WOHIN

“Wohin” – or where to, was the question we, the Visual Effects Students of the University of Television and Film Munich, were asking ourselves at the beginning of our second year, when it came to selecting a project for the next film. “Wohin” became the answer – a film that blends the real and the fantastical and explores themes of traveling, anxiety and a journey of self-discovery.

Packed with a gigantic backpack, and with her notebook in hand, Anny, a young woman, enters the train station, ready for her first adventure. Without a plan or destination, she strolls through the busy station, where everybody seems to know where they need to go. The map offers too many train routes, the constantly changing departure board provides no answers, leaving her confused and helpless. Only when she discovers the old piano, the unwelcoming train station transforms into a magical world, where grafitis come to life and fly through the air. She finally finds a way to navigate her inner turmoil, the pressures of time and directionlessness.

“Wohin” is a collaborative project between the VFX students and the Screenwriting and Production Departments of the HFF. Under the direction of Matthias Zentner, director and professor of the Visual Effects department, the film became a project where we all could bring our technical expertise and creative visions together.

It was an incredible opportunity to be so involved in every process of the film-making, from planning and pre-production, to filming and post-production and a lot of fun to get to work with so many different departments.

Script Development

A girl in a train station, not knowing where to go, was the first idea of the submitted script that we selected in October of 2023. In the following months a close collaboration between the Screenwriting student Elisabeth Plattner and us turned the script into an emotional and fantastical story, filled with striking visuals and curious characters.

Anny’s journey mirrored our own experiences with not knowing where to go after graduation, so we all had some aspect of our own journey to contribute. We see the world through her eyes and experience the excitement and anxieties of starting this journey alongside her. We wanted the story to work without any spoken words and after many script versions and rewrites we finally were happy with the story that worked without dialogues.

Inspired by Disney’s “Fantasia” the Music was a key component of the story. From the start, the score was envisioned to interact with the playful, artistic VFX elements, such as moving grafitis or the floating paper strips coming out of the map. After playing the first hesitant notes, the music becomes a way to channel her emotions and to transform her environment, until she finally finds her own way through the station and to starts her journey.

Concept Art

During the Concept stage, we worked closely together with Matthias Zentner to find reference material for the look of the film, the animated elements and the architecture of the train station and sketch out concepts based on them.

We envisioned the station as an old, weathered and almost forgotten place where people rarely linger for long. Inspiration came from Grand Central Station in New York, and the Main Train Stations in Frankfurt and Dresden, that evoked the grand scale of the place with its high walls and glass ceiling. To incorporate the already existing parts of the set the look of the station was set to be a mix of newer and older architecture styles, like the weathered, old steel beams next to the modern concrete arches.

Help with the designs and conception came from the concept artist Luis Guggenberger. The train station was imagined to be its own character with its inhabitants, real and fantastical to make this place eerie, yet a little magical.

It was just as important to create the grafitis and flip chart, as it was to sketch out the architecture of the set, as they were all part of the “character” of the building. The Little Giant that moves around the hall was meant to represent the heart of the station, someone who, like the station ward, keeps an eye on everything.

The paper strips coming out of the map look like they could’ve also sprung out of the notebook that Anny carries with her. The fantastical elements, though part of the station, were also a representation of her inner world coming to life.

Previz & Scene Breakdown

After sketching out the VFX shots on paper, it was crucial to plan out the whole film in 3D space. We built our entire train station set in Blender, including the parts we would extend later, in a toned down version. This allowed us to visualize the entire environment and work out the technical details early on.

Together with our director Matthias we sat down in front of our computers and tested camera angles for every single shot in our digital environment. Creating an animated previz for every shot – both VFX and non-VFX shots – seemed extensive at first, but it soon paid off.

