Helper’s Market

Markets. Who doesn’t love them?
Stocks, fleas, Christmas, so many things to buy! But none scratch quite the same itch as the Helper’s Market here at the HSLU.
What’s for sale here, you may ask? Experience. The third years and master students, who by now are hard at work with their graduation projects, show us what they’ve been cooking all this time. They get up on stage, show their animatics and tell us how students and alumni alike can sign up to help their projects come true.
I can’t talk about these projects in detail just yet, so I decided to interview the third years and get the scoop on the behind-the-scenes process. The nitty gritty stuff. What do they do when the teachers aren’t looking? How do they organize themselves? What’s their favourite colour?
So join me as I get down to brass tacks with members from the upcoming «Gahts no Lang?» and the team behind «Weird Receptionist».

How has it been like organizing, scheduling, and working on a project of this scale?

«It‘s equally exciting as scary sometimes. On the one hand you get to spend a year trying to make your ideas come to life, on the other you have to commit to them for an entire year.
It‘s also been a big joy working with a new constellation of the sweetest people who also happen to be amazing artists!»

Sven Kristlbauer, director of «Gahts no Lang»

«I would say I don‘t really think about it that way, it is just the next step. We did short projects, then a 6 month one and this one is a year. That is a step but there will be more of these! But it is truly amazing.»

Marion Zeder, Gahts no Lang

«Probably a bit different for every team but for us it was the most stressful at the start (might be because of the nature of our movie, which had no defined story at the beginning).
Once we had the story set, it became way easier but was still a lot to handle with all the meetings and deadlines. Most teams we talked to were agreeing with us on it being stressful due to having a lot of things going on at the same time.
Now that we are in/transitioning into the production phase, where we know what we want the project to be like, it has become quite chill, and we are having a lot of fun.»

Sina Lerf, Dario Marti & Dario Boger, a.k.a. Team Reception
from left to right: Dario Marti, Sina Lerf & Dario Boger (Team Reception)

Any unexpected challenges so far?

«This is the first time I‘ve been directing a group of people on my own, which sometimes means I spend a lot of time putting ideas into words to get them across to all the people involved. Being the director also means making a lot of decisions, which is very fun and creatively fulfilling, but also daunting at times.»

Sven


«Having to organize a lot, plan for other people than me or the 3 of us and include having to make interviews and decisions about people that are way more talented than us in their own field.»

Marion

«Idea finding…
As stated before, we might be a little edge case, but we had a hard time of figuring out our story. We had the world, and we knew what we wanted as a rough outline for the story – a reception and crazy guests. But having to write a story while having already a pretty clear image on the setting/the frame was way harder than expected.
We ran in circles for almost 2 months straight, building a story, reworking it, salvaging the parts we liked and restarting again (might not have been of much help that we got a lot of conflicting feedback, too).»

Team Reception

The bachelor film is a big project. What drove you to tell this story?


«Real life experience and the fact that people are very weird (not in a bad way) and that the resulting interactions are fun :)»

Team Reception


«Sven pitched this idea. He‘s the director and writer and I personally just felt like I could relate a lot to the topic and story. Also, visually it is a very cool style, I really wanted to be part of this!»

Marion


«I just hate driving and love toy designs from the 2000s to be honest.»

Sven
concept art for «Gahts no Lang»

Was there anything you learnt from working on previous projects (1BA, Idents, etc.) that you brought over to this one? (Work ethics, communication, skills, anything you can think of!)


«Phew a lot to be honest, you always learn stuff for future projects! I did some 3D blocking for the ident to help with the more complicated perspective stuff. And I did an internship in the 4th semester that taught me a lot about TV Paint and animating in general. Those two things helped in a major way I guess :)»

Sven

«Communication is key. You don‘t have to speak 100% of your mind, but if you are part of a group and something is bothering a team member or making it hard for all, people need to talk and figure out how to go on with it if not fixing it.»

Marion

– How to work in a team
– It matters how you and your teammates vibe with each other 🙂
– Animation doesn’t have to always be done in the perfect way. It can be rougher if the style/story fits it.


«It has to be fun and if the quality suffers a bit under it it’s okay 🙂 It’s a school project in the end (our approach). »

Team Reception
concept art for «Weird Receptionist»

How was your first Helper’s Market like?

