Last Call

LAST CALL is an experimental original short from SuperBlimp, set inside the empty carriage of a London Underground train as it reveals the quiet aftermath of something that has happened just before the viewer arrives. Directed and built by Antonio Milo, the film uses a single familiar environment as a meditation on the passage of time and what waits for those who don't make use of it. The full production was developed and made in-house at SuperBlimp in 2018, the studio's first authored original short, with environment design, lighting, animation, and finish all built from scratch.

The work

LAST CALL began as an experiment in atmosphere. The question was whether a single familiar environment, faithfully rendered and carefully lit, could carry an entire short film without dialogue, without characters in frame, and without a conventional narrative. The answer was the train carriage at the centre of the piece: a space the viewer recognises immediately, populated only by the small evidence of recent presence, the lighting tuned to suggest the late hours and the strangeness of being alone in a place usually full of people. The film treats the carriage as a stand-in for the passage of time. A space we move through every day, often without thinking, until something happens that makes us notice it. The full environment was built from scratch in-house, with every detail of the carriage modelled and lit deliberately to support the tone of the piece. The film was directed and produced solo, with additional asset modelling by Andreas Kjær-Jensen and original poster designs by Anna Laviola Milo for the film’s release.

CG Breakdowns

A look at the CG and wireframe work behind the build. Every element of the carriage was modelled from scratch in-house.

Wireframes

In-Fiction Brands

The carriage interior was treated as a piece of worldbuilding as much as a piece of environment design, and that extended to the brands that appear on the posters along the walls. SONA is a fictional brand created for the SuperBlimp universe, with poster designs that lean into the slightly off-kilter, slightly desperate tone of advertising aimed at exhausted commuters at the end of a long day.

The taglines are aspirational in a way that feels not quite right (“channel your energy,” “punching your boss is not a crime”), the kind of pitch that would exist in a world where people are tired enough to find this kind of message appealing. Small details, but they help the carriage feel like a real space inhabited by a real world rather than an empty stage.

Press and Recognition

Following its release, LAST CALL was featured on CGBros, the curated animation and VFX channel, and went on to win awards on Behance in both the 3D and aftermath categories. The film also had a short festival run with a number of selections and awards.

Credits

Project: LAST CALL · Year: 2018

SuperBlimp’s role: Original short. Direction, production, design, CG, animation, and finish, in-house.

Director / CG Artist: Antonio Milo

Additional Asset Modelling: Andreas Kjær-Jensen

Poster Designs: Anna Laviola Milo

Featured on: CGBros

Awards and Selections: Behance Motion Graphics and After Effects categories, plus festival selections and wins