Given the definite number of artists and available work shifts during post-production, there would be little room to accommodate changes to VFX once the editing process was underway. In order to anticipate possible VFX-related questions which might arise during filming, we paid close attention to the digital previz cameras and the scene breakdown beforehand. Color-blocking the Blender environment and separating real set pieces from areas that would be digitally extended, helped us identify where unnecessary VFX work could easily be avoided.

Being part of this very specific and detailed part of planning prepared us to coordinate effectively with our DoP Torsten Lippstock and the director before and during the shoot. The 3D animatic also provided a visual guide for us, highlighting what to pay close attention to as VFX Supervisors on set.

Asset Development – Train Station

Creating the train station asset was a balancing-act between multiple departments that largely took place before the shoot. The set had to incorporate two existing set pieces of differing architecture styles and age as well as adhere to studio size limits while leaving enough room for the moving light effect to simulate trains passing by.

Within these constraints and with the professional help from Dirk Mauche, the set was first created digitally using LiDAR scans. Following the storyboard, we came up with a layout consisting of two main sections: the hallway as the centre of movement for Anny’s journey and the waiting hall, a space removed from time. In order to make a set of the desired scale possible, we decided to show the station in a state of renovation. That allowed us to build walls using scaffolding and foil, that were resource friendly and didn’t require large support structures.

Preparation for the Shoot

The project involved around 70 people, with VFX students taking on a dual role throughout the production. On one hand, we acted as a small VFX studio, responsible for budgeting VFX work and making initial calculations to ensure that all shots were achievable as planned. On the other hand, we worked closely with other departments, providing crucial input and support.

Once the script was secure and the creative process no longer expected any major changes, the VFX breakdown was updated in weekly meetings that were led by our Professors Jürgen Schopper and Matthias Zentner. Based on these calculations, all assets and shots were organized in Flow, divided into tasks, and assigned to the team.

One of the most rewarding yet challenging aspects of the project for the VFX students was the opportunity to collaborate directly with various departments, such as Production Design, Casting, Costume, or the Art Department for props on set. With only five days to construct the train station set at the HFF film studio and another five days to shoot and dismantle it, the production was, as usual, working on a tight schedule. After months of designing the set in close collaboration with production designer Susann Bieling, it was incredibly satisfying to finally see the vision come to life. We painted and aged the twelve columns ourselves, sprayed grafitis onto the walls and designed and printed out flyers.

The camera equipment was rented from Ludwig Kameraverleih, we shot the film on an ARRI Alexa 35 and used a crane for the shots with the Departure board and the flying paint strokes.

Supervision and DIT

As a VFX Supervisor on set, we had the exciting responsibility of ensuring that the visual effects would seamlessly integrate into the film and that potential post-production challenges were avoided. A key part of our role was gathering essential data for the creation of the VFX, such as camera details like focal length and focus point, as well as using various tools to accurately capture the physical conditions of the set. One such tool, the “greyball,” enabled us to precisely measure the location and shadows cast by light sources, allowing us to perfectly replicate the lighting of CGI elements in post-production. During the VFX takes for shots with the Little Giant we shortly became actors as we used our mounted greyball to vividly act out how the character would fly around and hop from space to space. Another invaluable tool was the “colorchecker,” which ensured color accuracy and perfect white balance, especially when blending CGI elements with live-action footage, guaranteeing visual consistency throughout the film. Additionally, we cut out colorful sheets of paper and danced through the set with them to create a reference for the colors of the 3D paint strokes, to see how they would catch the light.

We also utilized 360-degree images to capture a complete representation of the set, which helped us understand its spatial layout and was especially useful when relighting digital sets. Throughout this process, we worked closely with the gaffer, Thorsten Baier, who created a stunning lighting atmosphere that enhanced the visual appeal of the film. A remarkable asset we had was the FARO LiDAR scanner, which generated a 3D point cloud of the set, allowing us to digitally capture the exact spatial conditions and integrate virtual elements with precision. This ensured that interactions between the VFX and real-world elements, like the shadows cast by floating paint strokes, were as realistic as possible.

