Three first-semester students, one task to develop an animated short film and immense ambition – that’s where the first steps of “No One’s Light” headed off from in autumn 2024. Over the next 12 months, another animated first-year film at HFF München came to life, helping us VFX students develop filmmaking skills hands-on.

by Michael Powers, Christoph Schmidt, Julia Zenk

Finding an idea

The first step in creating our animated movie was to develop a story and concepts. The freedom to create a fully animated short film opened up limitless possibilities in the visuals, so we already knew we wanted to stick with genres that take advantage of this: fantasy and science fiction. Together, we gathered about 50 possible ideas, ranging from time travel to epic worlds of dragons and aliens. But amongst those, one story particularly stood out above the rest for us: an interstellar worker exploring a planet that comes to life at night.

We started this project with an ambitious approach. Ideas ranged from the main character initially encountering numerous alien offspring and their mother, to setting up a giant main base for the corporation our main character is working for. Lots and lots of characters, assets and settings. We began asking ourselves whether all these elements were necessary for our plot and whether we could find a more efficient way to tell a story.

With the help of our lecturers, Prof. Jürgen Schopper, Dr Rodolfo Anes Silveira, and Berter Orpak, we worked to reduce the number of characters and places while keeping the most important plot elements for a concise story. This helped us to focus on learning new skills within an efficient framework. Especially because it needed to be simple and easy to understand within 5 minutes. Eventually, we figured out the only three components we needed for the story to work: an astronaut on a mission, an alien baby creature, and intergalactic planet landscapes. That way, we had more time to focus on the next steps while still following a solid story flow. During this stage, our producer Leonhard Schmid, who is currently studying production at HFF München, hopped on board to support us with administrative tasks.

A world, far, far away

Creating a fantastic world with original characters, while all fitting together in one look was a major task we were facing. First up, the planet – the environment our whole story is set in. How could we create otherworldly landscapes that are distinct from a familiar earthly look? Our main inspiration was underwater landscapes, such as coral reefs and deep-sea creatures, environments that fit well with science fiction designs.

This way, we could give our planet a distinctly otherworldly appearance, centred around bioluminescence as the core aesthetic. Flowers and creatures glow in the dark, bringing the planet to life at night and reinforcing its alien nature.

The main plant that incubates the alien eggs was particularly difficult to find. It needed to read clearly as a plant while avoiding any direct resemblance to recognisable Earth species. At the same time, we wanted to prevent the design from immediately revealing that the “fruit” inside it was actually a living creature. The smaller plants that grow from falling seeds were not modelled; instead, they were created in Blender’s geo nodes, allowing us to easily fill the landscape with them.

The geo nodes system for the plants consists of multiple stages. These are the spores, seeds, which are not seen, and the plants themselves. For organisational purposes, each stage is a separate object containing the node tree. Control groups were used to make, for example, the planet’s surface easily available across multiple node trees and smoothly exchange data between stages.

The spores are emitted in a spherical volume around the creature and are simulated with a simple constant downward velocity and some noise. Once the distance between a particle and the ground gets sufficiently small, it stops moving and stores the elapsed time in frames since it hit the ground.

In the next stage, points are distributed across the ground. Through proximity to certain control meshes, the density is art-directable. As a next step, all spores that hit the ground are brought in. Then invisible growing spheres are instanced and realised on those points, with their size corresponding to the elapsed time since the particle hit the ground. In a simulation zone, the seed points are set to “activate growth” (growthTrue) if they are in a certain range of the expanding spheres. If a seed’s growth has been activated, the growth factor will begin to accumulate.

In the last stage, curves with random length are instanced on the seed points. They are displaced such that the curve tangent points in the normal direction of the planet’s surface near the root and points straight up near the tip. After that animated noise is applied, and the curves are trimmed based on the growth factor. Finally, data such as the spline factor and a random float for each plant are stored for use in the Material.

Although variation in length and thickness is evident in the plants, they do look quite similar. So to avoid the image feeling cluttered and noisy, especially in the wide landscape shot, we made use of a shallow depth of field, rendered in engine, as well as shifting the hue and brightness of further away plants slightly. This way, the overgrown bioluminescent aesthetic was maintained while keeping the image readable.

Another challenge was designing the main character, Aamu. Here, we were faced with some unexpectedly tricky questions: What kind of helmet should she wear? Should she wear one at all? Should she be able to take it off? Will the environment reflect in her visor?

Each of these decisions influenced not only her final appearance, but also the types of scenes we could realistically include in the film. We put a lot of emphasis on Aamu’s design, as she appears in the majority of shots and thus carries a lot of visual weight in the film. Regarding the latter of the questions above, in the end, we even made use of the reflective visor as an active element of our storytelling (see image)

Tied closely to the astronaut’s role in the story was the canister she used to collect the eggs. Early designs featured a large spike that would impale the targets. Given that it is later revealed that these eggs contain living animals, we deemed this approach a little too violent and opted for a grabber-style design instead. To further emphasise the corporate nature of the energy-collecting company behind the mission, we deliberately branded both the canister and the astronaut’s suit with the company’s logo.

The alien creature’s design was closely tied to the plant it originated from. We wanted this relationship to be immediately understandable to the audience, which led to the idea of having the creature carry its own egg as part of its body. In keeping with our underwater concept, the main inspirations here were crabs, moths, and other insects.

Kicking off the plot

Before we began actively working on our film, we did not forget an important foundation for the project: organising all the shots and assets to ensure an overview of every task at all times. Our VFX production professor, Sinje Gebauer, shared valuable insights from the VFX industry and tips on structuring the project in the pipeline database, Flow. This helped us immensely in keeping track of all the versions and noting down feedback.

In conjunction with Flow, we used Prism as our main pipeline tool for folder organisation and file versioning. The default file structure, previously set up by our Pipeline TDs Jonas Kluger and Wilfried Pollan, met our file management needs. Closer towards the end of the project, we manually added folders for handovers to sound, grading and mastering.

Throughout the visualisation of the story, we worked closely with our lecturers and test audiences to make iterations. We wanted to leave the story’s ending a little open, letting the audience interpret what might happen to the astronaut after her decision to delete the planet from the database.

Before we could begin animating the astronaut and the alien, we first had to create a rig – a skeleton underneath the model that allows us to move the character. For all our character rigs, we used the Blender Tool CloudRig, which was developed by Demeter Dzadik and introduced to us by him. The surfaces were painted using Substance Painter.

For the astronaut main character, it was important to have a smooth IK/FK switch given her frequent interactions with her container-harvesting tool. This was most important when she inserts it into the storage space. CloudRig helped a lot, as it comes with a very reliable, user-friendly system for IK/FK switching.

When it comes to our alien creature, it is mostly moving around by flying. For the flapping of the wings we used the sine wave generator in the f-curve modifiers in Blender.

Since we had the constraint of a 12-month student production, we could not spend ages refining the animation, which is why, on some shots, we skipped blockout with constant interpolation and jumped straight into splining.

As our team consists of passionate animators, we decided to animate every character manually with keyframes. Nevertheless, credible movements were highly important to us, so we hired professional actress Franzi Frey to reenact all stages of our main character’s journey for animation references. With the help of our lecturer David Emmenlauer, we also ventured in motion capture technology by XSense and recording movements, in case of needing to rely on those as a fall-back option.

Additional sessions with our animation lecturer, Prof. Melanie Beisswenger, improved our shots immensely with valuable feedback on what our characters are moved by, how they would express their emotions, and what credible movements are in each situation. All these steps helped us learn to apply the principles of animation in 3D software.

Compositing & Finishing

While most of our 3D work up until this point was done in Blender, one of the last steps in our pipeline – compositing – was happening in Nuke. Martin Tallosy introduced us to the program with industry expertise. In the compositing stage, we adapted all scenes to match a consistent appearance and added final touches for a cinematic look. The in-house grading in HFF München polished the final look of our film, thanks to Claudia Fuchs.

