Danil Krivoruchko is a New York-based multidisciplinary art director and visual effects artist. He grew up in Ukraine, where he got his degrees in design and computer science. Since 2012 he lives in the United States working as VFX artist and art director on projects for major brands such as Apple, Nike, Verizon, Intel, etc. In 2016, inspired by the idea of integration science and art, he created ‘NYC Flow’, an award-winning experimental short film, where he explored video processing technics introduced by neural-style code. Being a professional VFX artist with a passion for sci-fi, in 2020 Danil Krivoruchko released a short computer-generated sci-fi film ‘Blindsight’.
Director Statement
Around 6 years ago I read the sci-fi novel Blindsight and I was stunned by the number of wild ideas Peter Watts packed into the story. I wanted to make my own contribution to this fascinating universe.
So, I reached out to some of my friends who work in the visual effects and motion design industries and pitched the idea of creating just a few style frames for the gallery on Peter’s website.. That’s how this all started.
As time went on, the project evolved from a few still frames to animations and then ultimately to a short film. Because I was very much involved from day one and spent more time working on it than any other team member, I naturally became the director of the Blindsight short… as well as, the producer, designer, composer, visual effects artist, and colorist – you name it, I did it.
Since this was a strictly non-commercial project I didn’t have the luxury of hiring anyone. But, one by one, I found volunteers willing to help. I’m so grateful to the near 30 professionals who came on board to help with solving the problems that arose in spots where my own expertise proved insufficient. Creating good quality computer animations is an extremely laborious process and when your budget is limited to zero, you’re forced to do it in-between paid work — meaning nights and weekends. That’s why the project took almost 4 years to complete.
Basically, the Blindsight film is just one big piece of fan-art. What was most important to me was to capture the atmosphere of the novel rather than show the narrative arc. And I hope our film will help to attract as much attention to the novel as possible. I truly believe this awesome book deserves a much wider audience.
Fantasy/Sci-Fi FILM & WRITING FESTIVAL 