Finding the perfect balance between efficient use of set time and minimizing additional work during post-production was one of our main challenges. We were supported throughout the filming by Prof. Jürgen Schopper, 3D mentor Berter Orpak, and Pipeline TD Jonas Kluger. Alongside our role in Set Supervision, we also served as Digital Imaging Technicians (DIT), overseeing the backup and proper formatting of all recorded data under the expert guidance of Mihail Dervenski. He also took on the editing at Velvet, bringing his remarkable expertise to the project. With his impeccable sense of timing and dynamics, he expertly stitched the film together, perfectly complementing the overall vision of our director and us students.

Split Flap Board

An important story element is the large split flap board in the center of the station. The old mechanical display acts as a window into our protagonist’s state of mind and emotions. In order to connect them comprehensively, the board had to be able to display a large variety of animations ranging from specific words to treating each letter as a pixel in order to create larger patterns or impacts across the board, as well as allowing detailed interaction with the CG character Little Giant. In figuring out the logistics of such a system, we luckily had the professional support of Fuat Yüksel as a Simulation Mentor.

Due to our CG character being quite small, the board and the behavior of the individual flaps bumping into one another had to be photorealistic in closeup. To achieve this level of photorealism the display was entirely rigid body simulated to work the same way as its real life counterpart. For animation and pre-visualization we crafted a fully procedural shader based animation system that visualized the board as a 2D texture. The system allowed precise control over what letter should be shown where and when as well as with which speed and acceleration each roll should spin. Provided with these input values, it will then animate in between them automatically. For variation and abstract effects we used procedural noise. Since the animation system was entirely additive, input values like words or textures could be seamlessly blended as well as quickly and freely be rearranged. This allowed us to animate in real time and iterate efficiently, while only needing to start the time consuming simulation once the animation was finalized.

In our most complicated shot the Little Giant had to climb out of the display and set it in motion. In order to create a convincing interaction, we animated a 3D collision geometry matching the movement of the 2D animated character. This way, he could lift up individual flaps and bump into them. The same geometry was also used to create reflections of the giant on the board.

The board also had to look appropriately old and weathered. We made a fully procedural material with a lot of rust and scratches, so that none of the 17.472 flaps would look alike.

Digital Paint Strokes

With the stripes coming from the map, we aimed for a hybrid look that combines graphic characteristics of paint strokes while also reacting to light in a mostly realistic way to ground them inside the scene. They were created in Blender using a fully procedural workflow in geometry nodes. Each brush hair is its own independent piece of geometry that can be individually displaced to adjust brush behavior, or to animate detailed interaction with our animated Giant. For the animation, we started off using cloth simulation which we later discarded in favor of a more art directable path animation with blend shapes. That way, the movement of the stripes became more stylized and therefore blended better with the 2D animated Little Giant, as well as supported a charming interaction with the music.

Animating the shots of the Little Giant flying on the stripes posed the interesting challenge of combining 2D and 3D elements. We started off animating a basic version of the stripes with a proxy geometry of the character on which the Giant then could be drawn by hand. Once the Little Giant was finalized, we went back to 3D to finalize the stripes and add character interaction.

For shading, the goal again was to balance the graphical and realistic nature of the stripes. We could achieve our desired look by modifying the normals and shadow behavior of the stripes geometry. Due to significant lighting changes across different shots, these parameters needed to be adjusted before each render to avoid the stripes looking too much like plastic or hair.

2D Animation

One of the inhabitants of the station is the Little Giant, a mischievous creature with a long beard, painted onto the doorframe to the station ward. We painted him into the real set and later digitally removed him for a few shots in Nuke, when he comes to life. The Little Giant was entirely 2D and animated in TV Paint, with frame-by-frame animation in five shots and with around 1.030 frames. After a few animation tests with different textures, it was decided that he takes on a watercolor look when he wakes up and jumps off the real wall. To get from his place on the wall to the departure board, he uses the floating paint strokes to move across the hall. His movements are free and have an elegant, dancerly look as he moves around, so it was important to have the animation of the paint strokes as a base for his position in the 3D space. Later on, their animation was adjusted again to account for the “weight” and impact of his steps. The motion blur on him was painted with a painterly brush to give him a look consistent with the paint strokes.

