EXPLORERS OF THE PAST AND FUTURE

A RETRO FUTURISTIC SHORT MOVIE

Enter a world of winged horses, fantastical vintage bikes and mind-boggling, intergalactic contraptions – let the kids take you on a space-race to find “the treasure” in the strangest-of-strange space-scapes you ever did see.

"We used our childhood imaginations to produce something innovative – usually we work digitally, but this time digital was only one instrument for giving life to handmade and analog elements".

Luigi Pane ^:g director/creative director

15KG OF SUGAR, RICE AND SALT

We wrote a story structured like a film, starting from the creative inspirations of a fashion collection to reach a script and treatment. Then we produced our short film and Italian master of portrait, Guido Harari, shot the press campaign. To obtain a “retro­futuristic” mood we re­produced lo­-fi smaller sets and models, made from cardboard and natural materials, to create all the backgrounds, then we composed all the elements together. It's rare that a small studio like ours can, at the same time, be a creative agency, production house, director and post-production company.

84 DAYS OF DIGITAL CRAFTMANSHIP

The movie is a mixture of different techniques and styles: live action, stop motion, motion graphic and 3D. We looked for a lo-­fi approach in a certain way: using analogue and home-made props where possible, being inspired by techniques for special effects used in cinema in the twenties, (we like it much more than the cold CGI of Hollywood films). We have therefore tried to avoid 3D as much as possible, moving more towards stop-­motion. Once the live action was shot on the green screen, we created mini scenes like cartoons. Chocolate shavings, salt, rice, liquorice...these were just a few of the things we used to create the landscape, mountains, etc. Very few elements were created digitally.

How long did it take to create? Between pre-production (roughly a month) and post-production of the printed images (five weeks for over 20 images) and post-production of the film... (whistling the theme tune that you hear when the titles go up... 7 weeks) ... a while in total..."

SHOTS Magazine ­ Italy Special ­ Issue 116

20 PORTRAITS BY GUIDO HARARI

We wanted the printed pictures looks like a kind of hi-definition frames “grabbed” from the movie.  To obtain this result we needed a photographer who was used to working in adverse condition – that’s why we opted not for a fashion photographer but for a master of action portraits: Guido Harari. During the live-action shooting Guido situated himself by the movie camera to catch as many of the frames we needed as possible.

57 REVIEWS BY WORLDWIDE PRESS

Diesel Kid Explorers of the Past and Future went gold at Epica Awards 2008 as Best On Line Film. After its publication, the project has been reviewed internationally by specialized press and media, capturing the attention of the most influent voices in creative advertising such as Shots Magazine, AD Week, Creative Review and Juxtapoze. Find below some of the interviews and articles we loved the most.

CREDIT LIST