The Big Reset - Cities is an animated short film that peeks into the mind of visionary designer, Bruce Mau, and explores his thoughts on the future of cities. It's part of a four film collection presented by the National Film Board of Canada and streaming as part of 'The Curve', an online collection of stories about how the pandemic has touched the lives of Canadians.
As a huge admirer of Bruce's work, it was an absolute honour to interview him with NFB producer Maral Mohammadian to gather the audio and outline for this film. Our one and a half hour chat produced enough material for several films, but we worked hard to distill everything into a three minute piece.
Full film credits HERE
Our Model City - 2D design by Lillian Chan, 3D model by Omid Seraj
I worked with CG talent Omid Seraj to develop a hybrid 2D/3D look that was inspired by the 60's Archigram architectural movement, and the NFB classic Very Nice, Very Nice, one of Bruce's favourite films. We wanted a feeling of nostalgic futurism, something a bit Dada.
We started with the creation of our 3D city model, working back and forth to get just the right look and feel.
Initial planning
Re-working the city map.
Adding details
More details
The final film as a unique blend of Omid's animation and my own. Special thanks to Brandon Blommeart who provided additional animation and modelling help.
"The entire world is now part of an urban system."
'Several billion people who don't know the stupid old ways"
"What a freeway really is, is a river of fire"
"Like, yeah we're gonna have garbage...no actually, no."
"Imagine in my car was an office not a car, a place to collaborate...or sleep!"
"We build what we imagine. Reality catches up to imagination."
One of the final moments of the film involves a transformation of our model city into a future city. To really get into the spirit of Bruce's words, I employed my seven year old to imagine some futuristic vehicles for us. We incorporated those designs into the final scene.
My son's drawings + Archigram
Translating his drawings
Conceptual work for final scene
"Children are the best agents of change. Once they see the logic, they can't understand why you would do it the stupid way." -- Bruce Mau
Check out the entire NFB series at https://www.nfb.ca/the-curve/the-big-reset/