After intensively studying manuals and tutorials, Philipp Luftensteiner developed "Arena" in conjunction with a graduation project. This is a complete 3D animated short film, which is about two robots that were created to kill one another, but then begin to love each other.

Sometime at the beginning of last summer, I was suddenly overcome by the urgent desire to make a film: one with at least 20-meter-tall robots and tons of destruction. I had already made films with a great deal of blood and chases—and this had been relatively easy.

From the very start, there was no question, I would use a computer. Probably it would have been easier to make the film in 2D, but I couldn’t resist the temptation: it had to be 3D.

So that was how I came to spend the loveliest days of the year (the summer holidays) in my room, intensively studying manuals and tutorials. When the new school year began, I hadn’t gotten very far. And if I hadn’t been able to continue working on it on school days at home, in conjunction with a graduation project, I never would have gotten my film done.

The film is about 8.5 minutes long, and completely 3D animated. I edited it afterwards, and then added the soundtrack. The story takes place in the year 3000. All humankind has been enslaved by robots (we’ve heard of something like this somewhere before ...). To keep humans happy, robot gladiator fights are held.

Two of these fighting robots star in my film. Due to a defect in its electronic brain, one of the two robots loses its aggressive drive and killer instinct, and falls in love with the other robot.