In the 2123, floating just above the East Midlands in the UK, two spaceships have a banal conversation about registration numbers

Floaters is a mundanely futuristic look at space travel in, or rather above, the UK in 2120. Karl Poyzer‘s Retro brutalist art style is inspired by the works of John Harris & Syd Mead. Joseph Roberts‘ comedy stylings are rooted in banal observations and day to day eccentricities inspired by Armando Iannucci and Jesse Armstrong. Floaters is a conscious clashing of these styles, referred by Karl and Joe as “Kitchen Sink Sci-Fi”.

During the pandemic, while attending virtual film festivals and spending too much time on twitter, Karl was turning his light fixing, camera operating hand to animation using the open source software called Blender. Joe wrote a petty squabble of a script based around Karl’s artistic penchant for spaceships and over Discord. They spent a lot longer than initially planned on making a 4 minute animation. They had absolutely no idea what they were doing. The result is Floaters.

Floaters takes an unusual approach to the science fiction genre. While it bolsters some impressive art styles, we don’t get our typical explosions and action sequences. Which is absolutely fine. Instead, we learn that dimwits are still around in the future. The film becomes a clever play on imagination as the main characters never appear on screen. But we can easily make out what they look like. The introductions are swift and simple, and the character developments are brilliantly advanced through the dialogues. Featuring voices by Rachel Stubbings (Whenever You’re Ready, Amazonia), Daniel Hoffman-Gill and Jake Yapp.