Homunculus

Type: Short Film

Director
HYDRA

Animation/VFX
HUMBLE

Tools Used
Maya, After Effects, Final Cut

The short film Homunculus (latin term for "Little Human") starts out with a setting of various foods that begin to rot away. As the fungus and mold takes over the food, it starts to form into little fungus people. One of the fungus people tries to start a conversation with another, but he gets his head bitten off. After that, it gets out of control! There's some cannibalism, grape throwing, and a monster that spawns out of the dead pheasant ooze. During the film, the set of food keeps rotting away.

This film was directed by Hydra which is a collaborative directing entity for humble. According to their website, hydra was formed to make projects that are outside the constraints of commercial work. Hydra allows the directors, animators, and compositors of humble to take any crazy idea and do what they want. Homunculus is definitely a crazy idea that really has nothing to do with anything. Its simply just a work of art, albeit a totally off the wall one.

Homunculus stood out to me simply because it was just so out there. After I watched it the first time I was left thinking "What the f... was that?!" Homunculus didn't have anything to sell or advertise, it was just a film made for fun which was a nice change. The backdrop that the film was created from was really interesting and a very important part of the story. An uncooked pheasant, some fish, cheese, and various fruits were enclosed in a plexiglass cube and allowed to rot away while special cameras took a picture every five minutes for 11 days. While the film is playing out, you can see the food still rotting away including some nasty pheasant ooze which spawns the big monster.

Additional Links

• Main website: www.humble.tv

Hydra is also known for work on a couple of hit music videos:

• Muse - Uprising
• Passion Pit - The Reeling