RED GAIA

Director's Statement

Red Gaia is my first narrative personal project after 20 years of honing my skills as a designer and visual effects artist. 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 Natasha, (who brought the character to life with her voice) helped elevate the project immeasurably. 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.