The War on Hoarding in Cinema 4D

Fox Renderfarm, a powerful but affordable render farm, is glad to have an interview with CG artist Marien Singbo from Sweden who created ‘The War on Hoarding’, Episode 1: Toilet Paper.

The animation short was made by Marien as a response to the senseless and irresponsible hoarding that's going on at the moment.

Let's enjoy the short and the story behind!

The War on Hoarding © Marien Singbo

Artist: Marien Singbo (Sweden)

Caption: I made it in CINEMA 4D with Redshift. My inspiration came from running out of toilet paper basically. I had to go on pilgrimage over 3 hours, through 4 stores here in London before I finally found some toilet paper. People have been hoarding even though the government & supply managers have reassured us that we will not run out of toilet paper anytime soon. My sister who has a 1-year-old baby has been unable to purchase baby wipes. It's all a bit disappointing and incredibly frustrating as it can easily be avoided.

I've also been very affected, at least my career plans. I had a freelance gig canceled. And I was also going to have an animation internship at a big studio in London as the last thing in my education. But it's been canceled/postponed for now.

As I will be graduating soon it's all a bit scary not knowing how the industry will recover from this and how I as a new person in the industry will be affected.

Fox Renderfarm: Hi Marien, thank you so much for accepting our interview! Could you briefly introduce yourself?

Marien: Hi, Of course. Glad to. My name is Marien Singbo, both a freelance animator and a student as I’m currently enrolled in Motion Creative Program at Hyper Island, Stockholm.

I started out doing traditional cel animation and After Effects work a few years ago but kind of randomly found myself doing 3D work this last year.

I enjoy creating and animating Characters, in both 2D and 3D.

Fox Renderfarm: What’s the inspiration behind your work?

Marien: Honestly I just get inspired by everyday life. I’m pretty easy-going and like to see the funny aspect of everything I encounter and I usually try to have this reflected in my work.

Fox Renderfarm: How long did it take to finish the artwork?

Marien: It took me 5 days from start to finish (modeling, character creation & rigging and animation, materials and final compositing)

Fox Renderfarm: What software and plugins did you use to finish the artwork?

Marien: I used CINEMA 4D with Redshift and Photoshop to create texture for the assets and composited in Premiere Pro. I didn’t use any additional plugins.

Fox Renderfarm: Who was invited to dub for the animation? How did you complete it?

Marien: I did the male voice and had 2 friends with the other voices. I usually love to work in person, but due to the circumstances, it was all made possible by the Internet. I had my friends in Stockholm email me their recording to me in London.

Fox Renderfarm: There are many details, such as the fingerprint match, police sketch, and the newspaper. How did you make them?

Marien: The fingerprint was illustrated in Photoshop and so was the police sketch. The newspaper was made on a website that lets you create newspapers really face using mock-ups.

Fox Renderfarm: What does the word “Asshat” mean? How did this connect with the police sketch? Any ideas behind that?

Marien: An asshat is slang for someone who is stupid, cruel and idiotic. This whole concept was inspired by my own experiences & frustration of going shopping in London during this COVID19 crisis. Where I’ve had multiple unsuccessful tries of finding toilet paper in different supermarkets due to hoarding.

Time and time we’ve been assured by vendors & suppliers that there is enough toilet paper for everyone yet people keep hoarding, leading to people who might need sanitary products might not be able to get it.

If that’s not asshat behavior, then I don’t know what is. While the perpetrator might not see themselves as an asshat, other people as seen in the police precinct identify them as an asshat.

Fox Renderfarm: Do you have any references for the appearance of the final criminal?

Marien: I actually don’t, the character creating was completely organic.

Fox Renderfarm: Technically and visually, which is your favorite part of this work? Why?

Marien: I really enjoyed the detective board scene because I liked the lightning the best in that scene.

Fox Renderfarm: Have you met any difficulty in the creation? How did you overcome it?

Marien: Honestly this process was pretty straightforward to be honest. I didn’t want to make it more complex than it had to be. The scenes are pretty simple and straightforward. Took some shortcuts; for instance the character doesn’t actually have a lower body. But since it’s never visible it doesn’t matter.