«The first helper‘s market was intense, I was interested in a lot of projects, and it was hard to decide, but on the other hand, I didn‘t feel confident enough about what I could do to help, or to ask more tasks, because I was afraid to fail or to do something wrong for someone else‘s project. Intimidated as well as inspired.»

Marion

«It was crazy that we already got to see it from the other side. I felt nervous at first, but seeing the people react to our animatic was very fun. It was kind of the first bigger test screening we had.»

Sven

«Our first Helper’s Market we attended:
Very cool to see what the 3rd years are cooking and what is going on in the 3rd year. Seeing all the projects was inspiring (very nice projects) but at times it would have been fun to give feedback to the movies (but it was too scary o.0)
Our first Helper’s Market we held:
At times it can be weird working on the project, and you lose a bit the perspective of who you are even making this film for. And seeing so many people laughing/enjoying watching the animatic was inspiring and reassuring for us (but also again scary since we have only shown the animatics to people who knew the project from the beginning… but also scawwy)
So all in all the Helper’s Market for us was fun to attend (seeing our classmates current state of the project was also a nice bonus)»

Team Reception
Robin, the so-called «Weird Receptonist»

Is there any piece of advice you wish you could tell your younger self?

«I don‘t really know. I worked a lot to make progress. Maybe too much. Have more rest and keep some free time to enjoy with friends, family or anyone that matters to you!» – Marion
«Be ready for the pitch of your idea. Have at least a general plan of how the story could unfold, doesn’t have to be the final version but any guideline for entering preproduction helps. (this comes from us suffering for 2 months because we were struggling finding a coherent story that implemented all the things we wanted)»

Team Reception

«Worry less.»

Sven
talking about younger selves’, here’s Timo from «Gahts no Lang»!

And lastly, what’s your favourite colour?

«Oof, I don’t know. Blue maybe?»

Sven

«I like Coral. Or Turquoise. Or purple. Is it a real question after all? (I can‘t pick I want to use them all)

Marion

«#8777E6 #E37D5B #5BA8E3
ik we are just too funny»

Team Reception
Team Reception’s oddly specific colours

There you have it! The Helper’s Market is just one out of many milestones the third years have to reach on their way to a finished film. To get out there and tell a story takes guts, but it takes a village to finish it. Storyboards, animatics, scripts, voice acting, soundtracks, sound design, rough animation, clean-up, colours, backgrounds, compositing…


The amount of people involved in these productions is huge, and to be given the chance to participate in these crazy projects is a huge honour. I wish the third years well and I can’t wait to see the finished films.

The AniGrill and an overview over 3 years of studying Animation

Interviews with Isabel Pahud, Caroline Laville and Isabel Clerici
It’s after a long year of sitting behind desks working on various projects that the whole animation department here at HSLU, Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts comes together to eat amazing grilled veggie-burgers, to discuss the recently premiered bachelor movies and most of all, to enjoy each other‘s company before a long awaited summer break.

On Thursday the 29th of June, three classes of students and staff meet on the school’s terrace to have a last meal together before leaving for the summer or definitively for those finishing their studies. It’s a long held tradition from the animation’s department: a true farewell to our third year bachelor’s and a last chance to get together with all their peers after a very exciting but also busy premiere the day before.
It’s under a cloudy sky that it all takes place and even though everyone’s very emotional, we can see the sun shining through the student’s smiles as people laugh together over their shared memories. Watching it all come to surface, I see the perfect opportunity to ask a few of the recent graduates about their time spent here studying animation, who knows when a little secret might be spilled.

Three years have come to an end, this is the last time you’ll be with the whole bachelor together as a student, how do you feel about it?

Isabel Pahud
It kinda sucks because the three years were really nice and although we were covid kids, we still managed to build a nice class atmosphere. Now it’s the reality of having to step foot into the big world out there where nothing is sure and nothing is secure. You’re leaving this comfortable bubble, and also being a student where shit is free, I’m not going to have that adobe pack anymore…

Fuck.

I know! Usually if the studio is good they provide you the licenses but yes, it’s exciting and also very depressing at the same time.