We rendered several passes out of Blender for use in Nuke. In addition to the ZDepth, position, diffuse and glossy light and colour, emission, environment, and ambient occlusion were included in the .exr sequences. This made the image sequences’ file size quite large, but allowed us a lot of control in compositing. Especially, the ZDepth was used on multiple occasions for depth of field. Furthermore, a combination of ZDepth and the Z component of the position gave a very nice, convincing impression of lingering mist.

We used ACES for rendering and compositing to ensure consistency across the final stages. In compositing, we always rendered mattes for the character and creature. Almost no colour correction was done in comp.

Issues in grading mainly stemmed from us discovering technical issues with the render. While working on the film in a fully lit room, we spotted a couple of errors (such as flickering or corrupted geometry), as soon as we saw it on a big cinema screen in the dark in-house grading room for the first time. This resulted in a couple of iteration loops until we could use the final renders for grading.

During the final grading sessions, Claudia contributed significantly to the film’s visual success. She showed us how the story could be emphasised greatly with colour, emphasising stark reds and oranges associated with the corporation and contrasting them with the cool teals and blues of the planet. Furthermore, she ensured those colour statements were consistent across all the shots.

While movies contain a lot of work for the final images, we also need to mention our supporting team, which contributed to the audio and thus, brought a final touch to make our story come alive.

Our music was written by composer Fabiola Wörter, a recent graduate of the University of Music and Theatre, who added to the otherworldly feeling with a captivating soundtrack. The whole score carries the story and pushes the audience even deeper into an otherworldly adventure. Our sound design was created by Stefan Möhl of HFF München, who helped us find the right sounds for an alien planet. Who would have guessed that small aliens sound exactly like capuchin monkeys?

Final Thoughts

All in all, we are very happy with our journey that created “No One’s Light” – we learned to work efficiently within a team structure, acquired a new skill set at each stage, and now have a short film to show for it. As our main character Aamu finds out the strength of personal choice and the beauty within the unknown, we hope to inspire many viewers of our film!

The film is now in submission for several festivals and events, with pending responses. Once there is an update, we are happy to share upcoming screening dates on our film’s Instagram account.

The full Team of “No Ones Light”

Script · Concept Art · Modelling   Texturing ·  Rigging ·  Animation · Compositing	Michael Powers Christoph Schmidt   Julia Zenk
Producer	Leonhard Schmid
Music	Fabiola Wörter
Voice & Reference Acting Aamu	Franzi Frey
Project Supervision	Prof. Jürgen Schopper
Project Consultant	Dr. Rodolfo Anes Silveira
VFX Producing Supervisor	Prof. Sinje Gebauer
Visual Effects Pipeline TD	Jonas Kluger   Wilfried Pollan
Mentor 3D Animation	Berter Orpak
Mentor Compositing	Martin Tallosy
Line Producer	Ina Mikkat
Team Assistant to Line Producer	Ron Sikkes
Team Assistant	Petra Hereth
Editing Consultant	Prof. Beatrice Babin  Prof. Michael Palm  Yuval Tzafrir
Color Grading	Claudia Fuchs
Rerecording Mixer & Sound Designer	Stefan Möhl
Postproduction Supervisor	Christoffer Kempel
Scheduling	Beate Bialas  Sabina Kannewischer
Editing Support	Christine Schorr  Yuval Tzafrir
Technical Support	Benedikt Geß  Florian Schneeweiß
Rental HFF Munich	Rainer Christoph  Boris Levine
Studio Management	Peter Gottschall  Andreas Beckert
Conforming	Aaron Kuder
Tutors	Prof. Melanie Beisswenger, Prof. Michael Coldewey, Demeter Dzadik, David Emmenlauer, Kathrin Hawelka, Benc Orpak, Dr. Walter Stehling

The post On a Mission: Creating “NO ONE’S LIGHT” first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

“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.

The post WOHIN first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

Our first ideas emerged from this sketch: What characterises the robot, what is the relationship between it and the dog, what kind of world do they live in? We are in the near future. People and seemingly all life have disappeared from the city and countryside. Posters, camps, cars and facilities left behind bear witness to the vanished culture.

By Edgar Bauer, Franz Stöcker and Felix Zachau. They are studying image design at the HFF Munich, specialising in VFX. All three found it exciting to tell the story of such different characters coming together, which is why they joined forces as a team.

The rusty old household robot has also been left behind. It still works and seems to mechanically fulfil its old routines. The dog is playful, it eats and seeks closeness.
In doing so, he gradually brings the old, cumbersome, stuck machine to life. He takes it out of its routine and humanises it. The robot becomes a humanoid that can care, play and feel. You watch as the years pass, the dog grows older and the robot becomes more human. It all ends with one last special evening when they watch fireflies together.
This sets the cornerstones of the story, focussing on their relationship and the development of the robot.
In weekly meetings with Prof Jürgen Schopper and Dr Rodolfo Anes Silveira, we presented our respective progress and discussed how best to proceed. Team assistant Petra Hereth coordinated the project organisation for us, including the lectures and all associated seminars and workshops.

Storyboard

With the script ready and a precise idea of the aesthetics, it was time for the storyboard. Professor Michael Coldewey helped us to break the story down into a few images, which we then drew in the “Procreate” drawing programme. The focus was on the comprehensibility of the images and not on details, but at the same time we were also able to think about the camera settings.
The aim was to tell and structure the script visually in such a way that an outsider could look at the storyboard and understand what was happening.

Animatic and pre-visualisation

The animatic can be divided into two phases. First comes the drawn animatic and then the PreVis, a rough 3D animated version of the film. The drawn animatic is an animated version of the storyboard. We used the images from the storyboard in the “Premiere Pro” editing programme. We also tested how long we should leave the shots for and created a rudimentary version of the sound. This allowed us to consider what should be shown visually and what could be told via the sound. That was very good for getting a rough feel for the story. The next step was the PreVis.
We modelled and rigged rough versions of the dog and robot in “Blender” and created very simplified sets. The scenes were then quickly animated and rendered in Workbench to see where the characters were, how well the camera was placed and whether a viewer could understand the film at all. Our focus on speed meant we could quickly see which shots worked and which we needed to rework. Telling a long period of time in a short film was a particular challenge. Over 28 versions, we considered shot sizes, moved characters to different locations and added, replaced, moved in the timeline, changed or discarded entire shots. In the end, we had a plan of how long each shot had to be, how the camera should be placed and what should happen in front of it.

Music

With a rough idea of what kind of tonality we wanted to create in our film music, we were very lucky that the composers Arezou Rezaei and Jiro Yoshioka from the Munich University of Music agreed to compose the score for us. It was ideal that we started collaborating even before the PreVis was finalised.
This allowed us to give each other feedback and they were able to advise us on which scenes we should keep longer or shorter so that the composition could unfold its full effect. The music also provided plenty of inspiration and the insights the musicians were able to give us based on their expertise had a significant influence on the development of the story.

Pipeline & Workflow

Without the help of our Pipeline TD Jonas Kluger, this film would probably still not be finished. He familiarised us with the project management software “Shotgrid” and made sure that possible errors caused by the communication between “Blender” and “Shotgrid” did not affect us as much as possible. We initially created tasks for all environments, characters, assets and shots. We then divided the tasks among ourselves and uploaded the results to “Shotgrid”. This pipeline makes it possible to work on sets simultaneously so that the updated assets are also opened when a scene is opened.

Modelling, Texturing, Rigging

It was important to us that the last dog and the last robot should be archetypes. The robot’s shapes should convey a fascination for its technical abilities and yet still look old and capable of development.

