Press

NVIDIA Blog // Floating on Creativity

UK Film Review // Playgrounds short film review

Directors Notes // SuperBlimp use 80s/90s Nostalgia to Explore Themes of Loneliness and Escapism in CGI Short ‘Playgrounds’

Retrospective Of Jupiter // Try, Fail & Repeat, Playgrounds Interview

Genesis

Process

Working on this film allowed us to develop new workflows while also applying what we’ve learned from working in Interactive, Commercial and Hollywood Movie VFX Production, fusing them into a kind of Guerrilla CGI production. The Process video below takes a look behind the scenes, where we documented some of the workflows and processes behind the creation of PLAYGROUNDS.​​​​​​​

Pre-Production

This needed to the underdog’s bedroom, choosing Sega rather than Nintendo, and anime rather than Disney, for example. The setting would be the late summer of 1994, west coast America. We felt strongly that with American culture permeating British & Italian culture in such a powerful way, it was almost as if, this fictional bedroom we devised was the place we wanted to escape to as children. We brought together many references, always with the ‘Underdog’ theme in mind.

Previz

The Previz provided us with the structure and direction for the final film, from the beginning, the core concept of the parents arguing, and the younger sibling coming in to play with the older brother was there from the very first previz, which was our thematic anchor throughout.  The Environment was roughly blocked out, which gave us a scene I could then use to set up all the cameras and would, in turn, be used as a guide for layout when moving to asset production. Like a virtual cameraman, I could then go into the room and look for moments and shots that worked from a purely cinematic and communicative point of view, using placeholders while we developed the narrative.

Enjoy the FREE original poster and selection of social images made for PLAYGROUNDS.