Isabel Pahud, director of this year’s bachelor film Forza, Rea!, started her studies here in September 2020 right before new public health measures were imposed due to Covid-19 cases rising in Switzerland. Having to study from home affected the class dynamics but not necessarily in a bad way, as Caroline Laville explains:

Caroline Laville
The lockdown started again around November so we had three months to get to know the class. Then we all moved to Discord* until the end of our first year. I think it was hard on some people but it worked out for my side of the class really well. We * instant messaging social platform, usually used for video calls and private chats met everyday, we had such a tight bonding experience through staying up until 2 am chatting or playing games together, that formed a really strong bond between us. It‘s in the AniGrill that the third year class gets to say goodbye to this school. It’s a special event that can get quite emotional as it takes place directly after the bachelor film’s premiere, the day before. For Isabel Clerici, the second Isabel from team Forza, Rea!, this year’s grill is different because it’s her last:

You’ve been to quite a few AniGrills, what makes this event special in your
opinion?

Isabel Clerici
It’s the feeling of everyone being excited because some really cool movies are done! It‘s also the last time you get to see some people and talk to everybody, not just your class. It’s exciting to have everybody together, it’s hard finding time for everyone to hang out. The AniGrill is like: “we the animation students are having a party”, it’s really cool.

We always have a lot of things organized only for animation students, it’s so great.

So exclusive!

Yes definitely!

It’s just really nice because it’s like a send-off. You get to send somebody off and know that next year it’s your turn, you can prepare yourself for that. As a third year, something ends and it’s sad but in a good way. It’s important, if we all just left and there was nothing it would be hard, this helps. So that’s the main purpose of the AniGrill: not just eating for free but also closing an important chapter in the student’s lives. It’s a time of discussion and reflection, where everyone can go over their evolution during their studies.

With your studies finished, what do you take out of the last three years?

Caroline Laville
I started studying here not knowing if I wanted to do 2d or 3d and now at the end, I know very specifically what I will focus on. It formed me by giving me directions. The studies here also gave me realistic expectations for what happens after school. But most of all, we have a community now with this class where we’re proud of each other, everyone is very skilled. I know that a lot of us are gonna be in the industry and it will be amazing seeing people that I studied with work on really cool projects.
Maybe in the future we get to work together again, it would be a dream.
Caroline Laville worked on her personal portfolio during her last year instead of teaming up to make a movie. However, that did not stop her from stepping into many different projects in different roles like for Summer Rain as Compositor and Oh No as Producer. Connections are one of the most crucial possessions that students take from their bachelor in Lucerne. All the time spent together creating strong bonds contributes to better teamwork and an overall greater time working as a group.

What are the best memories you keep?

Isabel Clerici
AH you’re making me choose! I don’t know, maybe lunches in the atelier, just eating together, having a laugh, watching movies in the Rex* or hanging on the terrace, it’s the small things. Obviously seeing my name in a big cinema made me cry, it’s a pretty big moment. Aside from that, I’d say the third year because it’s such a collective work. I don’t think it was a specific moment, it was getting to work on a project and seeing everybody work on their project, updating and helping each other. I don’t think I’ll ever have something like that again. It was pretty incredible.

Such emotional answers! Okay so-

Also pancake day was fun.

Pancake day! Was that a new thing this year?

That was because Bee (Isabel Pahud) is British and it’s a British holiday!

That’s so funny, I saw it on your schedule!

Yes, so carry it forth next year, do pancake day.

Sure, great memories are formed during the studies. And even though the students wouldn’t change a thing about those, there are still specific moments where they feel like they could have done things otherwise, especially with the knowledge they have now.

What would you have done differently?

Isabel Pahud
Now with a whole year behind me of being director, I know what I can do differently in that role. I have a clear idea of what is expected of me and what I should bring to the table. When I pitched my story, I didn’t realize exactly how much I should have done beforehand, style-wise and story-wise. It’s good to have a clear idea of what you want instead of just a concept. Concepts are great but if you don’t flesh them out, you won’t find anything tangible. Also, If you have a concept, make sure that you have people that are very eager to bring ideas to the table! Around the tables outside, between the alumni, staff and current students, a few new faces can be seen. The next first years have already been accepted, some are here tonight. There’s no better time to drop a piece of advice, I’m sure they’d be as eager to hear it as me. * Hslu’s own movie theater just next to the cafeteria

What piece of advice would you give to the newcomers?

Caroline Laville
I remember my first kükenfest* I was sweating because my new classmates were so much better than me. I got in from the waitlist so I wasn’t sure I deserved my place here. I talked with a third year back then at the grill, their piece of advice stuck with me: even though you compare yourself in the first year, as soon as you start working in a team, you stop the comparisons because everybody is equal. The better your teammate is, the better it is for you!

