ABSOLOM
a sci-fi short short by H. Keith Hamilton
inspired by footage shot by Valentina Vee (and used with permission)
“A young freighter pilot is hired by a criminal syndicate to smuggle a valuable asset off a dangerous, tightly-controlled world.”
Back in September 2021, Valentina Vee was kind enough to let me play with some footage she shot on a spaceship set. I took her 30 seconds of raw, silent footage and crafted a 1 minute, 30 second short film with dialogue, VFX, sound design, and music. It’s been a fun ride exercising and developing my skills as a VFX artist as well as in writing, worldbuilding, editing, UI design, and sound design.
Will I further explore the universe of Absolom? Maybe. We’ll see what opportunities come up.
Tools:
Adobe After Effects & Premiere Pro
Maxon Cinema 4D
VideoCopilot Element 3D, Orb, Optical Flares
Red Giant Trapcode Particular
The footage originally came from Lighting for Sci-Fi and VFX | Cinematography Breakdown - YouTube.
Check it out for a great tutorial on how to light a sci-fi scene. Host and DP: Valentina Vee.
Music: Chivalry by Tea Time (purchased from PremiumBeat)
EX-08 Spacecraft Transport and Scout by ShaunTWilliams (downloaded from SketchFab)
Drone Camouflage Colour 3D Model by ElvinT (downloaded from TurboSquid)
Malabar Medium Transport by bszlrd (downloaded from SketchFab)
Free SF Fighter 3D model by CGPitbull (downloaded from TurboSquid)
Scifi Space Cruiser by RealtimeCGI (downloaded from TurboSquid)
Obsidia Empira’s city lights were part of “Coruscant - Star Wars Planet Texture” created by ShinyMa (downloaded from CGTrader).
The nebula came from an asset pack called Interstellarium by Andy Dominique Rak.
Other spacecraft models kitbashed by H. Keith Hamilton using VideoCopilot’s Motion Design 2 asset pack.