straight. if my friend goes to a movie and I ask her, "Hey, how was that movie?" she needs to tell me, "Sorry, I am not a filmmaker therefore I cannot give you any opinion or feedback on any movie I see."
I'll have to take your word for that it is a great technical achievement. The whole thing is so blurred and incoherent that it could have been shot in a bathtub with an Iphone. I can only take a guess at what story you were trying to tell.
That is the mastery of it.....
Might have been good if you could see what the hell is going on.....
Well, I'm sure there was a helluva lot of work put into that, but I had absolutely no idea what was going on for most of it. Lots of darkness, shadows and blur. Shame.
Looks kinda cool, but the video quality is so dark and murky that only about 90 seconds are worth watching. The rest is dark blurry confusion.
I couldn't see shit
I _think_ I'm thoroughly impressed by this short film, especially being made in Blender! The animation mixed with live action elements clicked in the good way, not in the contrived way that most Blender vfx shorts achieve. And those volumetrics seem really nice...yikes, what a bear to render. Curious if you faked them in a clever way.
I keep saying "seem" and "felt" - The only negative for me is the action is so quick in such a dark atmosphere, I had to watch again to make sense of what I was seeing. And even after a second viewing, I feel like I still was guessing. Maybe that was the intention. The digital artist in me thought, "bummer I really wish I could appreciate the detail that seems to be there." And the aspiring film maker in me though, "it felt like a good film, but I'm not quite sure." And the 720p resolution isn't helping..
I apologize if the critique is unwarranted. Feel free to ignore! Again, this felt like a super high quality CG short film! One of the best I've seen from a Blender user. Awesome job.
Ok, what actually happened?
Very hard to see what's going on or what's going on. Nice effects though.
I have absolutely no clue what I just viewed lol
Once again, a display of incredible modelling, texturing, lighting and compositing, all let down by INCOMPREHENSIBLE story, animation and cinematography. I'm not joking when I say half of that short film was utterly nonsense, it was incredibly hard to follow visually and it completely failed to grasp the story it was trying to tell. Now on a technical standpoint, this was INCREDIBLE, it had some of the most fantastic depth and visual atmosphere I've seen from a short film, the modelling was sublime, it gave me goosebumps when it showed the deep dark water and the panic from the character. But it was only occasionally noticeable through the utter confusion that I stated earlier.
Mr Pavel Siska, I know this has been a harsh comment, but i'm so tired of seeing fantastic creators let down by one weak and feeble aspect of short film creation. You obviously have talent beyond incredible. Just not in every area involved with making a short film. You need a strong director with a strong grasp of cinematography to lead you. I am desperate to see what you can do if you were directed professionally.
Exactly. Remember the VFX and cinematography are there first and foremost to foster the STORY and CHARACTERS. I don't care if you shot this on an iPhone, if the story and acting is compelling people will watch it.
Regarding your comment of incredible technical standpoint... Come on stop trying to put lipstick on a pig. Everybody has the technology available to make visually stimulating art. He doesn't get it pass on crappy execution just because he's got some CGI that catches the eye when the story opens. That being said the first thing I did notice at 0:15 was the space station or spaceship orbiting the planet or coming into orbit or whatever that shot was, I've seen that image used several times before on other short films of the Sci-Fi variety. Nice try... keep working at it but breakdown what you're doing now and try another approach because the problem would stuff like this as you continue down the same path you never improving your art form
wtf?
what was that? Each movie should have a clear (more or less) story, and the point of scenes are to give the viewer a sense of what is happening. Not confuse him. If we need a description about what is happening, then the whole movie is wrong in many levels.
I made the mistake of watching the film before reading its description here, and couldn't understand what happened onscreen half the time. In my attempt to appreciate and understand it, it's not quite meeting me halfway through and that's a bit frustrating.
The VFX is great though.
you should have zoom out a bit, I could barely understand what was going on.
The parts I could see/understand looked quite cool tho!
As 2020 is nearly over I look back at the making of this short film and I think there's something I'd like to share.
I truly appreciate all the positive reactions from you and apologize to those whose kind questions or comments over those four years I missed. Your support means to me more than you know and is the reason why people like me do what they do. You took my 6 minutes of animation that took nearly 2 years to make, a short film that was offered to you selflessly (not forced on you), free of charge, and acknowledged it for its strengths while forgiving me the handful of shortcomings I, unfortunately, made - as it usually happens with first-time short films.
