Short Pick Of The Day: ‘The Wanderer’ by Savva Tsekmes

Says the filmmaker Savva Tsekmes:

The Wanderer is my take on the giant-impact hypothesis, a collision event between Theia (ancient planet) and Gaia (proto-earth) that is thought to have birthed the moon and changed Earth to be as we know it.

This film is an ode to the moon as our earth’s oldest companion. The visuals are paired with Eden Ahbez’ poem ‘La Mar’ (‘The Sea’). In The Wanderer I’ve brought together what I think the moon inspires, a coming together of science and poetry, biology and history, nature, and art.

The Wanderer took roughly a year to produce alongside full-time work. Since I worked on the 3d visuals independently, I utilized a few techniques and resources to make my workflow more efficient. Using Megascans library really cut down on time building out environments. I used Redshift to render all shots. GPU rendering has become increasingly common. What used to take hours on a render farm, is taking half that on a couple of graphics cards.

Film by Savva Tsekmes, Australia, 2019.

For more about the making of the short, see the filmmaker’s website.

Credits
Directed and animated by Savva Tsekmes
Sound design/mixing/mastering: Redhorse Studio
Colorist: Edel Rafferty
“La Mar” performed by Eden Ahbez. Licensed courtesy of Warner Music Australia Pty Limited.