A big hit on the festival circuit, “Les Dieux Changeants” (The Changing Gods) by Italian artist/director/composer Lucio Arese weaves Chopin and the destruction of beautifully lit classical statues into three minutes of CG poetry.

Lucio Arese in Cúneo, Italy: “Started as a series of technical tests and dynamic simulations involving fragmentation of 3D objects, the project has grown and in the end became an experimental short film with a philosophical significance.

“The development took place during the second Covid-19 winter lockdown in Italy.

“3Ds Max and V-Ray have been used for the production. All the texturing has been done with Substance Painter. All the fragmentations and dynamic simulations have been created with RayFire, a fantastic plugin for 3ds Max developed by Mir Vadim.

“Everything in this film is intended to be simple and essential with much care taken on the details and photography. Black backgrounds, one moving light source for every statue, basic editing – letting the sculptures speak for themselves in light and darkness.

“Interpretation of the film is open to everyone with the emblematic end quote from Nietzsche’s Zarathustra. It could represent the end of something, a transformation, a cycle, a re-evaluation of established values, the beginning of something new, or just something mysterious or fascinating to look at.

“Chopin’s Nocturne op. 27 no. 2 is the musical counterpart of the short film. Its intimate sweet melancholy opposed to the kinetic brutality of the statues disgregating creates a contrast that gives force and delicacy, primitive energy and decadence at the same time.”
 

 
Director/animator: Lucio Arese

Music: Chopin “Nocturne op. 27 no. 2”