The Place Where Everything Begins and Ends: by Juan Pablo Caballero
The place where everything begins and ends
A Film By Juan Pablo Caballero.
News
WINNER OF BEST ART DIRECTION AT BOGO SHORTS AWARDS
Shortfilm
15:00
Stage: Distribution
Synopsis:
A research android travels through space to build reports on alien life forms. As he explores an unknown planet composed of plastic-like blends, his circuits begin to show oddities and malfunctions, jeopardising the space traveler's mission.
Daffy London / Arthur & the Gentleman
As Daffy London (and Arthur) I completed 34 VFX shots for this short masterpiece by JP (Juan Pablo Caballero (aka The Gentleman) - JP - "bringing expert compositing and 3D animation to elevate some images that were sorely lacking punch". All the way from mini VFX enhancements, some AI love to a shot which took an entire year. As the film developed so did my understanding of AI, and VFX as a whole. Most importantly as did my relationship with JP and we now operate as an artistic duo. Projects include
1. PELOTON on THE SPHERE, LAS VEGAS for F1, December 2026
Stage: Delivered
2. BIRDSONG - Working with Angus Hampel to bring his bird murmuration works to life for The Disruptive Gallery and SmithVaitiare
Stage: Completion Feb 2026
3. GARBAGE & DREAMS an art installation follow up to THIS FILM!
Stage: Completion e/o 2026
Development Phases:
A.I. / Maya Development for Explorer uniform:
https://vimeo.com/1043302664
Further AI / CGI development:
https://vimeo.com/1054663381
Production :
how it started
how it ended up
With a simple system that grew out of delivering 150+ lighting shots for Happy Feet II, I proudly handled the VFX production of this project also. So often is production seemingly more emphasised than the creative. So often I find myself keeping production filled in on a productions entire status. So often do I spend more time fighting about the viability of extra (30 minute fix) shots with production than the fix itself. So often there's more than one producer (prod + exec or prod + coord) I find myself feeding information between the two, not just simply working on the damn work.
Summary : for this nature of work, allow me to produce too.
More Information:
The project began in 2022 as a comission for Casa Plástica, an Art House based in Bogotá, Colombia. By that time the first images were produced with high quality standards, and they were focused in a observational persepective of strange beings that appear to be merged with plastic, while looking to raise questions about the future of mankind in this planet. Some of these images were shown at the gallery's opening as part of an experimental video installation. This helped seting up the gorund for a deeper story, a detailed creation of a complete new world, as seen through the eyes of a research android. This character was never seen before, but was previously mentioned in Juan Pablo's 2018 short film "Spacewalkers" and was referred to as "The White Man", which served as inspiration to tell his story in this film.
Form that moment on, until the end of 2025, a new guerrilla production stage began, a filmmaker's solo journey which included lots of stop motion, new observational recordings --from insects to garbage, from old found footage to drone vfx intervention to make it look microscopical, time lapses and more-- Until finally, artist/director Daffy London (seasoned VFX maestro) stepped in —bringing expert compositing and 3D animation to elevate some images that were sorely lacking punch. A meticulous artistic refinement took place during most of 2025 to get every shot to the expected level of ambiguity that transports the audience to the uncanny valley, the liminal experience, the intersection.
The question is always about the place of humankind in the universe and what it has done with the given time, the question is about us, our trace, and our absence. The Place Where Everything Begins and Ends is a collage, a mashup of eerie imagery that pushes the audience in to a sort of cinema guided meditation.