24.09.2018 | A visit to the animation factory
A wild, harrowing animated ride through war-torn Angola in the 1970s: "Another Day of Life" celebrates its German premiere at Filmfest Hamburg on 28 September. The Hamburg-based company "Animationsfabrik" was responsible for large parts of the animation. Here we show you exactly how the fascinating look of the international co-production was created and how much work went into the production.
Director of Photography in an animated film - that doesn't make too much sense at first. After all, animated films are mostly made on computers. But anyone who watches the cinema filmAnother Day of Life you can't shake off the feeling that somehow a different approach was taken here. The sometimes slightly shaky camera is too organic and guided, immersing the viewer in the civil war-torn Angola of the 1970s. The Wüste Film production had already wowed audiences in Cannes with its strong story and fascinating graphic novel look. A look that was co-created in Hamburg. A 25-strong team of animation specialists is based in Ottensen, not far from the Elbchaussee, covering a broad portfolio from cinema films to TV series and advertising. Under the direction of Jörn Radel, the "Animationsfabrik" has produced films such asThe little polar bear,Captain Bluebear - or evenAnother Day of Life co-created.
The team at Animationsfabrik worked intensively on the film by Directors Raúl de la Fuente and Damian Nenow for around a year and a half - or in figures: 30 sets and 49 characters toAnother Day of Life have been created on the Elbe. The team had to be expanded to 35 people and two external companies for the complex work. The film is a four-country production, with Spain (Kanaki Films) and Poland (Platige Film) as the main production countries and Belgium (Walking the Dog) as co-producer in addition to Germany.
Animationsfabrik joined the project in 2012 via Wüste Film CEO Stefan Schubert. "When Stefan came to us with the idea, we immediately agreed, as it is an artistically and technically very demanding animation project - which is not exactly commonplace for a European production on this scale," says Radel. The two Directors had split their work in advance. While de la Fuente was responsible for the real documentary part, Nenow took on the animation part and was therefore in constant dialogue with the animation factory.
The film depicts the drama of the Angolan Civil War in 1975 from the perspective of legendary war reporter Ryszard Kapuściński. In a mixture of animated sequences and current documentary interviews with Kapuscinski's companions from back then, the film conveys the horrors and absurdities of the war. At the same time, the viewer experiences Kapuściński's transition from objective reporter to writer, who tries to get closer to the truth of the war through the means of literature.
Before the elaborate work began in 2012, a meeting was held with the other Executive Producers to clarify responsibilities. The animation work was split between various studios - the first cut was made for Animationsfabrik in 2014, where a large part of the pre-visualisation was designed: The team pre-modelled 3D sets and backgrounds for various scenes on the computer and placed the different characters in the environment, which were created with the help of motion capturing: "We have a system specifically for this that records the actors and transfers their movements to the virtual characters on the computer in real time. So you can see immediately on the virtual set how it will look in the animated film," says Jörn Radel. The actors act in an empty room. If someone steps on something, for example, there is simply a placeholder that is later modelled over on the computer. The actors' faces are also recorded and then placed on the faces of the 3D models. Of course, this is not yet the final look, but it is a good reference for the animators who will later take over the animation of the facial expressions.
Once a scene with an actor has been shot, you can loop it and then record the next character for the scene. In this way, a scene is created piece by piece, but the background always remains the same - only the number of characters increases, as mass scenes are usually made up of many individual elements. Some parts of this work process were supplied by animation studios from Poland.
When Animationsfabrik started work in 1998, there were hardly any suitable training courses or degree programmes for working in the animation sector later on. "At that time, we actually took anyone from school dropouts to finance graduates who had some talent and were interested in the field," says CEO Radel. In the last ten to 15 years, however, the situation has changed dramatically - there are now plenty of schools that offer training in 3D and VFX. So what do you need in addition to the relevant training to be able to work at Animationsfabrik? "A solid understanding of technology, a good artistic eye and some routine in the work processes. Apart from that, however, a passion for the job is still one of the most important criteria.
A special feature thatAnother Day of Life What sets the film apart from many other productions is the virtual camera. After a scene has been filmed and all the characters have been added, the camera can be repositioned as required: You can show a scene retrospectively from above, below, from the side, near and far and jump back and forth between the characters - there are hardly any limits. "We had a normal camera rig with a preview monitor for this step. The only difference is that the monitor doesn't play back what the camera records, but the computer signal is fed into the preview monitor. The Director of Photography can therefore simply walk through the virtual scene - and is actually standing in an empty room," reveals Radel, who is still enthusiastic about the technology. In this way, a scene can be shot from 30 or more perspectives and then put together in the editing room at the end. A procedure that one or two real film directors are sure to be a little envious of. Welcome to the future!
The individual scenes were then given the finishing touches at Platige Film in Poland. Here, the characters and worlds were fine-tuned and the look finalised. An intensive collaboration that definitely bore fruit in the end and is probably quite unique in this combination. The result can be seen on 28 September at the Filmfest Hamburg in the Passage Kino (Tickets are available here). The official cinema release date is yet to be announced.
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