Settings

The film shows a contrasting world. It starts in a destroyed, abandoned city and then switches to a rural, old-fashioned landscape where nature is slowly returning.
Both landscapes were modelled in 3D in Blender. The textures were then drawn in “Procreate” from a camera perspective and then projected onto the model in “Blender”. In some cases, we also used the drawings directly as backgrounds. The backgrounds had to be coherent and picturesque without distracting from the actual action.

Look

The look development is more than just the selection of colours and designs. It defines the visual language of the film, gives it character and lends the story a unique aesthetic. This process is crucial to how viewers perceive the world of the film and how they connect emotionally with the characters and the plot.
The process is iterative and required many feedback loops. In the beginning, we aimed for a photorealistic, Pixar-like look. Partly to save render time, but also because we wanted to focus on the relationship between the robot and the dog, we decided to use a mix of drawn textures and a 3D animated film.

This change was one of the most difficult decisions we made for this film. We had already completed several sets in photorealistic style and had fallen in love with the look of the test renders.
But when we saw the dog in motion with a drawn texture, the decision was easy. It looked much more lively in the new style. We were also able to emphasise the character of the robot better in the new style.

Rotation

To recreate a movement realistically, it helps to collect as many references as possible. We planned a day of shooting for this purpose. Studio masters Andreas Beckert and Peter Gottschall let us use the HFF’s internal television studio for this.
We filmed with a younger and an older dog to cover him in both the younger and older scenes.
For the robot, our fellow student Julius von Diest slipped into Xsens’ in-house motion capture suit. David Emmenlauer explained the correct operation of the suit to us in advance. We only used the data collected with it as a reference so as not to make the robot appear more lifelike than the dog.
We took each shot with three different cameras. Each was responsible for a selected perspective. The first one was placed as close as possible to the camera position defined in the PreVis. With the other two, we filmed from the front and from the side so that we could then jump 90 degrees from axis to axis when animating.

Animation

The animation was a big part of our work process. We wanted to show the slow humanisation of the robot and the ageing of the dog in the animation. The recorded references from the studio shoot came in very handy.
We also got help from Professor Melanie Beisswenger. As an experienced animator, she had a trained eye for our animations and was able to give us very good suggestions for improvement, especially for the dog, which made it appear even more natural.

One thing that made animating technically much easier was that both the dog and the robot had a very detailed model for rendering and a less detailed one for animating. When animating, we could deactivate the body responsible for rendering the characters at the touch of a button. Thanks to the saved computing power, we were able to animate in real time in the viewport.

Rendering

The film is rendered in Blender via Cycles. We used the HFF render farm to save rendering time and stay on schedule. We also rendered out masks for the dog and robot so that we could edit them better during grading.

Grading

We were very lucky to have Claudia Fuchs, a professional grader, at our side. Together we made some colour corrections and matched the colours of the shots to each other.

Sound design

For animated films, in which every visual component is created from scratch, the creation of realistic soundscapes is a major challenge. Stefan Möhl took on the sound design for us. We discussed our ideas with him about how the robot and the world should sound. We felt it was a great privilege to be able to look over his shoulder as he worked. It was fascinating to see how he creates a soundscape from different sounds that seem to have nothing to do with each other and breathes life into the film. He surpassed all the expectations we had beforehand.

Retrospective

A strongly humanoid robot leans against a car, smoking. A year has now passed since this sketch was made. A lot has happened in that time. We have spent many days and nights at the university and have grown together as a group. The collaboration led to creative solutions and a film that we are proud of. Only now do we realise how many steps and how much work is actually involved in the development of an animated film. It was a long process with many ups and downs. We have learnt a lot from it, we would like to thank everyone involved and look forward to the next project

The post Ghosts at the HFF first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by HFF Hochschule für Fernsehen und Film München.

by Mayra Ebensen, Silvia Loose and Paula Wodniok

Story development began in October 2022, during the weekly meetings with our Professor Jürgen Schopper. We received strong support from Dr Rodolfo Anes Silveira, Jonas Kluger, Berter Orpark and our team assistant Petra Hereth. We discussed many concept ideas and styles that we wanted to try out, and that’s how our team finally came together. The three of us – Mayra Ebensen, Silvia Loose and Paula Wodniok – were all interested in a very stylised animated film.
After the first story outlines and concept drawings, we finally agreed on a children’s film with a scary factor, initially set on Halloween and with a rather humorous tone. We later moved away from this theme, but the core of the story remained: the child’s unique creativity and overcoming fears. To further explore the depth of the character, we had the support of psychologist Dr Walter Stehling, who gave a seminar on the hero’s journey and character motivation.

Concept Art

Our story is about childhood fears, especially the fear of the dark and of being alone. For the eerie atmosphere of the old house where our whole story takes place, we drew inspiration from art nouveau architecture and films such as Henry Selick’s “Coraline” and “The Nightmare before Christmas”. Ornate designs and the complementary colour scheme were intended to give our setting something unreal.

In order to visually emphasise our character’s fear, we designed the rooms of the environment to be crooked and huge in comparison to the main character. We also wanted the lighting design in the entrance hall and corridor to appear cool and unfriendly.

The small play corner in the attic, on the other hand, was to be like a safe oasis for our protagonist. The walls are hung with real children’s drawings and their toys are scattered on the floor. In addition to the attic, the most important setting is the entrance hall. We incorporated a lot of Art Nouveau elements here: the large window front, with curved arched windows and an ornamental door, the ornate coat rack and the curved, winding banister are modelled on the organic design of Art Nouveau.

In terms of colour, we wanted to limit ourselves to blue-purple and yellow. The shadows and rooms are predominantly kept in cool and dark tones, which makes the yellow tones of the light colours stand out all the more and trigger a feeling of warmth and security.

Animatic

We had time to work on the story until the beginning of February and created the storyboard with the help of Prof Michael Coldewey. Every week there were new variations of editing and camera angles, with self-recorded sounds and music. We drew the floor plan of the house, planned how our characters would move around in the rooms and where the camera would have to be positioned to avoid any off-centre shots. At the same time, we built the first rough models of the characters and the house to get a feel for the size and effect of the shots in 3D space. Gradually, we mixed our drawn 2D animatic with the 3D animatic. We regularly updated this hybrid with our progress until we had finalised all the shots while maintaining the painterly style in a symbiosis of 2D and 3D.

Character design/model

We wanted to keep the look of our main character relatively simple, but with plenty of room for manoeuvre in her expressions. Her cartoon-like design, with lots of round shapes and a large head, contrasts with our second character, the long, skinny monster.
During the whole process of sculpting and rigging, Benc Orpak was at our side as a tutor. The girl’s body is sculpted and rigged in Blender and her mouth can be moved using a combination of different shapekeys.

The eyes were hand-painted on her head in all shots. This method gave us more freedom in her facial expressions, whereas modelled eyes would have restricted us.
Various combinations of animals immediately came to mind for the design of the monster.
In the very first concept drawings, it still had a very bug-like appearance, but gradually more animals were added. Sometimes it had a beak, sometimes a huge mouth and rabbit feet, until we finally came up with the moth as the main inspiration.

This insectoid model led us to the wings and the fluffy chest area. The long, scrawny arms are modelled on stick insects and the monster’s paws with pointed claws give the whole thing a heavy and terrifying look.

The flowing Art Nouveau design is also reflected in the shape of its antlers. They snake along its head and give the monster an elegant recognisable feature: when it first appears, the creature emerges from the shadow of an ornamental coat stand. It retains this design in its antlers until the end, while its body undergoes various metamorphoses.

