Termonster

Termonster by Matias Poggini, Animation Student from Universidad del Cine.

Who?
My name is Matias Poggini, and I’m an animation student from Buenos Aires, Argentina. This was my first animated short, and I did it all by myself, with some help from my friends and girlfriend to finish painting the characters. Sound design was made by another close friend, Hernán Buffa, and I couldn’t stop mentioning all the nice people from freesound.org that put their beautiful sounds out there without asking anything in return.

What?
Without disclosing the punch, Termonster is a humorous take on the Giant Monsters movie genre, being a mix between Godzilla and King Kong. It answers all-time questions like “Where do this monsters come from?” and “Why would they need humans?”. It could be a comment about consumerism too, but I wouldn’t go too far.

Why?
Well, the starting point was given by my animation teachers: the word “thermometer”. From there, I brainstormed the wackiest ideas I could think off, and discarded the ones that were too long or not concise enough. As inspiration I would choose anything from John K., Looney Toons shorts, etc. Cartoony, slapstick fun.

How?
It’s all hand drawn animation, colored digitally, with a tad of composition and effects in After Effects. The backgrounds were also painted digitally.

Next Project?
Currently I’m working on a couple of experimental group projects, and a personal little short about zombies, with plenty action and about half duration, based on a musical theme.

Which animated film would you like to have made?
I truly wouldn’t know which one to choose. From the fun side of animation, I’d choose “The Great Piggy Bank Robbery” by Bob Clampett. It’s just so fun and surreal, and it certainly impressed me in my childhood. I probably didn’t understood a thing of it, but it was fun and scary at the same time, the kind of stuff that sticks with you when you grow up, a little piece of animated anarchy to hold on to.