Isabel Pahud
Don’t be too hard on yourself. Take these three years as practice, don’t expect to have portfolio worthy work walking out of it. Always move on to the next project instead of sticking to one trying to make it better. Sometimes starting from scratch or doing something different is way more helpful to advance in your skill. Also, make good friendships and have a good time, don’t take the teachers too seriously! Grades don’t matter, you just need to pass. It’s all about your skill, not grades.

Isabel Clerici
Follow your gut and do what you like. If doing what you like means not doing an all-nighter but instead hanging out with your friends, then do that. It’s probably the only time in your life where you’re gonna get to do that. If it means that you really want to finish this specific thing then do it! As long as you follow your gut, you’re going in the right direction.

Thank you Isabel 1, Isabel 2 and Caroline, we’ll be sure to put all of that into action.

So there it is folks: as the night ends, the beloved third years pass not only the salad, but also the torch to the next batch of students. And as we all eat and drink together, this evening serves less as a goodbye but more as a welcoming party to all the amazing projects to come by our new graduates.


photos by Jessica Meier

*grill organized in the first week of school to introduce the new animation students to the Bachelor

The Animation Premiere

graduates 2023
All photos by Copyright: HSLU/Priska Ketterer

Meeting the students behind the stories
Interviews with team Crevette, team Summer Rain, Kirill Gromadko and Justine Klaiber

I’m sitting among hundreds of people, the room is overflowing with excitement. Today is the HSLU’s Animation premiere, where films made by the students both in Bachelor and Master Animation during this last year will be screened.


It’s all taking place in the Blue Cinema here in Emmenbrücke. As I walk in, maybe fifteen minutes early, I can already see multiple small clumps of people talking. There’s the graduates’ families and friends, alumni, students, school’s staff and many Swiss professionals. I now understand why it couldn’t take place in our own cinema room in school, the Rex. I mingle a bit before going to the ticket stand where I receive a bracelet for my reservation and I walk into the screening room.

The room is enormous but I still struggle to find a sitting place in the middle, who even wantsto sit on the sides? The space gets filled pretty quickly. In the crowd, the people graduating this year stand out: dresses to suits, professionalism seems to be the theme, bulls-eye, every single one of them looks amazing! After all the greetings, they also take place and when every single person is finally sat, the atmosphere changes. Jürgen Haas, Hslu’s Bachelor animation’s director, walks on stage accompanied by Tina Ohnmacht, Master animation’s coordinator. A not so little speech is made, which I unfortunately can’t forward to you as it was held in german, but I assume it’s about the year of work behind and the pride felt for the students. That’s what I would have written. Then, it’s the students turn to speak, Sven Bachmann from team Crevette talks for the whole bachelor: he thanks every person involved in the films and gives away bags prepared for the school’s staff. Pretty similar words are said by Pedro Nel Cabrera Vanegas, on behalf of the master students. When all the important thanks are finally in the air, the lights dim and the true event starts.

Movies for all tastes are shown. DIfferent techniques, from stop-motion to hand-drawn animation to 3D are used and various stories, from the fear of pregnancy to a lemon thief, are told. People laugh during the funny moments and are quiet during the sad ones. What I’m sure of is that no one slept.

Soon enough, it all comes to an end. Jürgen Haas speaks a few more words about the amazing movies just presented: Henry’s hand, Oh no!, Forza, Rea!, Summer Rain, Crevette, Fork, Kill Your Darlings, NonSense, Searching for the Fifth Direction, Sonnenhuegel, Tapir Memories and Catch The Mouse!. And finally, the students graduating are welcomed on the stage for a strongly deserved round of applause.

The official screening is over and everyone starts getting ready for an apéro before calling it a night. However, all I can think about is finding a few of the graduates to ask them somquestions. The teams behind Crevette and Summer Rain, Kirill Gromadko from Catch the Mouse! and Justine Klaiber from the master’s, all agree to take a little interview.

What does it feel like finally seeing on the big screen the movie you’ve been working on for the last year?

Elina Huber
We’ve seen it before in the Rex but the animation moves differently in this even bigger screen. It doesn’t look worse, I just notice other details. It’s really cool because it gives me a fresh perspective on the film.