You've shown me great support. Thank you! I'll hopefully be able to repay you in the future with more great things!
Also, I'd like to mention that this project was born in Spartan conditions all the way through. And with everything that comes with it. I’m not trying to excuse myself. But we all need to be more understanding of each other's background and conditions. And always know that there are bigger things in life than entertainment - especially if we're talking about little experimental/artistic/independent/no-budget short films. So even if you don’t like something keep in mind there’s always a real person like you on the other side of your digital comment - probably in much closer contact to what that comment is about.
We all are aspiring to achieve something and yes, often failing. It's the only way to learn. To me, this was the best school there could be and I can't wait to prove it to you.
Anyway, I hope all of you are alright and safe! Stay that way a take care!
Thank you
,
Pavel
Bravo Pavo. Don't stop. Never give up. I was drawn into your video. Yes it asks for more input from the audience than perhaps is normal. That's what made it extra scary, extra real for me. Loved it. It made me feel like I had gone to a theatre to see a stage play. I got the same reaction from your work as I remember getting from live performances. Its worth taking some of the negative comments and examining how to reproduce those reactions in future work. Some people expect someone else to tell them a story with all the detail laid out for them. Nothing wrong with that of course. That is, unless you want to be immersed in the story. Bring your own, (the audience's), fears to life. Everyone's fear of the dark holds their own demons. I really hope you enjoyed making this. You should be proud.
This video is great, but like everyone else, I had trouble understanding what I was seeing. The man was obviously attacked by an alien creature and it either impregnated him or "possessed" him, but I still missed a lot. Would you please give a description of what happened.
Yes, enjoyable and gripping production, BUT I’m not sure of the exact action/events. Here’s what I think I perceive:
1. Damaged space vessel falling from Earth orbit, jettisoning escape pods
2. Scores of Pods rain down on Earth, many falling into the ocean tidal energy farm
3. Rescue team member submerges to search for Pods, finds only one survivor
4. In process of rescue/recovery the first responder is attacked but a sentient life-form which cause him to repeatedly lose grip of the Pod
5. Eventually the life-form prevails and somehow causes the rescuer to mutate into a duplicate life-form
6. Life-forms enter a fight dual
An admirable piece of cinema but its story-telling needs refinement and clarification 👍👍👍👍
Waiting for the next. Awesome video. Felt dark and scary as what it is like in the Abyss on the Ocean floor. Touch the floor and the sediment swallows you making you feel claustrophobic and it is absolutely difficult not to panic
Thanks. Creative work. Please fill in the blanks for me. I'd like to watch it again with an awareness of what I'm seeing. Thanks for taking the risk.
Why go through all that trouble to upload this in 720P? It's ridiculous. Nothing should be any less than 4k today, my fucking phone records in 4k
First of all, Let me Thank you guys so much for such a heartwarming and rewarding reactions. And I’m really sorry for not being able to find enough time to reply to every comment individually and explain my process appropriately.
However all of the technical and filmmaking issues will be addressed in upcoming interview on BlenderNation with Bart. I encourage everyone to ask me there anything and I promise I’ll try to do all I can to make my answers as much complete and engaging as I can.
Stay tuned
Was this all created in blender? bc if so this is ridiculously impressive
Shame about the lack of story, the vague and confused visuals and the dull soundtrack. Otherwise, well done.
I dont get it
Confused...Couldn't really see much but maybe a lava monster pissed off? Without any visual much, never really grabbed much attention. Just lots of grunting and falling I guess. Not sure.
I felt like my head was in a blender. Lots of grunting and "Oh shits". Poor, must try harder.
I couldn't follow it. Was he trying to rescue someone? I never did pick up the narrative and that was disappointing. The story didn't pause for you to try and figure out what was going on. Damn. Another wasted seven minutes of my life and at 75, I really hate to do that.
couldn't tell what was going on most of the time..not enough definition to find the story
Thumbs way down. Have no idea what was happening, and looking at a mostly black screen with vague shapes moving around, with a lot of yelling and screaming, didn't leave any sort of a good impression.
