Uruguayan production house Aparato just launched a new project named WecanFXit. The intend to use the project to promote global change through short films loaded with VFX, CGI and special effects, their area of expertise, “putting a touch of black humour in situations that need to be improved or reverted”, explained the project’s Leticia Almeida.
Wecanfxit launched with the short film M.A.M.O.N., a satirical sci-fi short film that explores with some dark humour, what would happen if Donald Trump won the US Election tomorrow.
The parody explores the political zeitgeist of 2016 US presidential elections and the Latino community struggle with discrimination.
When Donald Trump is having heart surgery a portal to a parallel reality opens, Latinos start falling from the sky to the desert, on the Mexico – US border, divided by an enormous wall.
As soon as they start claiming to be let in again, to be given their jobs and lives back, a gigantic Donald Trump-like mecha robot enters the scene asking Mexicans to pay for the construction of the wall.
A hilarious war breaks between the robotic Trump and several stereotypical Mexican Latinos.
The spectacular fight involves bizarre weapons, and numerous dark jokes about the cliches and stereotypical antics of the Mexican and Latino community, as the quinceañera, the quetzalcoatl, the lucha libre, the mariachi, the chapulín colorado, etc.
All the shots in the film involved some level of post production and CG. More than 20 of the shots have 3D elements such as the robot, ship, sugar skull, or the wall. The project was in editorial for approximately one month and the VFX and post-production took two months more approximately.
The project was modelled and animated using 3ds Max, it was used to create most of the 3d elements, including the robot, the ship and all the extra background elements. For specific elements such as the Virgin Mary and the sugar skull , Z-brush was used. In order to create masks and robot edges the team used substance painter primarily with some additional painting done in Mudbox on some elements. The team also used fumefx for some of the smoke simulation but they also relied on shot footage and elements that were live action and composited into the plate photography. The project was rendered in V-Ray exclusively.
From a 2D perspective the entire pipeline was Adobe. The primary compositing was done in Adobe After Effects which worked well as the editorial team used Adobe Premiere, and the titles were in Adobe Photoshop.
M.A.M.O.N. is part of the Wecanfxit project, powered by Uruguayan production house www.aparato.tv our mission is to change the world using our geeky weapons, visual effects and animation. Our motto: Making the world a better place, one pixel at a time.
Footnote:
Of course, this film and its team are hardly neutral in their opinion on the US elections, but regardless of your agreement or otherwise, “decisions are made by those who turn up”. Please vote, let the decision be the voice of the American people in a fair and democratic open election, and allow a peaceful transition of power that has been the hallmark of western democracy in recent times.