about modern art and the quest for its appreciation - a true story, based on Maggie’s own hard drive data and some eyewitness accounts.
CLiMB pays homage to chaos theory, classic Looney Tunes themes and characters, along with lots of music and a comic book graphic style.
This movie is all about art, particularly - modern art, the appreciation of it, the eventual pitfalls of the butterfly effect and...
...I always wanted to blow up Tatlin's Tower! A big wink here, of course, but besides constructivism, surrealism, abstract and kinetic art, another major inspiration for the movie came from Edward Norton Lorenz and his chaos theory. Very small differences result in major butterfly effects throughout, but when all this is combined with 20th century modernism and some cool music, the mix takes on quite a different hue altogether - it becomes a facet of our artspace continuum concept.
Our protagonist Maggie is the typical art-world layman, a ready-made android model in a monochromatic life setting, who grows to appreciate art. Blue, the eponymous Morpho butterfly on the other hand, as colorful and playful as it is, represents perhaps what Goethe calls in Faust - part of that force that always wills the evil and always produces the good. The dialectic unity of opposites, a dualistic paradigm of struggle between creation and destruction, is symbolized by the seemingly endless chase of the two main characters, a relatively funny art demolition derby, which goes on to the conception of even more art. And by extension, this film in particular.
Furthermore, the Lorenz attractor model brings in unexpected consequences after even a small insect lands on top of a massive metal structure. The butterfly effect of such insignificant occurrence cascades through the pursuit of an alternative reality, where surreal is the norm, but physical existence bounces back at any point.
Making CLiMB was a logical, although reversed, continuation of Slightly Suprematic, our previous 2020 short, which focused on the essence of moving art as a new art form. This time, in a semi-narrative setting, bridging between absurdist and cartoony action, the film goes to combine again music with vivid visuals, albeit, at a more approachable and fun level. We hope viewers will have as much fun, as we did making the movie.
the climb crew why we made climb
Writer, Director, Producer, Design, Animation, Editing, VFX, Music
Associated Producer, Writer
Visual and Story Consultant
Maggie's Voice Ranger
And pick the best day to do it - a transporter crash is always helpful.
Any Blue Morpho will do, but better one from a functional Lorenz attractor.
The art you were longing for is hidden there, you alone can unlock it.
Before it goes down. Yet, there is always something new around the corner...
CLiMB came as a logical, albeit reversed, continuation of our previous moving art piece Slightly Suprematic (2020) . It was also the fruit of gentle prodding and encouragement from SEEfest Director Vera Mijojlic, without whom this film would never have been made. The concept drew its inspiration from modern art, as well as absurdist and classic plays. With a fun philosophy aspect. Ars Gratia Artis, bit without the lion roar...
follow us on instagram
Nadia, our philosophy scout, nailed Lorenz' Chaos theory from the very start. From that point on, it was all in the attractor, with light hearted Looney Tunes style humor coming to the rescue. Dialectic's Unity of Opposites , from Heraclitus and Anaximander through Hegel and on, is heavily present, too. But trashing the never-built Monument to the Third Communist International was fun, and the music glued it all together.
see Ivo's take
The shadow of Mephisto somehow crept in as well. The force that bears evil, but always conceives good - what better allegory for our playful, but, seriously deadly Blue Morpho. With roots in classic absurdist fiction, CLiMB takes it a bit on the lighter side - Godot does not need to arrive anymore. Beckett aside, CLiMB is a fun take on some serious philosophical concepts from the old and the new age.
see the teasersIvo Venkov - Writer, Director, Producer, Editor, Design, VFX, Compositing, Music, Original Artworks Rossi Venkov - Co-Producer Boriana Todorov - Associated Producer, Writer Emil Mitev - Visual and Story Consultant Nicola Stefanov - Maggie's Voice Ranger PAAstudio - sound, mix and mastering Nadja Petrova - Philosophy Scout Philip Venkov - Title Design Petruccio - Additional Keyboards Chako Music - Additional Recoding Pete Thomas - Saxophone Sampling Mixamo - Mocap Maxon - Rendering Engine Rigsters - 3D scans SimpleDCP - DCP Rossi Venkov - Accounting, Catering
Edward Norton Lorenz and his work
Vera Mijojlic Till Nowak Sigal Diamant Z. Paneva Ava Venkov Todor Nikolov Marina Bartolomäus Milena Fuchedjieva Greyscalegorilla Vladimir Todorov
In Memory of all our friends lost to the pandemic
Palisades Entomological Society Certification:: No Insects were harmed in the making of this film All Profanities have been purposely confined to C# and C++ for C+ reasons
#climbmovie #freeunkraine ©℗ PAAstudio 2022
The intent was to stay as close as possible to the actual making of an art piece, the Slightly Suprematic way, albeit in an absurdist narrative. It paid off, preserving the natural flow and idea intact, with the process being the one creating art. The color palette came from the final Still Life with Fruit and Butterfly, 2022, gislée on paper, S, M, L and XL, which was painted specifically for the film, and where the predominantly monochromatic beginning grows to a vivid coloration towards the film's climax.
join us on instagram
With some creative improvisation, layers and dynamics were rendered with Sketch and Toon in C4D, allowing for the desired comic book visual style. Then all was composited with some VFX and image adjustments in Motion 5, which still remains a great little app. Different layer blending was used to get a deeper color in some scenes and the old film effect, accentuating some of Maggie's HD | AI imperfections, gave the movie a unified look. All original artwork was done in Procreate on iPad Pro.
watch the teasers
We had three themes to work with, along with some filler pieces for the different phases of the art demolition derby. Maggie has to gladly walk, angrily run and happily climb. So we just decided to vary from Dm to D maj - as Petruccio says "So did Beethoven"... Joke aside, the approach seems to work - with some additional recording at Chako Music (pic). The funk guitar and the sax have their contrasting presence, until they harmonize at the end with the organ, bringing in the uplifting message.
stream the moviePart theory of relativity, part J.R.R. Tolkien, the idea of the Artspace Continuum has been a focal point of our design, or shall we say, overall life approach, for a long number of years. It has crystalized in 2D and 3D work and attention to environmental issues. We view it as the overall, planned infusion of art in our daily lives, which elevates the mere passing of time to the level of pure enjoyment and adventure, brought in by harmony, color, space, sound - i.e. architecture, 3D art, painting and music. Yes, music - as Goethe said “Architecture is still music”.
In other words, blurring the lines between temporal and spatial arts into an environment, which, unlike a museum, is free to use, enjoy and mess with at all times. And like a well designed object of desire, it puts a smile on your face every time you’re in there and basically sets the foundation of a much better, pleasurable and meaningful existence. Not sure yet if this might be the ‘meaning of life’, but it could be damn close to it.
This concept encompasses the myriad of art forms we touch - design, sculpture, painting, music, film, even theatre. For us, respectfully - it is very close to the meaning of life. Not too corny, right? But in the end - very true. Just a happy everyday occurrence.
visit our main site intrigued? drop us a line