Wish this had been coherent/would have held far more interest. Sad that so much obvious hard work (beautiful production design etc.) went into this without a number of things taking far greater precedent: Defined parameters/rooting interest/stakes (what are we supposed to care about and why?/what is the point of view?); continuity/flow of action from one shot to the next; clear establishment of arena of action; story concept seems to be awash in too many possibilities that hit up against too many obstacles due to short length (simplification and shorter length would help). Yet, there is great talent, it seems apparent, working on this. Maybe re-cutting (shorter) with some textual help, clarification, more focused use of sound, could make this thing really soar. It shows great potential. Compliments to the talent involved!
Excellent work.
If i can distance myself as a Blender user and look at it from an artistic point. Its pretty confusing. Most of the time the camera is jerking around as if its suffering from gravitational effects even though its nigh on zero g and at the end we bump into an alien for no apparent reason.It looks beautiful but not beautifully told if you know what i mean.
like the story but its too blurry
This guy loves James Cameron.
Don't know whats happening, but what I can see looks good I suppose.
Yeah, can someone please explain to me what actually happened? :/
Why 720p? The amount of that appears to have gone into this is insane.
When I was making this short, rendering in Cycles wasn't as fast as nowadays, especially when rendering raytraced volumetrics. So this was the main reason why I cut down the resolution
The quality here is beyond many hollywoodian movies. Awesome work, man. Really.
What was that ending, about? Was he transformed into some kind of hybrid machine mutant? On the last second, was he off to fight his co-worker, who had also changed?
It is just... WOW.
Totally impressed! Thank you so much for this!
One of the best Sci-fi short I have seen. Is Pavel Šiška Czech?
🔵 Whatever happened in the minutes following 2:45 on is literally a blur to me!.... somethin' about electromagnetic-levels are increasing,.....
(generated by WHAT I haven't a clue!),.... and whatever happened after 4:45 is JUST as confusing!
for me and I am no longer 'hip'....too much confusion with CG. the plot was not clear and the guy in the countdown wtf? great colour , great costumes what I could see of them. That's my 2c worth .../good luck ....7 outa 10...mainly effort.
Confusing, but very gripping and deeply scary towards the end. Excellent combination of image and music. A visual treat for any connoisseur of horror and high weirdness!
Thanks for doing this guys!
Unimpressed. Shot entirely in the dark with no clear visuals, and absolutely no story or plot whatsoever. Completely a waste of time, possibly the worst I've viewed on UA-cam. Suggest you hire a writer.
Very good work my friend.
Congratulation my friend.
1m 30 seconds of jumbled introduction followed by a few minutes of pointless water sequences with a man being attacked by a lava monster for no apparent reason. Very poor
I would say good work... but sadly I don't see shit. I thought my monitor has a synch problem :-)
the graphics that were visible were nice. the dialog felt a bit rushed - maybe give the guy under water more say?? overall, seemed like a bunch of yelling in the dark....
I'm with Corn Flake I seen jackshit a hole lotta screaming lights all over the place W.T.F sorry.
still had a better story than Twilight. ....wait I take that back. Good lighting and modeling though.
Nice movie! Can somebody tell, whats the music are playing at the first part?
OK, he is sent down to rescue a team that something unknown happened to. This is not the first time a team was lost. There is one survivor, unconcious and injured, rescuer tries to extract them but is attacked by something he cannot make out. He is dragged deeper and his equipment is damaged. We finally see that he has been infected by some large alien entity. As we get a better look at the entity, we see it is most likely too powerful for us to deal with. Those on the surface may be sitting ducks, and they are unaware of it's existance.
That's about all I was able to glean from this. Did I come anywhere close?
Dafuq was that all about?
Audio says a rescue, but the rescuer sounded like he was rolling down a hill and visual concurred.
Was there an alien at the end?
Was there a possession at the end?
Did an alien possess the rescuer at the end?
Hard to tell, as the viewpoint was always and irritatingly on the move.
Others, in comments, have lauded technical aspects of the film, however, to my mind, this was a straightforward case of style over substance and on that basis this isn't a film I'd recommend to other viewers.
This is very special, with a unique visual style. However, it was hard to follow the underwater action. You should really render this out at ≥ 1080p
proč musíme v ČR točit 30 filmů ročně o vyhořelých lidech středního věku s depkou či rozpadající se rodinou? točme sci-fi!
hmm very good, but I think more dialogue would help the viewer, but definitely worth a like.