Environment

We wanted to convey the character and age of the house through the furnishings and interior design. So after we had built the rough layout and basic model in Blender, we distorted the walls, furniture and windows so that there were hardly any straight lines in the background. The painterly style we had in mind should also be reflected in the modelling itself: To achieve this, we built almost all the assets ourselves, we distorted all the objects and for the curved details we worked a lot with curves.
The biggest challenge for us was the fabric simulation of the curtains on which the final shadow play showdown takes place. The shader initially caused the materiality and drapery of the curtains to be lost. We were able to counteract this by lavishly draping the folds and selectively sculpted the light. The girl interacts with the curtains, with her hands acting as hooks. There is also wind that moves the fabric slightly. For the shadow animation on the fabric, however, the sheets had to remain as still as possible to avoid intersections with the Grease Pencil.

Shading

At the beginning of the project, none of us had any experience with shading, which didn’t make our complex idea of the painterly style in 3D space any easier. We used Alan Wyatt’s Painterly Shader, which worked very well for still images, but gave us problems as soon as the camera moved. We were finally able to prevent the textures from running by reworking the node tree. Our 3D mentor Berter Orpak helped us in particular to adjust the shader for the main character and to integrate it uniformly into the environments. To break up the corners and edges of the individual assets for a painted look, we used geo-nodes. As geo nodes are generated anew for each frame, we customised them individually for each shot. The particular challenge of the shader was that we could only set one shadow colour and one light colour each, so we had no midtones, which severely limited the choice of colours and made it difficult to set the lighting. We were finally able to solve the problem during compositing in Nuke, where we had much more opportunity to manipulate the colouring and the image looked less flat. Claudia Fuchs added the final visual touches in colour grading, giving the film a coherent look.

Animation

To bring our characters to life, we used different animation styles to convey the essence of our characters. We received great help from Prof Melanie Beisswenger, who supported us for months to dive deeper into the art of character animation.
For the little girl in our film, we developed a mixture of traditional hand-drawn animation for eye and facial expressions and 3D animation. This hybrid approach allowed us to give her a unique charm. We animated her by hand throughout the film, using the reference videos we filmed as a guide.

As we didn’t narrate any dialogue, the body language of our protagonist became all the more expressive and small details such as a brief shrug of the shoulders made her and her emotions seem much more human.
The monstrous antagonist, on the other hand, required a completely different approach. The monster goes through three phases in the story: It transforms from a static and two-dimensional shadow on the wall to a dynamic purposeful shadow to a manifested 3D monster. During this process, we also changed the style of the animation to a grotesque one. Through this stylised aesthetic and its exaggerated proportions, we locate the monster in the world of fantasy and shadows animated by fear.

Music

The close collaboration with composers Victor Ardelean and Julia Chen in the early development phase led to a creative partnership. We discussed the musical perspective on our story with them and had the opportunity to fill in small gaps in the story before the production phase began. We received the first drafts and musical ideas soon after. At that time, only a few shots had a finalised look. The composers had a colourful mixture of drawn 2D animatic, Greyshade blocks from the Previs and filmed references as a template. It was all the more impressive to see how the music even took scenes at this rough animation level into account and turned them into a film. This allowed the composition of the music to influence the animation throughout the film and vice versa. The prerequisite for this was that the timing of the shots was as accurate as possible. We discussed the final fine adjustments to the music and timing together in the recording studio at the music academy.

Language

Although we have no dialogue in the film, we had to record sounds such as breathing, laughing or monster noises in the recording studio. Nedda Denk lent her voice to our child as a dubbing artist. Her voice, which already sounded very young, was later slightly enhanced in the sound mix by our sound designer Gerhard Auer, making it indistinguishable from real children’s voices.
Severin Denk provided us with great scary monster noises, which were later also pitched and integrated into the sound design. The voice recordings were a new challenge for all of us because – unlike with dubbed films – all the sounds and emotions had to be improvised without a visual template or even lip movements. It was important to think about all the sounds that we might need later in some way in advance. We also included snippets of dialogue that we didn’t have in the script at the time, because we wanted to leave room for changes for the later animation process. In the end, we finished the voice recordings
with a seemingly disproportionate amount of takes and variations. We were all the more grateful in the end during crunch time when we wanted to add and replace some expressions for clarity and were able to draw on our archive without any complications.

As there is no original sound in the animated film, Gerhard Auer built a “radio play” for it. He created the sonic atmosphere for all the rooms and recorded follies, such as the crunching of leather for the monster or the rubbing of fabric when the curtain or the girl moves.

An essential chapter of the story was the enchanting world of shadow puppetry. Carola Kärcher, a professional shadow puppeteer, supported us in this endeavour. We brought her into the team in April, at the very beginning of the production phase. We talked about our idea in Zoom meetings and showed her our animatic. Together with her, we thought about how we could design our shadow plays, both visually and dramaturgically. Mrs Kärcher developed some ideas and sent them to us as reference videos.

Of course, we also had to consider the special features of our protagonist. For example, our character has four fingers on each hand and one of them is stuck in a dinosaur hand puppet the whole time. These details had to be incorporated into the shadow play performance. Despite these limitations, Mrs Kärcher presented us with numerous impressive ways in which we could make use of them. This ultimately enabled us to create shadow puppetry scenes that could only come from our main character and her unique imagination.

All shadow play is hand-drawn frame by frame. We used the Grease Pencil feature in Blender for this. We were able to easily draw shadow plays that take place on a flat wall in our 3D space in the 2D animation workspace and then insert them as objects in our environment. Grease Pencil was particularly helpful for animating a shadow play in perspective directly in the 3D scene, which spreads over several levels.

The post Shadow play in Blender first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by HFF Hochschule für Fernsehen und Film München.

Still not enough? We test the “Stable Release” from Cascadeur, play hands-on with an RTX 4090, Graden Remote with Colourfront & Pharos, test Creation FX and see whether Insta360 version 3 is finally “good”. We also talk about dinosaurs, Omniverse, Daniel2 and dinosaurs. Is that enough to get you out of hibernation?

Trash, Dance & Robots: What’s the story behind the tin mate on the cover? It’s a first-semester (!) project at the HFF – and there’s a lot behind it! A robot invites you to dance. (S. 128)

DP is looking for colleagues!

Do you have ideas about which stories are still important for every issue of Digital Production? Are you tired of the daily grind of production and want to tell stories instead? Then send me your application – DP is looking for an editor! Mail to: ichwillkatzenbilder@digitalproduction.com

The post Digital Production 2023, the second! first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

And above all: how will we look back on our mistakes today? In Adjourned, our contemporary climate summits are already a historical relic, a classic theatre play from the past. Having failed to fulfil their actual task, their former existence now serves only serves to amuse a few survivors. In the dystopia, our present-day climate theatre becomes a perfect source of satire. We realised this in our second film at the HFF Munich under the direction of Prof. Jürgen Schopper as follows.

In the second year of our training, as visual effects students at HFF Munich, we had the opportunity for the first time to develop a short film idea together with other departments at the university, such as production, camera and screenplay, which had to be realised with the help of visual effects. The advantage of this co-operation was that the effort and feasibility of potential visual effects shots could already be planned down to the smallest detail during script development. We tried to work as closely as possible to the principle of virtual production, for which close co-operation with the other departments was a prerequisite. This collaboration was extended by VFX industry professionals, who supported us again and again during the course of the production. Petra Hereth was responsible for team coordination.

by Christian Geßner, Nicolas Schwarz, Chris Kühn,
Malte Pell, Tobias Sodeikat and Jonas Potthoff

From the first script version in October 2021 to the start of shooting in April 2022, we were involved in the preparation of the film in many ways: in parallel with the script development, we created the first concept art, which we used to design the look for our world together with author Larissa Dold and director Matthias Zentner.
At the same time, we constantly updated the VFX calculation with the latest findings from the joint meetings from the start of the script work in order to guarantee the feasibility of the visual effects. In this way, we were able to ensure that the VFX effort was in line with the time frame available to us during book development. It also gave us the opportunity to prioritise during development which parts of the story would benefit from visual effects and where they were not absolutely necessary. In addition to storyboarding and concept art, this process was accompanied by us with the support of Luis Guggenberger. With the help of 3D mentor Berter Orpak, we created a 3D pre-visualisation in a very short time, which not only showed roughly blocked scenes, but already included tracking shots, animated characters and a rough sound layout.

