LOBO’s Mateus de Paula Santos on the Art of Choreographing Physics and Directing Liquid in Tabletop

Mateus De Paula Santos, CCO and Founder of LOBO, explores the craft of shaping liquid on screen, and why physics, not pixels, does the heavy lifting.

You don’t direct liquid. You set physics in motion and hope it performs.

In tabletop and beverage work, movement is the story: pour, splash, swirl, fizz, condensation forming in real time. In that sense, directing liquid isn’t so different from directing a dancer. You shape timing, rhythm and impact, and let the performance emerge.

When the star of a film is liquid, the task becomes choreographing physics, designing conditions where motion behaves consistently while still feeling alive.

More on shots!