Once Please Everything” is about the main protagonist Isi, who is stuck in a proper quarter-life crisis. While she clings to her dream of becoming an illustrator, the rest of the world mutates into vegan adults with perfect life plans. With this material, Helena Hufnagel has created a portrait of Generation Y, which premiered in competition at the Max Ophüls Preis film festival.
Would you like to watch “Einmal bitte alles” in good company during the film’s first week in cinemas (from 20-27 July)? Then please answer the following question:
Which Munich VFX studio supported the “Willa” team in the realisation of the visual effects for the freeze scene in the train compartment?
And send the answer, including your address, to verlosung@digitalproduction.com. With a bit of luck, you’ll soon have two tickets for a cinema of your choice (which of course has the film in its programme, including open-air screenings).
The closing date for entries is 14 July 2017
Your data will only be analysed within the publishing house and will not be passed on to third parties. Members of the publishing house cannot take part in the prize draw. Legal recourse is excluded. Cash payment of prizes is not possible.
Train VFX
To help you prepare for the cinema release of “Einmal bitte alles” on 20 July, you can read the making-of of Helena Hufnagel’s previous short film project “Willa” here – the film adaptation of a Stephen King story that includes a freeze scene. You can find out how this was shot and edited in post-production here.
But first, take a look at the train compartment freeze scene from “Willa”:
Frozen at the HFF
Freeze scenes are impressive, but they also require a lot of planning and VFX work. Students at HFF Munich took on the challenge of creating such a sequence for the film adaptation of the Stephen King short story “Willa”.
“Willa” was a special project for HFF Munich because it is the first short film from the university to integrate such a VFX-heavy freeze scene into the film narrative.
A heart for students
The HFF team chose Stephen King’s story “Willa” for a film adaptation because it combines mystery, fantasy and romance and communicates a very special atmosphere (editor’s note: “Willa” is part of the short story collection
“Sunset”, which was published in 2008). The author is also very accommodating to film students
film students: He sells the rights to his short stories worldwide for just 1 dollar. The students put a dollar note in an envelope in the traditional way and sent it to King’s management. The contract came back promptly – since then, the team has owned not only the rights to the film adaptation but also an original autograph from the master of horror. HFF student Helena Hufnagel was the director and producer of “Willa”. The screenplay was written by Sina Flammang and Adrian Campean was the cinematographer. In addition, the team was very large due to three different shooting phases and a lengthy post-production process that lasted over a year.
Shooting three times
Phase 1 of the “Willa” shoot began in April 2013: the team filmed for 8 days in Munich
and in the Harz Mountains in the town of Quedlinburg. The second shoot in June 2013 lasted 2 days and took place in the Munich area and in the local railway on Lake Chiemsee; among other things, the title sequence was created. For the VFX image of the freeze scene, a day of filming in an old train carriage in a workshop in Landshut was necessary in January 2014. In order to visualise the force of the explosion, the actors had to be
had to be tied to strings on set. The Philips commercial “Carousel” (see video) for the Cinema 21:9 LCD TV set served as inspiration for the freeze look.
Floating state
The “Willa” scene was specifically about capturing the derailment of a train carriage as a frozen moment
as a frozen moment. To achieve the illusion of the crash, the team positioned the camera at an angle. Once this requirement was clear, all other objects were viewed under this physical law. In addition, the choice of a slightly lower camera angle created the impression that both the objects and the people in the compartment were floating. The artists rigged all the people and objects in the scene and added the flying camera movement; the VFX team further enhanced the frozen illusion with additional CG fire and liquid elements.
The film was shot with the RED Epic and the RED Scarlet, at that time still using the Mysterium X sensor. Cinematographer Adrian Campean opted for a 5K resolution, as this made it possible to add slight movements and correct the cadrage in post-production. The entire film was shot with Hawk Anamorphic 1.3x lenses.
More VFX funding at the HFF
The realisation of a freeze shot is usually expensive to implement; in addition, VFX-heavy scenes in student projects at HFF Munich have so far been the exception, not the rule. But together with Josef Rödl, professor in the “Cinematic Space” department, who was extremely committed to the creation of the shot, and HFF student and assistant in “Cinematic Space” Anna-Katharina Maier, it was possible to get the Munich studio Trixter on board. With the support of the VFX professionals and thanks to the great voluntary commitment of the students of the Bayerische Akademie für Fernsehen e. V. (BAF), the shot was planned and realised over the course of a year.
Post-production took place under the direction of Robert Hoffmeister, the former Trixter VFX supervisor and HFF lecturer for VFX, who is part of the animago jury this year. “It would be helpful and desirable if VFX post-production at HFF Munich was promoted even more. After all, it took almost a year to finalise the freeze frame for the project. However, this has already been optimised at the HFF: Trixter managing director Michael Coldewey is now a VFX professor at the university,” says Helena Hufnagel. “It has been a long and arduous journey for us, but we hope that we have been able to open some doors for future productions. We would be extremely happy if our project could encourage other students to try their hand at such a complicated VFX image.”
The article appeared in DP issue 02:16, which you can order here.
(Mirja Fürst)