Production: University of Television and Film Munich 
Duration: 07:51 min (25fps)
Resolution: 2K (Aspect Ratio: 2:39)
Render Engine: Redshift, Mantra
Texturing Software: Substance Painter
3D Software: Blender, Houdini
Compositing Software:  Nuke

Once the script was largely finalised in February 2022, we were able to focus on the actual filming preparations. As we already had a very concrete idea of the shots to be filmed based on the 3D previs and the entire shoot was also very VFX-heavy, the shooting schedule was developed directly in the VFX department in close consultation with the producers Luisa Eichler and Michaela Mederer. In various production meetings and shooting schedule discussions, we also planned the concrete realisation of each shot with the other trades – for example, we were able to determine exactly where the real studio set would merge into the digital world with the art department under the direction of Katja Severin and how we could make these transitions as unobtrusive as possible. It also took some coordination with the costume (costume designer: Katharina Ost) and make-up (key make-up: Sabeth Kelwing) departments in order to be able to shoot VFX-compatible costumes and SFX make-up, such as burning hands, as sensibly as possible.

During filming (camera: HFF graduate Teresa Renn), we as VFX students were represented in various positions on set, with the role of visual effects supervisor being swapped on a daily basis so that every student had the opportunity to experience this function for themselves. We were supported by professionals from the industry (Jan Stoltz and Dietrich Hasse). But we were also very busy outside of this position: Both the set and the actors* had to be scanned and data also had to be collected from the set after each take.

After the end of the shooting week, it only took another week until we were able to lure the first VFX shots from a rough cut and start editing (editing: Michael Dervenski & Matthias Zentner). To do this, we updated the latest cut version in DaVinci Resolve with the online material and exported the shot plates and references in 16-bit Linear EXR sequences for editing.

Order in the chaos of assets – the modelling

Hopefully it will still be a few years before it looks like the Vertagt universe here in Munich. As the only thing that already existed during the production period was an empty stage, the world around it had to be created from scratch in the computer. We used a combination of specially created, purchased and scanned assets.
This resulted in a total of over 50 different models, some in up to six different versions. The largest of these was a broken container ship. We reworked the purchased 3D models with our own textures for our film in order to adjust the level of detail for the project and the individual shots. The realistic replica of a whale skeleton, shipping containers and oil drums are some of the many assets that were added to the interior and exterior of the wreck.

Image references of possible shipwrecks, damaged cars, aeroplanes, harbours, pipeline systems and materials affected by sand and weather formed the basis of our research. From the references summarised in mood boards
References summarised in mood boards, we were able to pick out new ideas throughout the project and recreate them in detail. The interior of the shipwreck was continuously filled with first large, then smaller and smaller objects.

The 3D models were modelled and “UV unwrapped” in Blender. In order to cope with the large number of differently coloured and dented containers, we created various textures and models, which were assigned procedurally in Houdini. To ensure that accessories such as cables, ladders and rubbish could still be placed on the containers and that the AO map could be calculated correctly in Substance Painter, the scene was initially blocked with cuboids.

In addition, we modelled a second interior, which is revealed to us in the long return journey as the ruins of an engine room, gradually adding information about the location and the dystopian world. The centrepiece is an old, oversized ship’s engine. The difficulty here was to combine the realistic depiction of the working environment in an engine room with as open an environment as possible to show the size of the wreck. Some elements run through both areas of the ship in order to connect them as seamlessly as possible. Both the rust shader and the cables hanging from the ceiling serve as a link here.
“Among other things, a model looks realistic when the eye and brain cannot grasp all the elements at once, but discover new things bit by bit”. To follow this advice from Dirk Mauche (our active support in the modelling area), a tangle of cables, chains and rope ladders provides the necessary details (and disorder) in the picture.

A crawler learns to fly – rigging & animation

The main CG character, a cockroach called “Despair”, was already delivered with various animation cycles and a rig, but first had to be fed into the pipeline. To do this, we created a motion cycle system in Houdini that could be used to efficiently fade between the various animation cycles. With the help of several controllers, it was possible to run the CG cockroach on a spline curve at different speeds. It only became problematic when more complex movements were required. A rotation around its own axis, when the cockroach has to perform a somersault to escape from a tricky situation, became an endless search for the right point of rotation. The problem was solved using the good old “brute force” method. A second locator served as a new anchor. Despite using ready-made animation presets, we were once again lucky enough to be supported by Prof Melanie Beisswenger as an animation lecturer. We learnt that even the smallest changes in the running speed of a cockroach can provide a lot of information about how it can affect the viewer.

Continuity of light and shadow

We realised early on that we needed low key lighting on set. The only source of light was to be the extremely bright lightbeams that would shine through small holes in the outer wall of our shipwreck, but from whose scorching heat the ship’s inhabitants were to hide. The darkness surrounding them was only to be discreetly brightened up by their bounce lights. However, as is so often the case, it turned out during pre-production that the reality was different. We couldn’t completely do without a few bright accents in the form of artificial light lamps on set in order to capture the mood and create enough detail in the blacks for the camera. This resulted in an interplay of lightbeams, which have a daylight and therefore cool colour temperature, and practicals, which emit artificial light and therefore have a warmer colour temperature.

In order to get as close as possible to the properties of real sunlight in our studio environment, our head lighting technician Torsten Baier organised a large PAR spotlight, which was directed into the right paths using mirrors and whose light cone was suitably shaped. Thanks to the parallel beam path of this spotlight, it hardly loses any brightness at a distance and thus corresponds to our perception of sunlight. A lot of artificial fog on set also ensured that the beam of light was visible in the air and that our surroundings looked appropriately dusty. Now it was time to digitally match the lighting from the set..

The long shots were particularly challenging, in which we had to extend our shot set outwards in order to be able to tell the interior of the shipwreck credibly. The transition between the filmed stage and the digital set was concealed by 3D-scanned scrap parts and models, but the lighting mood had to match exactly for both. The light beams also cross the “boundary” between the filmed and digital plate, which is why they had to be partially supplemented, but also completely retouched and digitally replaced. The aim was to recreate the correct angle, diameter, intensity and colour temperature of the real light beam. This was done in Houdini and then rendered with Redshift. In compositing, we added further details such as animated fog and particles floating in the air to the light beams, further blurring the line between real and computer-generated footage. We received a lot of support from our lecturer Frank Dürschinger, who provided us with the final food for thought to create a realistic image.

Other shots had a smaller CG component, but this had to be all the more seamless. As a completely digital character, our cockroach needed lighting that was as true to the original as possible, including refraction, reflection and shadows, in order to fit exactly onto the plate being shot and integrate itself into the real world. And that in every setting size – whether it appears large in the picture or only takes up a few pixels. To achieve this, we used a 360° camera to take exposure series of the respective location and its lighting during the shoot and then stitched them together to create HDRIs. The HDRIs served as the basis for the lighting of the respective 3D scenes, but were often supported by additional spot and area lights. Finding the right balance between too much and too little additional lighting was a challenging fine-tuning task, but it was also a lot of fun.

FX simulations: Sand and bone dust

The requirements for the FX simulations ranged from simple setups like the main title crumbling into dust and a cockroach kicking up sand, to big challenges like the skull shattering on the ground and a photorealistic desert that had to work in both close-up shots and a super long shot. We were once again lucky enough to have Felix Hörlein on board as a lecturer for our second project at the HFF and were therefore able to draw from the full range of possibilities.

