Charlotte Simons
February 11, 2024
Hello! I'm Diogo Costa. I'm a concept artist - and - filmmaker.
I've been working on "THE HUNT", which is a horror animated film that I'm very excited about and can't wait to share with everyone.
How did the short film come to be?
Well, the idea (like all of my ideas) sort of popped in my head suddenly - I'm always daydreaming about random stories/images and vibes.
Sometimes it's an idea for a character design, other times it is an idea for a film.
The hardest part is not coming up with an idea - it's executing it - when I started this, I was not a filmmaker, but I've always wanted to be - so I proceeded to figure out a way of becoming a filmmaker and making this idea a reality.
I was not working in a vacuum though - I've been working in the entertainment industry for a few years, so I was familiar with a lot of what it took to make a film. Being a concept artist makes the development stage pretty straightforward - as it's sort of "easy" for me to do this stage: My day job revolves around visualising ideas and coming up with images and concepts - sometimes from virtually nothing - in a way, developing the film was just like another gig, but better - because this time, the original idea was mine.
Well, just do it and figure it out as you go. It's okay if you don't have all the answers right away or if you don't know everything.
You will figure it out. Accept that you will fail a bunch of times, keep it moving and just do it.
The most important thing is consistency, really - just keep it moving.
This one is easy. Other stories. Mostly other films.
I was 2 or 3(?) the first time I went to the theatre to watch Jurassic Park (A little young, I know!).
I have faint memories, but I know that from that moment on I wanted to do what Spielberg was doing.
Horror, science-fiction/horror, horror, horror, science fiction, horror and horror - ah and a love story (which will also be horror).
This could be a long conversation, but my fascination with horror is not necessarily because I like scary things - it's because of the way I look at cinema:
as, first and foremost, the art of the moving image and the medium for the BIG ideas and stories - as I'm a sort of purist of this view, I believe that horror is the best genre to play with the cinematic format.
It's not a coincidence that many great filmmakers make their debuts with horror films and that the horror genre is almost as old as film itself.
Technically, I'm a concept artist that specialises in character design - my focus is on characters because I think that humans are interesting - and I like to draw them. I don't necessarily portrait characters in a positive light though. Interesting, doesn't mean good.
I think of how the character makes me feel - what would I think if I walked by this character on a street?
Where does it live?
Why does it behave like that?
What is its story?
Then these images pop in my head and I keep polishing them until the images match the feeling and story that I picture in the character.
I like drawing female characters - the traditional female form is super interesting - a lot of curves - and I have a preference for the science fiction genre because it gives a lot of freedom to play abstractly and with the format without the need to make many concessions.
I think of myself as very superficial in this regard, always going for the most appealing aesthetics.
You won't get any life-changing advice from me, as I've barely figured out my own life.
I can recommend things though: I think my favourite book is Slaughterhouse V by Kurt Vonnegut - it had a huge influence on how I portray the characters on the Hunt.
I've just finished reading The Stranger by Camus and really liked it.
Can never shy away from recommending films though, here are a few of my favourites from the last few years
(you know, besides the usual suspects):
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