These Animated Sci-Fi Shorts Paint a Positive Picture of the Future

These two short films - A Theory of Flight and Overlay - are part of tech platform The Verge's 'Better World' series.

The series is a selection of 11 original sci-fi stories by different authors, with an inspirational faith in what's to come. When The Verge launched the series, they commissioned 1stAveMachine animation directors Device to create two of the films and they have both been bought to life with completely different animation styles. 

‘A Theory of Flight’, written by Justina Ireland and set in a dystopian future, is about revolutionary heroine Carlinda’s daring plan to build an open-source rocket to help more people escape a contaminated planet Earth, to a better, cleaner life on planet ‘Europa’.

Its style combines pixelated retro video games with a cinematic approach based on the classics of dystopian sic-fi movies.

‘Overlay’ was written by Elizabeth Bonesteel. An emotional story which utilises virtual reality for palliative care… a father’s dangerous mission to save his son isn’t what it really seems.

Device is a creative animation studio known for its stylistic diversity and technical ability. They are comprised of directors, illustrators, animators, designers and composers represented by 1stAveMachine.