Sven Bachmann
It was interesting to hear and feel the audience. Before, we had only shown it to people who already knew the film and the story. I liked seeing the reactions of the ones that had never seen it before.

Elina and Sven worked on Crevette with Jill Vágner and Noémi Knobil. Even if seeing their project in a movie theater was a big step from working on small screens or watching it projected on school grounds, what mostly stuck with them was finally seeing the audience react genuinely. Which also seemed to be the case for the Summer Rain crew:

Marlene Low
It’s crazy to be in such a huge cinema but also, I’ve seen the movie so many times that I’m a bit numb to it. However, at such a big event like the premiere, you can hear so many new reactions which is really nice.

Johanna Kern
Or not hear reactions, a lot of people were very quiet.

Marlene Low
But that’s also a reaction!
Summer Rain, telling a story about grief through a child‘s point of view, was met with a strong silence when the credits rolled. The film, created by Marlene Low, Johanna Kern and Julia Krummenacher, touched the audience so profoundly that everyone hesitated to applaud. Fortunately, after one first clap the whole room joined as the team surely deserved.

Tell us a bit more about your teamwork, what would you have done differently?

Jill
We had a super dynamic team, we all worked on everything. We had a very democratic way of deciding what we wanted to continue with. It had its benefits and its downsides, it takes a lot longer to work that way. Noémi and Elina started with the story but we could all bring our things into it. We had to have a lot of discussions and meetings, it took way more time. It’s not very industry standard.

Elina
I’m not sure what I would change, I have more things that I definitely will keep on doing: like setting clear deadlines. Certain development stuff you can continue forever and keep finding more details, it’s dangerous. While for some, teamwork relied a lot on trust and friendships, for others this wasn’t the case.

Kirill Gromadko worked alone on Catch The Mouse! so he had to approach his project differently:

Kirill
Working alone allowed me to go at my own pace, I put more hours on it then I would’ve if I were in a team. It’s a movie that I’ve been wanting to do for four years so I was also kinda addicted. If I were to do it again, I would’ve had less characters. Right now, the movie has five and they’re all four-legged creatures, which I had never animated before. Working alone has its own perks such as independence and complete choice. But in a group setting, a story can change drastically, especially when you constantly get input from your teammates.

How did the movie evolve from your original view?

Marlene
When I pitched the story I had a few images in my head. Looking back, if it were a solo project, it would’ve turned out so different. It doesn’t mean it would’ve been better. I had a few visuals that I think would’ve been heavier story-wise and mood-wise, being in a team really helped me find that bittersweetness that we were going for. I wouldn’t change anything about the story that we have now, it’s perfect in my eyes.

Every graduate is very proud of their movie and they’ll carry on that feeling towards the new projects they’ll contribute to. While some are continuing their studies here at Hslu or elsewhere, others are stepping directly into the industry either through an internship or a full-time job. Justine Klaiber, master graduate, will be looking for funding for her story, as she entered her master degree in the concept track and spent her studies preparing the pre-production for a short-film.

What is the movie about?

Justine
It’s the story of Amelia who is stranded in space on a space-ship. She’s completely alone and struggling with the isolation and grief of losing a colleague partner. It’s about human and physical connection, being able to touch and feel another person. We as humans need that physical connection with people that are important to us, even if it’s not a love-relationship or a sexual-relationship. That’s why I tried to keep it ambiguous.

If everything goes according to plan, we should expect Lost Touch to premiere in festivals towards the end of 2024.

Another year goes by and we can once more be satisfied and fulfilled with the amazing work done by the animation students here in HSLU – Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts. The premiere is a success, it’s fair to expect more reservations for the next one, especially if they keep up the apéro treatment. It’s great seeing so many animation-passionate people connecting and having fun in the same place.


Looking at all the filmmakers being created here in Lucerne, we can’t help but to look forward to the numerous original stories to come from the Swiss Animation industry.

Blogpost by Daniel Neto Dias
photos: HSLU Premiere Animationsfilme Emmenbrücke, den 28.06.2023
Copyright: HSLU/Priska Ketterer

Living Lines Workshop 2020

Diesen Februar wurde zum ersten Mal der „Living Lines Workshop“  – ein Vertiefungskurs für 2D Animation – an der Hochschule Luzern Design & Kunst durchgeführt, und zwar von zwei Alumni: Amélie Cochet und Louis Möhrle, aka Studio PIAF. Wie kam dieser Workshop zu Stande und wie war die Woche für die Beteiligten? Wir baten Amélie und Louis, uns ihre Erfahrungen zu schildern.