In the final shot of the film, we establish a vast, open desert landscape swept by sand and wind. The biggest challenge in realising this haze was the enormous size of the terrain. With an area of three square kilometres, a simulation approach was needed that could simulate different resolutions for different areas. Thanks to the help of Felix Hörlein, an LOD system was created based on the distance to the camera. In the first step, a point cloud was generated at three different points in time using Mantra’s ray tracer, which subsequently produced a representation of the entire visible geometry.

In combination with the LOD system, this resulted in a significantly reduced footprint that could be used to generate the volume. All parameters that have an influence on the volume must also be controlled globally in order to ensure that the edges of the individual LOD areas blend into each other as much as possible. To save computing power, time and storage space, the simulations on the individual wedges only start shortly before they are visible in the camera. In addition to the volumes, we used a particle simulation in the foremost areas of the field of view to get as close as possible to the “sandstorm” target. This was controlled by the Vel field from the volume simulation.

Despite all the cost-saving measures, one workstation per version took an average of around six days to simulate all the individual parts, generating a cache size of 5 TB. This is largely due – at 1250 frames – to the length of the shot. Mantra became our render engine for all simulations. Rendering was always done with mattes, IDs and cryptomattes to give the compositing specific access to the individual simulations.

The skull crashing to the ground and disintegrating is the dramaturgical highlight of the film and demanded a lot from us due to the size of the shot. The basis of the effect is an RBD simulation with custom constraints for the three areas “skull”, “jaw” and “teeth”. To make the breaking more interesting, the option “switch constraints when broken” is also active for a selected area that contains the main features of the skull. Using a second constraint type, the selected geometry is held together for longer before it finally breaks. The skull has been acquired and prepared for the simulation. Three separate “rbd-fracture-nodes” are used to divide it into fragments in order to get as close as possible to the real properties of the different bone thicknesses.

To save memory space and optimise performance, the RBD simulation was only cached as points. This allowed us to remesh the geometry of the skull only after the simulation and thus determine the final resolution of the mesh. A growth solver, which is initiated by changing the distance between neighbouring points when breaking, starts the “disintegration” process. All infected polygons are passed on to another solver, which freezes them at their position and feeds their centre as a single point into a POP network. After the simulation of the POP solver, the polygons are linked to the animation of the respective points using an ID. This allows the dissolving parts to be simulated and saved in a very computationally and data-efficient manner. The individual points are controlled by a velocity field that was generated with the RBD simulation.

In order to intensify the shattering, we have also added two further particle simulations, which on the one hand provide more volume, but more importantly create the appearance of a dust-covered floor – and thus correspond to the rotated plate. We were also able to use a similar but significantly simplified technique for two shots in which the hand and arm of an actor are burnt by the sun and disintegrate into dust.

Digital film set

The use of the Faro laser scanner provided great technical support for post-production. Purchased especially for the Visual Effects degree programme, we were able to create 3D scans of the entire set, which later enabled us to read off accurate distances and create precise match moves. Our initial expectations that tracking would not be a problem with smaller camera pans were quickly dashed by the bitter realisation of how important a good match move is.
Thanks to Matchmove lecturer Ando Avila, however, we were also able to overcome this challenge. The scans also form the basis for the digital replica of the film set. An initial rough reconstruction provided information on the position and tilt of the camera, and details such as wooden struts, chairs and lamps were subsequently added. The recording of the actors was rotoscoped and projected onto the geometry. The projection of the recorded stage onto 3D geometry was used several times. Especially to create subtle
3D projection was an important tool, especially for credibly narrating subtle camera movements with parallax shifts. Of course, it was also helpful to use rudimentary geometry.

Pipeline

In the previous year and during the course of the project, we learnt a lot about effectiveness and workflow. Many shots with the same environment led to the decision to integrate Houdini digital assets into our workflow. This allowed us to tackle steps such as modelling and animation at the same time. But that alone is not enough to keep a cool head and keep things organised. Our Pipeline TD Jonas Kluger, who supported us in the workflow with Shotgrid Studio and modified the pipeline according to our needs, made sure of this. This enabled us to keep a better overview of the tasks and stick to our production schedule.

Compositing

The final step in post production was compositing. As the production offered everything from simple retouching to elaborate full CG shots, the six students had to finalise the more than 40 visual effects shots in a short space of time. Deadlines are deadlines and they don’t wait any longer than our climate. The comp work took place exclusively in Nuke and for some of us, working on the project was a good introduction to the software. Fortunately, we were able to rely on the support of Christoph Zapletal and Jens Schneider, who were able to teach us better Nuke structures and advanced techniques. This was the only way we could work on many different shots at the same time.
At the end of the film, there were also several shots in which we had to digitally add ash flying through the air. The “Das Element” software helped us enormously here, as plates can be organised and found quickly. These
Plates were inserted after they had been created on the last day of filming and thus supplemented the library of purchased stock footage. From a large ladder we threw dust particles, torn paper or we blew mist through a hose into a rubber glove. As everything was filmed against a black background, we could simply use these elements in Nuke and add them to the shot plates on the stage.

Nice and dirty – the colour grading

Once shooting, editing and visual effects were complete, the film was given its finishing touches. Andreas Lautil from Pharos created an individual look to match the eccentric style of the dystopian theatre. Although the grading is based on fairly classic teal and orange lighting on set, it was pushed in a much dirtier direction here. The dark areas were made dirtier and greener so that the audience could put themselves in the shoes of the run-down world and better empathise with the society in the film. Once again, it became clear how much influence each department has on the final project. Originally, a rather desaturated style was planned – clearly recognisable in our concept drawings. However, this was greatly varied in the grading. Now the contrasting cold tones in the depths harmonise with the warmer highlights and thus also with the absurd events in front of and behind the stage.

The sound design and funny background conversations

The quiet murmuring, the sound echoing from all directions and the creaking of the rusting steel transported us to the gigantic wreck in the middle of the desert for the first time in the making of the film. Thanks to Dr Rodolfo Silveira’s work in sound design, the silent shots that accompanied us for months became an atmospheric experience. In several sets, vocal ranges and positions, we students were even able to lend our voices to the digital audience ourselves and push our vocal chords to their limits. What do old, injured people who are on the verge of dying of thirst sound like when they nevertheless enter a bizarre theatre? The HFF’s in-house recording studio demanded a lot from us in terms of acting, but also brought to light a hidden passion for some of us. As the film was shot entirely in a studio, it was necessary to place all the metallic sounds of a ship in the very first shot of the film.

Thus, the entire opening sequence, which takes place in a corridor on the side of the theatre stage, was completely resonated to convey the echoes, vibrations and thus the dimensions and weight of an abandoned oil tanker. Through this strategy, the sound information creates a new level of understanding that complements and enlarges the film for the audience and prepares them for the climax and the central conflict of the story. The sound design was supported by an atmospheric composition by musician Meredi, who was able to capture a unique mood for the film using specially created sounds.

Outlook

Above all, working with industry professionals has shown us that even a little insight and practical experience in all departments helps us to gain an understanding of other departments. The mentality that visual effects is just a part of post-production is a thing of the past, because film-making begins for visual effects during script development. Virtual production is becoming increasingly relevant for well-planned productions with a visual effects component. The first internal presentation took place as part of the “VFX-Reel” 2022 exhibition in the Audimax of the HFF Munich.