Another 2D element is the graffiti-pigeon, which is woken up by Anny’s first few notes on the piano. We filmed the camera pan to the wall where an actual feather floats down, we painted out the pigeon and parts of the feather in Nuke, before we animated the pigeon in TV Paint and put it all together in Nuke again.

Match Move

For this project, we needed lots of shots with a moving camera to match the dynamic nature of our CG characters and the camera language. Especially once our Little Giant had left his wall and was riding the flying paint strokes like a magic carpet. To ensure seamless integration between the live-action footage and digital elements, a match move for the digital camera was necessary.

One key tool that greatly enhanced the accuracy of the tracking was the FARO LiDAR scan of the entire set. This provided a detailed 3D representation of the environment, allowing for more precise camera matching. All tracking was carried out using 3D Equalizer. Since none of us had used the software before, we were properly shocked to find out that our favourite shortcuts like “ctrl. Z” and “copy paste” didn’t work the way we were used to. Luckily, with the expert guidance of our Match Move Mentor, Ando Avila, we snapped back into our learning-by-doing mindset and managed to generate a nice match move for even the trickiest shots.

This process was essential for shots that involved adding digital elements, such as the roof of the train station and the flying paper strips. Additionally, for full CG shots, it was important to ensure that the camera movement aligned with the dynamic style of the rest of the film. Through careful match moving, we were able to maintain the visual continuity and immersive quality of the project.

Lighting, Shading, Rendering

Texturing and shading of the station asset took place after the shoot. We wanted the station to be a place with a long history. For the walls we used many layers of paint and plaster in different colors and stages of decay, as well as matching the amount of street art and graffiti to the real set. Additionally, all surfaces got covered with dirt, moss and water stains to achieve a greater, more pleasing diversity of surface characteristics. Textures were made using a combination of hand painted assets and procedural workflows in Blender.

For the lighting of the train station we chose an old industrial lamp design for visual and functional purposes. The light sources could be easily adapted to different set conditions and made compositing of the real volumetric lighting easier, since they matched the size of the SkyPanel used on set.

With the professional help of CG supervisor Frank Dürschinger, everything was rendered with Cycles, using light groups to add flexibility in compositing. The biggest challenge in the rendering process were shots that included both the station and the display board assets, which exceeded performance limitations and required some creative troubleshooting to work properly.

Compositing

In our final step in VFX post production is compositing, where all the creative and technical elements developed throughout the production process come together. Martin Tallosy played a key role in guiding us as a Comp Mentor, providing invaluable insights and expertise. In compositing, the magic truly happens as CGI elements are seamlessly integrated with live-action footage, transforming individual components into a believable, cohesive world.

A great example of this process is the final major set extension: the integration of the digital train station roof and the display board. We started by meticulously adjusting colors, contrast, and brightness to ensure the digital elements blended flawlessly with the live action shots. These subtle refinements are essential in creating the illusion of a unified world where every detail feels natural and immersive.

Another crucial aspect of compositing is replicating real world lighting. By carefully transferring the light and shadow from the original footage onto the digital elements, we ensured a perfect match between the CGI and live action components. Accurately simulating real light sources – such as the warm glow of sunlight or the artificial ambiance of station lights – helped make the CGI elements feel as tangible and authentic as the real objects on set.

To enhance the scene further, we introduced a layer of digital mist. Beyond its aesthetic appeal, the mist played a functional role in harmonizing the real and digital elements, softening transitions and reinforcing the illusion of a naturally extended set. It added an extra layer of atmosphere, making the entire scene not just visually cohesive, but also emotionally immersive.

