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Undermined

A severely ill detective, confronted with reckless fracking companies protected by a corrupt system, struggles with the question of how far he is willing to go to stop them.

  • Matthias Kapuvari
    Director
  • Matthias Kapuvari
    Writer
  • Niels Leenders
    Additional Writing
  • Matthias Kapuvari
    All CG / Compositing / Editing / Colour Grading
  • Tom Hoesstee
    Original Soundtrack
  • Kevin Sens
    Sound Design
  • Tom Hoesstee
    Sound Design
  • Harmen Oudega
    Mastering
  • Celine Krstulovic
    Voice Acting
  • Niels Leenders
    Voice Acting
  • Marten Verheijen
    Voice Acting
  • Daniel Jitbahadoer
    Voice Acting
  • Project Type:
    Animation, Short
  • Runtime:
    7 minutes 12 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    November 26, 2021
  • Country of Origin:
    Germany
  • Language:
    English
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Matthias Kapuvari

Matthias Kapuvari, born 1988 in Karlsruhe, Germany, is a Director and Concept Artist based in Berlin, Germany. During his childhood, he quickly discovered his passion for drawing, painting and visual art. In 2015, he graduated with distinction from his Bachelor in “3D Visual Art” at Breda University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands. During his Bachelor, he directed a cinematic trailer called “Solitude” (2014). After completing his Master’s degree at Teesside University in England, he worked for more than three years at the Design Studio “Atomhawk”, where he led teams of concept artists and directed photoshoots.

Combining his experience in directing projects and a strong interest for design and storytelling, he decided to develop his first short film “Undermined” (2021), after moving to Berlin in 2020. With a passion for film and animation, he continues his career path in directing.

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Director Statement

I started this animated short film project because I wanted to learn more about the different stages of filmmaking. I initiated the project during the corona lockdown, and after having moved to a new city. Since I had very little budget, was unable to meet others, and I had to stay at home, it meant I would have to create a lot of this film on my own. It was important to build my idea for the film around these constraints.

During the first six months I worked on the project by myself, having to work on all the different aspects of filmmaking. The project required me to get creative and hands-on with available software: Almost all 3D work was done with the free and open-source software “Blender”, I used free motion capture data for most of the animations in the film, and an AI-lip syncing algorithm to animate the speech of the characters. It is amazing how these tools and resources enable artists to bring their ideas to life.
I was very fortunate to have a writer join the project later, helping me to bring the story to the next level. The whole film really came together when the composer, sound designer and voice actors joined the project.

“Undermined” centers around the following questions: How far should one go to fight evil? Can it be justifiable to fight evil with evil? When do you just become evil yourself? From there I developed the story and wrote the script. My goal was to raise these questions without making a statement but letting the audience form their own opinion about it.