Team

• Script: Larissa Dold
• Director: Matthias Zentner
• Producer: Michaela Mederer and Luisa Eichler
• Director of Photography: Teresa Renn
• Gaffer: Torsten Baier
• Production Designer: Katja Severin
• Costume Designer: Katharina Ost
• Key Make-Up: Sabeth Kelwing
• Composer: Ina Meredi Arakelian
• Editor: Michael Dervenski, Matthias Zentner
• Colorgrading: Andreas Lautil
• VFX Supervisor: Jan Stoltz and Dietrich Hasse
• Project Supervision: Prof. Jürgen Schopper
• Project Consultant: Dr Rodolfo Anes Silveira
• VFX Pipeline TD: Jonas Kluger
• 3D Mentor: Berter Orpak
• Team Assitant: Petra Hereth
• Technical Tutor: Moritz Rautenberg
• VFX Producer: Chris Kühn, Jonas Potthoff
• Modellers: Christian Gessner, Chris Kühn, Malte Pell, Tobias Sodeikat
• Texture Paint Artists: Christian Gessner,
• Chris Kühn, Malte Pell, Tobias Sodeikat
• Simulation Artist: Nicolas Schwarz
• Animators: Chris Kühn, Tobias Sodeikat, Malte Pell
• Compositors: Jonas Potthoff, Chris Kühn, Nicolas Schwarz, Malte Pell, Tobias Sodeikat, Christian Gessner
• Visual Effects Editor: Jonas Potthoff
• PreViz Artists: Christian Gessner, Chris Kühn
• Sound Design/Re-Recording Mixer: Dr Rodolfo Anes Silveira
  • VFX Mentors
• Concept: Luis Guggenberger
• Modelling/Texturing: Dirk “Superdirk” Mauche
• MATCHMOVE Ando Avila
• FX: Felix Hörlein
• Mattepainting: Jens Schneider
• Animation: Prof. Melanie Beisswenger
• Compositing: Christoph Zapletal
• Lighting: Frank Dürschinger
  • Cast
• A Chancellor: Viola von der Burg
• A Conservative Party Member: Claus Peter Seifert
• Green Party Member: Ronja Katharina Brusa
• A Prompter: Patrick Bimazubute
• The Choir Singers: Emil Vorbrugg

The post VERTAGT – VFX for a dystopian satire first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by HFF Hochschule für Fernsehen und Film München.

In nuce: Two student Oscars in the Narrative category go to the HFF Munich this year. The graduation film Almost Home and the training film Eigenheim (Rooms) were able to secure the award trophies. Almost Home tells the story of a mother-son conflict in space and draws parallels to the pandemic, while Eigenheim deals with the topic of forced eviction. The two Student Academy Awards were won by the HFF Department of Feature Film Directing, headed by Prof Julia von Heinz and Prof Marcus H. Rosenmüller. A total of seven student short films from all over the world were among the finalists. A total of three winners were chosen in the Narrative category. The award ceremony will take place live for the first time since 2019: on 20 October at the David Geffen Theatre in Los Angeles. The winners of the Student Academy Awards in gold, silver and bronze will also be announced at this event. This year marks the 49th time that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences has presented the Student Academy Awards to up-and-coming filmmakers.

Film plot synopsis for Almost Home: When space explorer Nico and her pubescent son Jakob learn of an outbreak of a highly contagious virus shortly before their arrival on Earth, they struggle with the decision to land or return to space indefinitely. HFF team: Nils Keller (director), Georg Nikolaus (cinematographer), Philip Hofmann, Jonas Lembeck, Robert Richarz, Carolina Oswald (production with lehof Media), Lukas Väth (VFX)

Short description of the film plot for Eigenheim: The elderly couple Monika and Werner Baland live in a small three-room flat on the outskirts of the city. One day, their new landlady hands them a notice of termination for personal use. The young mother wants to move in with her family. But the search for a flat proves to be extremely difficult for the elderly couple. HFF team: Welf Reinhart (director), Tünde Sautier (screenplay), Matthias Kofahl (camera), Louis Merki (production with Merki und Reinhart Film GbR), Giorgia Germeno (production manager)

Click to continue: Press release on hff-muenchen.de

The post Two student Oscars go to HFF film projects! first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Patrick Poti.

Six of us started our studies with Professor Michael Coldewey in the 2020 winter semester. Thanks to his extraordinary commitment, we were the first VFX class at HFF to start giving free rein to our ideas early on. When Professor Jürgen Schopper took over as head of the specialisation in spring 2021, we were confronted with realistic project planning, which meant that the projects could be completed in July 2021. For the most part, we succeeded and it was an extremely important experience for us.

by Chris Kühn, Nicolas Schwarz and Christian Geßner

Jonas Kluger, Pipeline TD at HFF Munich, set up the Shotgrid software for us to manage the projects. With regard to time tracking, which is common in the industry, we quickly realised how much time is actually needed for some “small” changes. We received cinematographic input from Rodolfo Anes Silveira, who also supported us in all audiovisual matters.

The two films 01 of the new VFX class at the HFF Munich 

Jürgen Schopper took over the professorship of the VFX specialisation in April 2021. The first students have now completed their film 01. The result is the animated short film "Sleep Tight" and the fully animated fictional teaser "17 Souls". 

Jürgen Schopper started as head professor of the VFX specialisation at the Munich University of Television and Film (HFF) at the beginning of April. The specialisation is anchored in the HFF Department of Visual Design (headed by Prof. Tom Fährmann). The first VFX students started there in the winter semester 20/21. 

Prof. Jürgen Schopper: "I really enjoyed planning the VFX specialisation and supervising the very first two films in this new degree programme. I would like to thank our President Prof Bettina Reitz, without whose support this new direction at HFF Munich would not exist, Prof Tom Fährmann, who has always supported me in the planning, and above all Prof Michael Coldewey, who was such a great mentor during the first semester before I was appointed to HFF Munich. I would also like to thank Prof Dr Peter C. Slansky, who was a great help with all the technical aspects. With Petra Hereth (Team Assistant), Rodolfo Silveira (Artistic Associate) and Jonas Kluger (Pipeline TD), we have now set up a great VFX team in our department, which is supplemented by external lecturers. This ensures the most up-to-date references in the curriculum and the exchange of students with the VFX industry from the very first day of study. We have opted for an end-to-end VFX workflow - from brainstorming to the finished film - which is also state of the art in the industry. But it's best to let the students themselves have their say and describe their impressions and experiences in the process of creating their first two films."

The first film and an immediate crash

What do “Der Schimmelreiter” by Theodor Storm and a missing passenger plane from the 1940s have in common? The teaser “17 Souls” tells the beginnings of a mystery story about a ghost ship based on true events.

At the end of the 1940s, several “Avro Tudor” aeroplanes disappeared over the Atlantic Ocean in the infamous Bermuda Triangle. To this day, it is still not clear how these crashes could have happened despite the best weather conditions. Based on these events, the 3D animated teaser “17 Souls” was created at the HFF Munich, supervised by professors Jürgen Schopper and Michael Coldewey. We were very fortunate to be supported by people with industry experience from the VFX and animation film industry departments.

Brainstorming and conception – the visual claim

The long-standing tradition of the HFF Munich actually stipulates that the students’ first film must be shot in black and white. The various areas of VFX bring with them many innovations, which means that HFF Munich has finally created a link between analogue and digital. As a result, we were lucky enough to introduce a bit of colour into our film.

We initially pursued a visual ambition rather than a profound narrative. As pioneers of the new VFX programme, we knew at the beginning of the semester that we wanted to create images that would impress our viewers. We already had enough material for initial concepts from our research. With the first storyboard, we were able to cut together a pre-visualised film and use an initial sound design layout to better capture the mood and direction we wanted to take. We used the weekly meetings with Prof Michael Coldewey, Prof Jürgen Schopper and Rodolfo Anes Silveira to get suggestions and feedback. From this point on, we moved up a dimension from the flat 2D drawings to the 3D software.

Modelling – design first, history second

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, we were unfortunately unable to visit the nearby aircraft museum in Schleißheim for research. Nevertheless, we stuck almost exactly to the original model of the “Avro Tudor IV” for the external shape. Thanks to blueprints and discussions in aircraft forums about the Avro Tudor series, we were able to get a good idea of the aircraft and block out the first settings with a rough model.

