The Lost City of Aztlan

The Lost City of Aztlan from Mariam Hussein on Vimeo.
What secrets lie within The Lost City of Aztlan? Directed by Mariam Hussein and produced by Michael Vodden, this short film about a long-hidden Mayan civilisation was created by our VFX students as part of their final graduation project. Filmed on location in Chislehurst Caves in South East London, the film was completed under Lockdown and is now being entered into international film festivals.

The Lost City of Aztlan

Henry Havens plays explorer Thomas Clarke

The film was directed by Mariam Hussein and produced by Michael Vodden, both veterans of the award-winning short film "March of the Potguins", completed in December 2019 as part of the annual VFX Studio Project. The project was overseen by VFX UG Program Leader Jonathan McFall.

The Story
In 1921, apprentice archaeologist Thomas Clarke is on an expedition to find a lost Mayan civilisation hidden in the jungles of Guatemala.  Despite the dangers, curiosity gets the better of him, and he risks his life to try to retrieve a precious artifact.

Mariam Hussein

Lost City of Aztlan - Live Action Shoot
The live action shoot of the cave interiors was filmed in Chislehurst Caves in South-East London, where the team had just a three hour window to complete principal photography.

Exterior jungle shots
The exterior jungle shots were all created digitally, to create a photo-real effect.  The project pipeline was managed in Shotgun.

Covid-19
The film was completed under the Corona Lockdown, with all the VFX and digital work being done from home; our students fell back on their own home resources to create all the final renders. Despite these challenges, the team produced a sophisticated and skilful piece of work.

Interior shot 

Software and Rendering
Working remotely, the team communicated through WhatsApp, Discord, and Shotgun. The students were also able to take advantage of Escape Studios' VPN Network, which allowed renders to be carried out remotely on our render farm.

What would they have done differently if they had more time?
As ever, the live action shoot posed many challenges for our students, largely because of time restrictions - in this case a scanty three hour window. Given more time, the team would have added extra lights to the interior shots, because "it is always easier to darken things in post, rather than try to brighten them".

Cave interior shot

Credits for "Lost City of Aztlan"

• Mariam Hussein - Director, 3D Artist 
• Michael Vodden - Producer, Editor, Sound Design, Compositor
• Henry Havens - Explorer Thomas Clarke
• Pierrick Hausler - Director of Photography
• Ben Morales Frost - Composer
• Sandeep Tuladhar - 3D Artist
• Callum Reeve - Compositor
• Daniel Brooks - Compositor

Lost City of Aztlan at IMDB
You can find the Lost City of Aztlan at IMDB here.

The Escape Studios Animation Blog offers a personal view on the art of animation and visual effects. To apply for our BA/MArt in 3D Animation, follow this link. To apply for our storyboarding evening class, visit this page here. For the next 12 week animation course, click here.