‘Anyone can be a hero, even an ant’ - this quote defines the short film ‘Antihero’, directed by 22-year-old Sidhu Das. The macro fantasy short film starring two ants and an antlion is garnering massive response with over three lakh views on YouTube.
The specialty of this movie is that it was shot realistically, without any VFX.
The short film opens to an ant coming out of its colony in search of food. However, a predator, an antlion larva, is awaiting its day’s prey. The ant is trapped in its pit and attacked by the antlion. Soon, another ant comes to the rescue of its friend and they escape together from the danger.
“Ants and antlions are a part of our childhood memories and stories. The antlions trapping ants and preying on them is a common example of the food chain. There may be many ants that escape from the trap, so I thought of basing a macro fantasy story on this,” says Sidhu. The visuals by Sidhu and Ashin Prasad are accompanied by the background score by Yadhu Krishna. The short film is produced by Pendulum Films and edited by Vishnu Viswanathan.
Sidhu, who graduated in Botany from Maharaja’s College, Kochi, spent nearly one-and-a-half years on the short film.
“The shooting started in April 2019 and completed by May 2020. Editing was done in June, sound design in July, and we rolled out the movie in August,” he says.
According to Sidhu, he was particular about not using VFX. “We wanted viewers to be curious. VFX would bring artificiality into it. The texture of sand changes as seasons change. Shot in macro mode, people would identify the changes. So I prepared an indoor set. The sequences with the ants were shot by putting sand over a piece of plywood. Antlions take around 12 hours to dig a pit. So, we would keep it in sand filled in a disposable glass and by morning the pit would be ready,” says Sidhu.
Though viewers may get the feeling that the antlion trapped and attacked the ant, Sidhu affirms that the shots were faked. “I feared that the ant may get attacked and killed for real, which I didn’t want at all. The reality is that no ant will save another when in danger. So, our hero needed a grand entry. The rush sequences were shot, then the rescue and escape,” he says.
The film was shot on a Nikon DSLR and Oneplus mobile phone. “The ants I picked were the ones which go out in search of food. The nest-building ants won’t travel much,” he adds. Sidhu is interested in directing movies and ‘Antihero’ is his second work.