As the pre-visualisation gave us an accurate picture of the perspectives that would be seen of the aircraft, the focus of the model was placed more on the front and side views, which allowed us to save unnecessary work on details that were not visible.

For close-ups of the engines, the outer turbines were moved a little further towards the bow so that they are easily recognisable in the blur. The interior of the aircraft is very different from the original and is largely based on our own design, as the original aircraft interior nowadays is more like that of a train compartment. Nevertheless, we have always orientated ourselves on the designs of the time. The cockpit is a combination of modern spaceship seats, control elements from various aeroplanes and several duplicated elements.

Texturing – You snooze, you lose!

The assets were then all given a used look through texturing. It was important to create a dilapidated surface without telling the story of a completely destroyed aircraft. Different camera angles meant that different levels of detail were required on the aircraft. For example, a single wing and the foremost metre of the aircraft nose each have their own 8K texture for base colour, bump, metallic and roughness.

Rigging & animation – a turbulent affair

Due to the stormy environment in which the aircraft is located, we were aware that it had to be shaken up properly. This meant that the aircraft rig had to have several controllers in order to be able to control the shaking independently of the aircraft’s direction of movement. We then implemented the interior in a similar way. Assets such as the seats in the cockpit and passenger area were given their own controller for each seat, which could be animated in the classic way or procedurally.

Problems only arose when changes were made to the geometry of the aircraft, which usually led to less than pleasant surprises in the rig. We were very lucky to work with Prof Melanie Beisswenger from the Ostfalia University of Applied Sciences via Zoom on specific problems in the animation.

Light(n)ing – Let there be light!

Most of the film takes place in a wild thunderstorm. For planning purposes, we created a light sheet under the guidance of creative director & CGI artist Kathrin Hawelka in order to pre-define the right lighting mood. The indirect lighting of the lightning between the different layers of clouds created a special atmosphere. As most of the clouds were actual volumetrics, we were also able to place the lightning, which was generated in Houdini using L-systems, freely in the 3D scene.

In addition, a very transparent volume over the whole scene created an impressive weather glow when lightning struck. To create a gloomy mood, the entire film is lit low-key and is often limited to a single edge lighting. Inside the aisle of the aeroplane, we used flickering neon lights and occasional bright flashes to maintain the basic nervousness.

FX – Smoking heads and burning engines

To keep our finger on the pulse, Houdini was our first choice for all simulations. The industry standard software demanded a lot from us and has become a real asset, especially with the help of our lecturer Felix Hörlein.

The animations of all shots were exported as Alembic from Maya. To keep the simulations as stable as possible, the aircraft was animated at the origin of the coordinate system and not moved forwards at cruising speed.

The climax of the tension in the film is the burning engine. Fire and smoke were created using the sparse solver “Axiom” and controlled with a particle simulation. The time advantage provided by the GPU acceleration of the plug-in was the decisive factor in our decision.

The rain that hits the windscreen consists of particles that are measured to form a water surface. To do this, we created clusters that generate several particles simultaneously and shoot them at the cockpit’s collider geometry. The windscreen wipers do not interact directly with the individual particles, but generate a force field that is responsible for the streak-like distribution of the droplets.

We have created proxy geometries with a significantly reduced number of polygons for all rigid body objects. The collider geometries also only consist of rudimentary geometry such as cuboids. We used Vellum for all pockets in the interior and soft bodies. As it was not possible at the time of production to have Vellum objects and RBD objects collide with each other, we also opted for Vellum for the suitcases in the luggage rack net.

Rendering – If you don’t render, you freeze!

The rendering was carried out using the in-house render farm – a network of 7 workstations. For reasons of time and cost, a CPU render with Arnold or Mantra was out of the question. The original plan was to render in Maya with Redshift. In the end, however, Houdini (also with Redshift) became our lighting and rendering software.
In addition to the classic back-to-beauty layers, we also rendered a depth channel and the cryptomat for all shots for compositing. The distribution of the individual render jobs was monitored with the Deadline Monitor software, which woke us up a few times during the night if a rendering was faulty. The result was wonderful 32-bit multilayer EXR files.

Compositing – Cloudy with a view of rain

For the compositing we were able to use additional layers of rain as well as self-created matte paintings to give our images more depth and realism. For the clouds in the storm, we opted for a mixture of rendered volumes interacting with the aircraft and 2D plates of procedurally generated noise. Compositing artist Heike Kluger showed us the endless possibilities of noise algorithms, which we used for rain, haze and clouds, among other things.

Colour grading – showing your colours

We also noticed the freshness of the course in colour grading, when the in-house colourist, Claudia Fuchs, was very pleased with images with a colour depth of 32 bits. You don’t even get that with the raw codec from RED. Together with the colourist, we created an aesthetic black and white look with a few colour accents.

Sound design – boom, crack, hiss

When we marched into the HFF sound studio with the finished film, we didn’t realise how important the sound design would be for our film. Together with sound designers Gerhard Auer and Rodolfo Anes Silveira, we filled the images with sound. When the first thunderclap was set, a broad grin spread and suddenly the film felt like great cinema. Pattering rain, a burning engine and the distant rumble of the storm resounded through the cinema. The trembling of the low tones and clinking of the flying glass provided the final immersion of the teaser.

Happy accidents & virtual meetings

Virtual feedback loops, digital beer drinking and lectures in all kinds of transport: This is what life was like during the project. Review rounds initially took place exclusively online. We were all the more surprised when we got to see an interim result on the HFF cinema screen for the first time. The initial anticipation quickly evaporated in view of the amount of work that still needed to be done. That evening we also realised that the films were designed for the cinema and not for the monitors we were working on. The joy was all the greater a few weeks later when – back on the screen – we realised what had happened in the final stages. The biggest hurdles had now been overcome.

One example of such a hurdle was moving the 3D models from Blender to Maya. This tended to work smoothly via an FBX export. Only the naming made the Maya file almost unusable. Dots in object names were replaced by a long string after the import and all constraints were included in the object name. The solution to this was a self-programmed Blender add-on that replaced dots with underscores and a checkbox in Maya to hide the name spaces.

Outlook

The first film of our studies is finished. But what are we going to do with it? The teaser and the collected material are perfect for a pitch-vis to push the development of the feature film, which shows the whole story around the mysterious disappearance of the plane. A series of festival submissions is also planned to network even more closely with other filmmakers and gain new experiences. And if you want to see it all in motion, you can find the making-of at is.gd/hff_17souls.

The team 
Cast: Maximilian Klampfl, pilot voice 

Crew:
Producer: Michaela Mederer 
Director / Script / Modelling / Texturing / Rigging / Animation / Compositing: Chris Kühn 
Director / Concept / Matte Painting / FX: Nico Schwarz 
Director / Concept / Modelling / Texturing / Lighting: Christian Geßner
Project Supervision: Prof. Michael Coldewey & Prof. Jürgen Schopper
 
Project Consultant: Rodolfo Anes Silveira 
VFX Pipeline TD: Jonas Kluger 
Line Producer: Ina Mikkat 
Team Assistant to Line Producer: Jenny Freyburger 
Team Assistant: Petra Hereth 
Colour Grading: Claudia Fuchs 
Sound Design: Gerhard Auer & Rodolfo Anes Silveira 
Postproduction Supervisor: Christoffer Kempel 
Technical Support: Benedikt Geß & Florian Schneeweiß 
Conforming: Martin Foerster 

Department Mentors: 
Melanie Beisswenger (Animation)
Kathrin Hawelka (Lighting & Shading)
Felix Hörlein (FX)
Heike Kluger (Compositing)
"Super" Dirk Mauche (Modelling & Texturing)
Moritz Rautenberg (Camera)

The post 17 Souls first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by HFF Hochschule für Fernsehen und Film München.

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

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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)

The post HFF-Filmkunst: Debut film and freeze-scenes making-of first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Mirja Fürst.