Visually great even if a little disjointed. Storyline was also hard to follow without reading the video description first. Supposition aside I enjoyed it.
That sukked. Can't see or hear what's taking place, in a 6-minute short there's no time for that. It's a waste of storyline and I have no interest in hanging out till the end. There was no motivation to follow the story there was no captivating scene up to three and a half minutes other than somebody getting tossed around in a blur and I found myself trying to make out images that are not there, they were not put on film so there I am trying to look into something that I'm not going to find and that's totally cruel by the filmmakers to lead the viewer to think that they will see something but it's not there. Basically I don't care How It Ends
What license is this work released under? Can I play it at a free, non-commercial screening event showing off amazing works made using Free/Open Source tools?
And... any chance you already have a subtitles (srt) file for this available I could use to translate to Czech language? I'd share the result back with you, of course.
Well, I got strong 'Abyss' vibes when they were falling into the depths but I have no idea what it was all about. Both the visuals and the audio were difficult to make out so couldn't follow whatever story there was.
besides the lack of dialogue / context I gotta say Thank you for the ride. This was one helluva trip 😲👍
This was cool! just subscribed & looking for more of your stuff. Great job!
Technically Well Made but don't like that kind drama! ^_^
You are aware, another user, The CGBros, uploaded this video to their account too?
Mysterious nail biting roller coaster ride. Thanks.
I'm guessing the unconscious diver that needed rescuing was the second mutating creature that appeared at very end after the rescuer mutated.
amazing CGI, well edited but... weak plot, weak idea
The film on a technical level is cool. Please read my critique with a grain of salt but I'm afraid I could watch the first 2-3 minutes before I got completely bored. The impressive visuals could only keep me watching for that long. I need an emotional hook to keep going. It's OK to be a little confusing, but by not giving me anything I can relate too as a human from the get go: for example getting to know your character and his objective, I'm bound to lose my interest eventually. A good example of this hook is the first 6 seconds of the music video: "Stuck in The Sound" by Let's Go.
Yeah. I want my 6 minute 47 seconds back...
sortof tough to see what was going on. maybe it needs to be on a much bigger screen than a 64" tv ?
didn't like it. filming made it difficult to see what was going on. lost interest
great movie,very nice concept art for the suit,but in my opinion you took the wrong decision to make the movie in underwater environment.If you did it on the surface it would looked a lot better.Great job.
Thanks for the feedback!
What the hell is going on?...Someone please switch the light on.
Did He get swallowed and the acid inside it's stomach dissolved Him?
I have no idea what just happened. It doesn't matter how technically skilled the maker is if the viewer can't follow any sort of plot line.
did not check anything ... anyway --- well done !
WHAT THE HELL. WHY POST THE VIDEO IF THERE WAS NO STORY TO BE UNDERSTOOD?
what happened in the end? did he got eaten or what? and why are his eyes red like lava?
👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👍
Testocerone Unleashed. Yawn.
When's the long film version?
This is my take on what happened. An alien left a half dead human in an exo suit as bait so another human would come. When the other human came, the alien (who's abilities seems to be able to transform humans into one of their own) pounced on the live human and finished off the half live one.
A great showcase for your visual and audio talents, Pavel. I'd like to see those combined in a collaboration with an equally talented writer and an equally talented director. You open to collaborations? They can be scary, but they can be incredibly rewarding too. Well done, man.
Not worth watching in 240p
Pehh...Too dark. :(
WTF (In a good way.)
This was really well produced, some nice detail here, couldn't tell if the lead was composited in or if he was entirely digital. The sound design was top notch and the voice acting had authenticity to it. I'd echo Kent's thoughts on the confusion towards the end but I get where you were going with the dark lighting. Can't wait to see any BTS.
dam very nice job ty ty
Horrible...just horrible.
Ok but I hate the shaky-cam shit
Uhh, ya, no, whatever.
sorry, I don't get it.
❤ Fascinating 👏👏🤗🥰
What was that all about
Go!GO!
Ok.. then what?
Lame waste of time
Metamorphosis?
That was a mess.
plagiat
nice job
Cool man😏
Бред.