University of Arizona students Gaël Baup and Matthew Maxim are proving that you don't need a big budget, Hollywood VFX team to produce stunning visuals.
Their ambitious short film, The Glass Planet is starting to attract attention well beyond the hallways of their film school.
The duo plan to premiere their 30-minute sci-fi short on May 10 at the I Dream In Widescreen senior thesis presentation for the University of Arizona’s film school. This year's showcase takes place at the Fox Theatre in downtown Tucson, Arizona.
Baup, a film major, wrote and directed the short, while Maxim, a physics major, worked on digital effects, via Blender.
Said Baup to Tuscan 9 ABC, "When I was a kid, I loved Spider-Man and wanted to become him. I thought, should I do it for real as a scientist or just ‘cheat’ using film?"
The short follows a young man who sets out on a quest to find his missing father, who disappeared 10 years on an exploration mission.
"It’s action and sci-fi, sure, but also deeply human,” said Maxim.
“Marcus is dealing with grief, identity, and the weight of a larger destiny. It’s about finding his parents—and himself and maybe even saving the world. A big priority for us was telling this crazy story with crazy visuals but keeping that deep personal connection.”
Alan Davis of Davis de Dios Media, was so impressed by what Baup and Maxim have created that he awarded Baup a full scholarship so that he would no longer need to work a part-time job to pay for his tuition and could fully devote himself to his short film.
Baup added, "This film is pretty much proof that you don’t need Hollywood super-wealthy people to make the film you want to make."
“Just go out there and shoot it, you know? That’s what we did here."
You can check out a short teaser trailer for The Glass Planet below. Stay tuned to SffGazette as we will update our coverage with the full short if the project makes its way to YouTube, following the conclusion of I Dream In Widescreen.
The Glass Planet Synopsis:
A young astronaut defies all odds to search for his long-lost father on a perilous, uncharted glass planet—an unforgiving world where no one has ever returned, and where he must confront both the planet’s dangers and the haunting mystery of his father’s disappearance. Gael Baup directed, wrote the script, filmed, edited and provided the sound mixing. Matthew Maxim provided additional digital effects support via Blender and is listed as a producer. The short stars Jeremy Francis and Nico.