This project is inspired by various futuristic sci-fi works like RoboCop, The Six Million Dollar Man, and The Bionic Woman. These works focus on bionic humans as superhumans with unordinary powers like super strength, x-ray vision, and even indestructibility. Zyzerian stems away from that and focuses on social issues, including class division, labor exploitation, and consumerism. The Zyzerian product itself is advertised as something that you need. In this world, everyone wants it. It is easy to turn a blind eye when it comes to what it takes to develop these products. Here, class division and labor exploitation come in. Only those who can afford it can access these emerging technologies, creating a higher status that separates them from the others. This leaves the poor behind to do all the manual labor, oftentimes under inhumane conditions.

​

In terms of visual aesthetics, the short film would resemble claymation works. Wallace & Gromit and several other works come to mind. Making something 3D resemble claymation was something that I found interesting and wanted to do. I also enjoy the look of stop motion in general, so texture was a must. The characters I created were simple and cute to contrast with the contents of the film. Instead of creating hyperrealistic grotesque sci-fi-esque characters, doing the opposite was an effective way to highlight the ignorance of this dystopia that reflects modern society. The choice of modeling and animating everything to resemble claymation was a choice to represent the laborious involvement of developing technology. The money that is gained from these innovations is not enough for the people doing all the manual labor. Another inspiration I have is Detroit: Become Human. In this futuristic video game, there is no focus on bionic humans but AI. These AI individuals have a glowing LED on the temple to distinguish them from the humans. I am doing something similar where the Zyzerian implant is physically visible and a status symbol.