'District 9' Director's New Short Features Existential Robot Horror
'ADAM: The Mirror' is the sequel to an acclaimed Unity short from last year.
District 9 director Neill Blomkamp’s experimental short film venture, Oats Studios, broke a two-month lul of releases by uploading a gorgeously animated, existentially dark short film that’s a sequel to an older, acclaimed short from a little more than a year ago. ADAM: The Mirror, continues the story that ADAM began in a short film that shows just what the Unity engine is capable of.
In June of 2016, creator Veselin Efremov used Unity, best-known for being a truly impressive game engine, to create a short film to show off the engine’s potential for use in films. The film shows a “robot” waking up and feeling horrified that he’s trapped in a mechanical body. As he joins up with other robots in what looks like some kind of prison where they’re all being controlled, two prophet-like figures appear on the horizon. One waves his hand, seemingly clearing the robots’ obedience programs. Then, he turns, leading them all to who knows where. up with other robots in what looks like some kind of prison where they’re all being controlled, two prophet-like figures appear on the horizon. One waves his hand, seemingly clearing the robots’ obedience programs. Then, he turns, leading them all to who knows where.
That’s where things left off, and where Blomkamp stepped in. The director told Polygon that he was drawn to the Unity engine and the open-ended nature of the original short. After consulting with Efremov, Blomkamp opted to make the world of ADAM explicitly dystopian, as seen in the sequel short, The Mirror, which reveals more about where these “robots” came from.
A third installment, ADAM: The Prophet, will come out later this year.
“We know where the story goes, but it exists in this Star Wars, open-world kind of landscape we get to explore,” Blomkamp told Polygon.