After compositing, our footage went to PHAROS for color grading, and we had the fantastic opportunity to watch Andreas Lautil at work. With his keen eye, he brought out even more from the footage and took the look to a whole new level.

Soundtrack & Mixing

The film offers us a very introspective look into the world around our protagonist, and the music and sound conveys Anny’s emotions and her perception of her surroundings. The hectic noises of the station – the hurried footsteps of the people around her, and the blaring of the passing trains – add to her anxiety, making it more difficult for her to focus on where to go.

The central piano piece and the score were composed by Victor Ardelean. He incorporated the out of tune sound of the actual piano, that was played on set, into the music. It grounds the scene and also represents her inner turmoil.

The piano was always the central part not only for the musical theme, but also the visual storytelling, and so every story element was built around it. Anny’s journey within the station gradually leads her to this instrument, which serves as both a physical and symbolic anchor. The untuned sound of the old piano that we used in the set and that the actress played on, was also incorporated into the recording of her piano piece.

The score was built around it, as it already appeared in the beginning of the film when she quietly hums the tune to herself. It grows along with her emotional journey and later on at the piano she, with her growing confidence, the music swells into the release of her emotions as the magic of the station surrounds her.

Dr. Rodolfo Anes Silveira created the sound design, foleys and the re-recording dolby surround mixing of the whole film., transforming the film studio setting into the immersive atmosphere of a grand train station:

“Considering and making use of the film’s impressionistic quality, in which the main character oscillates between two worlds—the real and the mental—it was necessary to establish several premises to structure and inform all possible conceptual options. In this sense, in a film without dialogue, where the transition between the boundaries of objectivity and subjectivity is expressed solely through visual stimuli, it was clear from the outset that it was imperative to accentuate and highlight this same transition through the sound design. Therefore, in line with the authors’ intent, I considered it appropriate to create a sonic imaginary that supports the protagonist’s further mental journeys, based on the film’s central and spatial metaphor: the train station—a place of departures and arrivals, physically as well as mentally. Thus, I decided to mark the boundary between the two worlds through the dualities of synchronous/asynchronous and linear/non-linear.

1. On the one hand, whenever the character operates on the objective level, synchronous sounds accompany the image, supporting the linearity of classical storytelling through a direct and obvious relationship between sound and visuals. These sounds exert dominance over the character, sometimes even limiting the perception of naturally produced noises such as footsteps, clothing movements, breathing, and others.
2. On the other hand, when the character moves within the subjective realm, all external noises are gently faded out, bringing the protagonist’s individual perception into focus. To represent the “journey of thoughts” through the film’s central metaphor, I also chose various sound textures derived from recordings of empty train stations, which were manipulated at reversed speeds and spatialized in the cinema using a multi-pitch tap delay. This effect was intended to express the instability and volatility of the protagonist’s thoughts—sometimes gentle, sometimes abrupt and pulsating.

Finally, all dimensions and characteristics of the space (the train station) were considered, along with the various outstanding animations visually proposed by the VFX students, to enhance the authenticity of the station (echo, temperature, height, volume). This also served to give expressive depth to elements such as the paperstrips flying through the space and the small animated figures that embellish the entire film—a perfect connection between the two worlds. With all these premises in place, the sound mixing was merely a technical extension of this sonic experience.” – Dr. Rodolfo Anes Silveira

In addition we had the wonderful opportunity to create a Dolby Atmos Version for the film. In combination with a seminar by Tschangis Chahrokh, we were invited to the Dolby Atmos® Studio 1 at PHAROS and got a detailed introduction to the technology of a Dolby Atmos® sound system. This immersive sound format added an extra layer of depth, giving the train station’s soundscape a multidimensional feel that further enhances the audience’s experience of Anny’s world.

