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Characters

Urs: Urs has always longed to enjoy the sunlight but has had to care for his mother. He dreams of a better place for both of them but suffers under his burden.

Mother: Urs' mother was once strong and respected woman. She stayed with her son in her beloved village even as it was slowly abandoned. Years later she herself is completely dependent on her son.

CGTantra: Hi Guys, Thanks for talking to CGTantra, Could you tell us Moritz what inspired you to make your short film with the concept you chose, and what is the essence of the film.
Moritz Mayerhofer (Director): I studied at the Institute of Animation of the Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttemberg. Over the years and the films I did during my studies, I found out what I like to create: Films with a deep atmosphere and images for a big screen but always thinking about a good story with strong characters. For my Thesis-project I wanted ‘Urs' to be a fusion of those components. When I was thinking of stories I got to the point where I saw "Contrasts" as a central concept for the film. Contrasts in characters and settings are essential for a dynamic story. Old and Young, Valley and Mountains, Shadow and Light, Life and Death - Contrasts became my ‘bible' for decisions.
Essence of every film is the idea behind it. The emotions, thoughts and motivations you have in your life translated into a story for the screen. The basic question of my film is "how long you can bear intolerable situations and the consequences of decisions".

CGTantra: Did you decide prior to the production process how much of 3d or 2d would you use or you just went with which ever appeals to the eye and helps you tell the story?
Moritz: Having a deadline with the date of my graduation I always thought of an efficient production process. But during the writing and development process I tried to switch off all the thoughts about production-management as they really can destroy your creative process. If you want to have something you can always find ways to make it.

I really like mixing 2d and 3d. 2d can help you to find "easy" solutions. ‘Urs' for example had many sets and it was faster to paint 50 backgrounds than modelling all of them. As I knew what I wanted, there was no need to be hyper-flexible. Of course changes were also done but it was still easier just to paint another matte painting. I like animating in 2d but keeping the model and the coloring - which can be a very painful process in 2d - are not my favourites.
3d Animation also has its disadvantages and of course the rig and the shader also needed some time to develop. The combination of 2d and 3d allowed me to take all the advantages so I could tell the story the way I wanted.

CGTantra: Its always about telling your story, be it an image or a film, it does not depend what tools are used for the same. Would you guys agree to this? What are your individual views ?
Jonas Jarvers (Technical Director, Character-Rigs): As artist you have to know your tools. Of course in the end you want to have the best result and many tools actually have the same ideas. But in detail they are very different. You should always pick the tool which brings the best result in short time. There are tools which have new ideas and therefore are perfect to be inspired from, on the other side old tools are still useful when it even comes to complex tasks. I think the challenge nowadays is to present an image or a film with a tool which definitely delivers the best result and the artist feels comfortable with at the same time.

Leszek Plichta (Mattepainting): I think it's no contradiction to have both: a good story and nice images. Finding a good story is really, really hard and animated films often tend to focus on the visuals. It really can help to team up with an author and work together.

Jan Locher (2d FX-Animation): The story itself doesn't matter at all, it's what you tell with that story in first place and and if you're passionate with it.

Moritz: The great thing is that there is no recipe at all. Of course there are some rules, but you can always play with them and apply them in another way. There are many books that analyze stories and their structures. Many films are structured very classical, but sometimes things work out completely different. ‘Urs' is quite classical, but especially in Animation there is a big longing for new kinds of stories.

CGTantra: How was it learning at the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg ? Could you take us through your journey ?
Moritz: There are many fields of study at the Filmakademie. You can learn and specialize in every field of filmmaking.
When you apply for animation you sometimes really go to a journey to the unknown. You apply for it, but you can later specialize in every subordinate field of this whole media. VFX, Compositing, Animation Direction, Character Animation, Production Design, etc… The Institute is very flexible and we are encouraged to try out many things.

Jan: The Filmakademie was a very valuable and truthful experience for me - although most of it hadn't to do with the curriculum at all.

Jonas: The learning is very project oriented. As postgraduate technical director student I got straight to the projects and worked together in the team on the film. We pretty much worked the most of the time on the projects and learned a lot from ourselves and guest lecturer from international studios.

CGTantra: What all were the softwares used for the film? How much time did it take from concept to Post? What is next for you?
Stina McNicholas (Producer): We used a couple of different softwares for the show. Pmg Messiah 3.5. (Rigging, animation) and Lightwave v9.5 (modeling, lighting, shading, rendering) were the main tools for the 3d Part. TV Paint (2d FX) and the Adobe Suite were used for the 2d Part. Projection-mappings and some particle-FX were done in Maya while some Flocking-FX were done in Houdini. Bodypaint was used for Texturing and Point Oven for the Exchange between softwares. It would have been possible to use "just one" software, but we wanted to let the artists use their favourite tool. This required some good effort in production management, but thanks to exchange formats everything worked excellent.

Moritz: From the first scratch to the final film it took about three years. The first drawing was done in May 2006. From there on it took one year of designing and writing, followed by 9 months of preproduction. The main production time was about 14 months, including 5 months entirely for the character-animation.

The Premiere took place at the ITFS Stuttgart Festival of Animated Film in May this year. I'm currently working on my next shortfilm which will be a bit shorter and funnier film than ‘Urs'. Financing is a big deal right now and so I'm looking for fundings and sponsors. Maybe even for a studio in whose infrastructure I can realize it.

CGTantra: There are a lot of symbolic elements in the film, the mood, and the lights that also compliment the emotions of the characters, how did you think of these?
Julia Ocker (Matte painting): You can control the effect of an image in a very early phase. First there is the layout which defines the "readability" of the image. But of course you need to fill details into the composition that communicate the meaning of it, and everything from forms and colors influence the impression of this image and so the impact on story and characters in a different way.

Moritz: Animation is a very time-consuming way of creating films. We have to create everything which will be on screen. But this gives us the liberty to create worlds like we want to have them. Even small elements can help to tell the story or make things clearer. Sometimes symbols and metaphors tell information on the subtext and require a certain cultural background.

They reach back to ancient mythology and differ between the cultures. I love symbols and their subtle power. But I think you should always be aware not to overdo it - an exaggerated use of them can really throw you out of the story.

CGTantra: What role do you think do online communities play in an artist's development and what is your message out of your experience doing the film and studying at The Baden-Württemberg Film Academy to the CGTantra Community?
Jonas: Especially for 'Urs' I learned a lot from the Messiah community as I got a lot of help from different people. Sharing rigs and techniques for character setups really pushed me to a new level. It's always good to have someone out there who understand your problems and where you can find help. There is a great developing and learning just through sharing and controversy. At the same time a community can help in so many ways, if it's for finding new friends or even to get a new job. So to have a community is really a great plus, but be aware to contribute your help and work as well.

Moritz: Exchange is the one and only! May it be online-communities or the colleagues around you - if you dare to get critique you may face some problems. Our work in the media-sector (TV, Film, Games …) is always about the connection to an Audience. You communicate something. And even if it's totally clear in your mind what you want to tell, it's not guaranteed that your audience will understand it. So do Animatics or Test-screenings or whatever you need to be at least a bit certain about the result. Also in terms of artistic development it's highly valuable to exchange your knowledge with other people. You can learn so much from other artists and many are willing to share their knowledge.
You should always be open to critique. But you should also be selective. Many people may say many different things. In order to develop your own style you have to decide what critique you accept or refuse. You're the Boss!
Thank you very much for this interview. It's really a big honor for us to get so much attention to be featured on your website!!

Rishabh Shrivastav
Team CGTantra

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