A neo-psychedelic short, LUUM follows a moth’s hypnotic pursuit of light, from flickering lanterns to the glowing pull of the moon. As its journey unfolds, the film dives deeper into visual surrealism, where saturated flora blooms and celestial beings emerge.
At its core, LUUM is a visual meditation on desire and self-destruction, a luminous fable that channels the myth of Icarus through a hyper-stylised lens. In chasing the brightest light, the moth burns up, only to awaken in a realm made entirely of it.
Crafted with an instinct for the strange and beautiful and a love of dreamlike worlds, LUUM is a testament to art direction as storytelling. Part music video, part digital folklore, LUUM is a story about what happens when we chase the source of our fascination too closely, whether it’s fame, glamour, meaning, or just something shinier than the last.
Directed & Designed by Clara Bacou
Music by Petit Biscuit: Creation Comes Alive.
This hand-drawn animatic was created as an early blueprint for LUUM, mapping out the visual rhythm, emotional pacing, and core beats of the final 3D film. Built frame by frame, it served as both a storyboard and a visual tone test, helping define timing, transitions, and the evolving symbolism of the moth’s journey toward light.
The animatic was instrumental in translating abstract ideas into concrete structure, allowing for creative decisions around movement, mood, and surreal imagery to be tested before stepping into full 3D production. Though rough in form, it holds the soul of the film; a raw sketch of the dream that LUUM would become.
Directed & Designed by Clara Bacou
Music by Petit Biscuit: Creation Comes Alive.
An early concept exploring LUUM’s surreal natural world, where twilight stretches forever and light feels almost liquid. This landscape helped set the tone for the film’s dreamlike environments, balancing beauty, mystery, and a sense of otherworldly calm.
Captured moments from the final film, built in Maya, rendered in Arnold, and textured in Substance & ZBrush.
A key development artwork exploring the moth’s final form, adorned with hypnotic eyes, iridescent wings, and antennae that echo celestial flora. This image captures the climax of transformation, where the character becomes both creature and cosmic symbol.
A character design sheet for the moth in LUUM. The skull embedded in its back hints at death and transformation, while its bright red wings evoke desire; both seductive and destructive.
Paired with flight studies that explore movement and emotion, this sheet shaped the moth’s identity: elegant, entranced, and slowly unraveling in pursuit of light.
Explorations of the moth in its larval state. These concept sketches investigate colour, pattern, and personality across multiple variations, imagining the caterpillar as an acid-bright organism blooming toward metamorphosis.
The final key art for LUUM, capturing the moth’s climactic moment: suspended between moonlight, glass, and the edge of obsession. Designed as a portal into the film’s aesthetic world - lush, dreamlike, and ominously inviting.