The Team

VFX Supervision: Edgar Bauer, Mayra Ebensen, Silvia Loose, Franz Stöcker, Paula Wodniok, Felix Zachau
VFX Pipeline TD: Jonas Kluger
3D Mentor: Berter Orpak
Concept Art & Previs: Edgar Bauer, Mayra Ebensen, Silvia Loose, Franz Stöcker, Paula Wodniok
Modeling & Texturing: Edgar Bauer, Silvia Loose, Franz Stöcker
Matchmove: Edgar Bauer, Mayra Ebensen, Franz Stöcker, Paula Wodniok
Simulation: Edgar Bauer, Franz Stöcker
Animation: Edgar Bauer, Mayra Ebensen, Franz Stöcker, Paula Wodniok
Compositing: Edgar Bauer, Mayra Ebensen, Silvia Loose, Franz Stöcker, Paula Wodniok
Lighting & Rendering: Edgar Bauer, Franz Stöcker, Paula Wodniok
Additional Retouch: Felix Zachau
VFX Producing: Edgar Bauer, Mayra Ebensen, Silvia Loose, Franz Stöcker, Paula Wodniok

Production

Project Supervision: Prof. Jürgen Schopper
Project Consulting: Dr. Rodolfo Anes Silveira
Line Producer: Ina Mikkat
Team Assistant: Petra Hereth
Production: Felix Nachbaur
Assistant Production: Luis Leinauer, Julia Tilk
Director: Matthias Zentner

Cast

Anny: Antonia Breidenbach
The Moirai: Monika John, Dieter Rita Scholl, Christiane Ziehl
Railroad guard: Olaf Weissenberg
Extras: Selma Ahrens, Alexander Bender, Vanessa Chu, Michael J. Fuchs, Oliver Kabitzky, Silvia Loose, Maximilian May, Andreas Mülle, Dominik Nowosolow, Jim Obmann, Anna Theißig, Eva Hertwig-Schink, Felix Zachau, Marija Zentner

Crew

Assistant Director: Antonia Kabitzky, Lukas Klaus
Script & Continuity: Elisabeth Plattner
Casting: Sophie Marie Lietke
Set-Runner: Benedikt Wittmann, Joachim Schmidt
Camera: Torsten Lippstock
Camera Assistants: Alex Seidl, Christopher Pütz
Gaffer: Thorsten Baier
Best Boys: Laurenz Feidicker, Florian Görres, Neo Kurz, Tonio Lausberg
Grip: Christian Klehr
Production Design: Susann Bieling
Art Director: Afra Bruckner
Head of Construction: Florian Schiener
Haze Operators: Laurenz Feidicker, Florian Görres, Neo Kurz, Tonio Lausberg
Costume Design: Katharina Ost
Assistant Costume Design: Victoria Dietrich
Head Makeup Artist: Birger Laube
Makeup Artists: Kitty Dezsi, Rebecca Faeh, Franziska Rosenbaum, Laura Wimmer, Emilia Tereszkiewicz, Julia Tischinski, Lea Steinbuechel
Sound Mixer: Phillip Hutter
Boom Operator: Niclas Raab
Music & Composition: Victor Ardelean
Rerecording Mixer Dolby Atmos: Tschangis Chahrokh
Rerecording Mixer Dolby Surround: Dr. Rodolfo Anes Silveira
Sound Design & Foley: Dr. Rodolfo Anes Silveira
Editorial: Mihail Dervenski
Color Grading: Andreas Lautil

Technical & Studio

Rental HFF Munich: Rainer Christoph, Boris Levine
Studio Manager: Peter Gottschall, Andreas Beckert
Raumdisposition: Beate Bialas, Sabina Kannewischer
Conforming: Martin Foerster

Special Thanks

Many thanks to: Luis Guggenberger, Jens Schneider, Dirk Mauche, Christoph Zapletal, Ando Avila, Fuat Yüksel, Martin Tallosy, Frank Dürschinger, Lissy Giglberger, and our movie dog Canela.