Louis Möhrle und Amélie Cochet aka Studio PIAF

“Die Idee entstand während des Filmfestivals Locarno an einem späten Abend. Sie gärte aber schon lange in unseren Köpfen – bereits während den drei Jahren unseres Studiums in Animation wünschten wir uns sehnlichst eine 2D Version der LUMAA. Als dies auch im Sommer nach unserem Abschluss noch in den Sternen zu stehen schien, entschieden wir uns – noch nicht ganz so ernsthaft – einfach selber eine „2D LUMAA“ auf die Beine zu stellen.

Wir fingen damit an, mit unserer Idee auf verschiedene Leute aus der Schweizer Animations-Szene zu zu gehen und waren überrascht, wie viele uns darin ermutigten oder uns sogar ihre Hilfe anboten; es schien tatsächlich ein allgemeines Bedürfnis zu sein.

Also begannen wir damit uns ernsthafter damit auseinanderzusetzen: wir überlegten uns was wir an Infrastruktur und Lehrpersonen brauchten; wo, wann und wie das Ganze stattfinden sollte und wie wir es finanzieren könnten. Ein anderer Aspekt war, herauszufinden, wie wir das Interesse der Leute dafür wecken; wer unsere Zielgruppe ist; was wir persönlich davon erwarten und wie wir die Werbung möglichst weit streuen könnten. Wir verfassten eine Konzeptskizze und gingen auf die Abteilungsleiter des BA Animation an der HSLU zu, die uns ebenfalls in unserem Vorhaben bekräftigten und sofort ihre Unterstützung zusagten.

Schliesslich hatten wir alles zusammen: Dozierende, Räumlichkeiten, Materie, einen groben Zeitplan und einen Wochenaufbau. 

Die erste Ausführung war ein Erfolg – es wurde viel gelehrt und gelernt, gelacht und ausprobiert. Wir haben den einwöchigen Kurs in verschiedene Themen gegliedert und diverse Aufgaben zur Verfügung gestellt, aus denen die Teilnehmenden eine passende auswählen konnten, mit der sie sich während der Woche zu den unterschiedlichen Themen auseinandersetzen konnten. 

Frederic Siegel (links) und Veronica L. Montaño (rechts) machten als Dozierende den Einstieg in die Materie und gaben am Montag und Dienstag Inputs und Feedback zu den Themen Staging, Keyframes und Characterdesign. Weiter ging es am Mittwoch und Donnerstag mit Justine Klaiber und Nino Christen, die Acting, Lip Sync und Basic Animation unterrichteten und den Teilnehmenden individuelles Feedback auf ihre jeweiligen Szenen gaben. Zu guter Letzt gab Etienne Mory am Freitag den Teilnehmenden Feedback und Einblicke in das erstellen eines Tie Downs und in verschiedene Aspekte der 2D FX Animation. Am Samstag profitierten die Teilnehmenden von der Infrastruktur und konnten frei und nach Belieben an ihren Szenen weiterarbeiten. Den Abschluss machten wir alle zusammen am Sonntag mit einer Kino-Session, wo wir die entstandenen Projekte sehen und kommentieren konnten. Wir beendeten den Kurs schliesslich mit einer ausführlichen Feedbackrunde auf die ein kleines Apéro und gemütliches Beisammensein folgte.  

Mit dem Elan, den wir nun nach dem ersten Kurs haben, setzen wir uns gleich an die Planung der nächsten Durchführung im 2021. Da wir bester Zuversicht sind, dass der „Living Lines Workshop“ jährlich durchgeführt werden kann und sollte – werden wir alles daran setzen, eine angemessene Dauer gewährleisten zu können und den Kurs auf die Spitze der Professionalität zu treiben, damit die Teilnehmenden in Zukunft maximal davon profitieren können. Wir haben bereits Pläne für den nächsten Kurs und Ideen, wie wir diese umsetzen und finanzieren können.

An dieser Stelle danken wir noch ganz herzlich den Dozierenden der ersten Ausgabe: Veronica L. Montaño, Justine Klaiber, Etienne Mory, Nino Christen und Frederic Siegel! Sie waren mit grossem Engagement, Kompetenz und Begeisterung am Werk – es war eine wahre Freude mit ihnen! Auch den Teilnehmenden des ersten Kurses ein herzliches Dankeschön für euer Vertrauen und eure Rückmeldungen, es hat uns sehr gefreut, zu sehen wie motiviert ihr an der Arbeit wart!

Die Kursteilnehmer des LLW 2020

Wir würden uns freuen, bei einer nächsten Ausgabe wieder begeisterte Animatorinnen und Animatoren an Bord zu haben, die mit Begeisterung Neues lernen und diese Plattform für ihre persönliche Weiterbildung und Vertiefung in der Kunst der 2D Animation nutzen wollen.

Informationen zur nächsten Durchführung wird es in baldiger Zukunft auf diversen Kanälen geben. Ihr findet den Living Lines Workshop auf Instagram und Facebook, folgt uns dort, um immer auf dem neuesten Stand zu bleiben und Einblicke in den ersten Kurs zu erhalten!

Bleibt gespannt und geschmeidig

Herzlich
Louis Möhrle & Amélie Cochet 
aka Studio PIAF

Living Lines Workshop auf Facebook
Living Lines Workshop auf Instagram

Und was macht Ramón so?

Ramóns Praktikum bei Pixar hat bei vielen Studenten Interesse nach seiner Arbeit geweckt. Und so wollen wir euch nicht vorenthalten, was unser ehemaliger Student aktuell macht.

Pixar kurzes Review

Ramón war im Sommer bei Pixar im Praktikum, wo er sich mit Modelling und Rigging befasste. Er erzählt mir, dass er die drei Monate sehr genossen hat. Die Zeit beim wohl renommiertesten Animationsstudio der Welt brachte ihm viel – konkret verbesserte er sich vor allem in den Bereichen Modelling, Design und Formsprache. Er könne seine Fehler noch besser erkennen und verbessern als zuvor, sagt er.

Auch in technischer Hinsicht ist er sicherer geworden und hat sich einige Tricks angeeignet. Ramón erzählt, dass er am Meisten davon profitiert habe, dass er jetzt im Maya modellieren kann. Vorher hat er das nämlich immer in ZBrush oder Blender getan.

Ramón nach Pixar

Ramón hat nach Pixar gleich ein Praktikum bei Elefant Studios in Zürich absolviert und wird Anfang Jahr für ein halbes Jahr in London für die Effektschmiede Framestore (zuständig unter Anderem für «Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald») arbeiten. Ramón wurd von Framestore über LinkedIn angeschrieben. Es folgte ein Skype-Interview und schon hatte er den Vertrag in der Tasche.

Auf seinem Linked In Profil war Folgendes vorhanden:

  • Modelling Showreel
  • Animation Showreel
  • Lebenslauf

Es lohnt sich also auch, auf dieser Plattform aktiv zu sein.

Wenn ihr mehr über Framestore und die Geschichte hinter der Firma erfahren möchtet, dann schaut hier vorbei. Darunter findet ihr auch gleich ihrer Highlights seit 1986!

Dort darf er seine Animation und VFX Fähigkeiten für Filmproduktionen einsetzen. Er kennt bereits von seiner Zeit beim Animation Workshop in Dänemark einige Leute die dort arbeiten. Auch Florian Brauch aus Fribourg arbeitet bei Framestore, Ramón kennt ihn von der LuMaa 2016.

Ramón wird nicht nur beim neuen Harry Potter-Spinoff-Sequel mitarbeiten, sondern sich auch für die Effekte beim zweiten «Jungle Book» zuständig zeichnen.

Wer noch mehr von Ramón und seinen Arbeiten sehen will geht am besten auf seinen Tumblr Blog:

http://r-animation.tumblr.com/

Weitere Zukunftspläne?

Ramón möchte alles im Bereich Animation und VFX ausprobieren. Bei einem animierten Langfilm mitzuarbeiten ist auch eines seiner Ziele.

Unglücklicherweise sieht das in den USA visumstechnisch schwierig aus, vielleicht wäre Kanada da eine Alternative. Der schweizerische Markt kann da leider (noch) nicht gross mithalten und deshalb werden wir Ramón wohl ein Weilchen nicht in der Schweiz antreffen.

– Leoni Dietrich –