We developed the story with our professor Jürgen Schopper back in October 2023. Dr Rodolfo Anes Silveira, Jonas Kluger, Berter Orpak and our team assistant Petra Hereth enriched and strongly supported this intensive process. During the weekly meetings, we were able to discuss our concept ideas and aesthetic approaches with each other. Our shared love for 2D animation also brought our film team together, consisting of Vanessa Ramovic, Sonja Latussek and Elena Rid. We wanted to work together on a story that would make everyone's "inner child" shine again. by Vanessa Ramovic, Sonja Latussek and Elena Rid

Concept Art of the Desert by Elena Rid

At an internal meeting, we came up with the idea of using the stars as a medium for a look into our own past. The film should not only be family-friendly, but also appeal to an emotion that touches older audiences. "Little Star" revolves around astronomer Mina, who rediscovers her lost passion for the stars through a magical encounter with her you...

Creatures made of tree branches and roots seem to have a firm place in the history ofVFX. Just think of Treebeard in The Lord of the Rings, Guillermo del Toro's Pinoccio, Groot or the creature in Seven Minutes Past Midnight. In this tradition we created woodland - an animated short film that we produced under the direction of Prof. Jürgen Schopper in the VFX programme at the HFF. Even though our forest creature may look rather frail next to many of his wooden colleagues, he more than makes up for it with his musical talent.

In search of ideas Even before active story development began in October 2023, our team had come together. Woodland is the result of the creative work of Jim Obmann, Emil Pogolski and Vanessa Chu. We wanted to create a film in a fantastic, surreal environment, far removed from the world we know. For months we played through different scenarios, wrote countless script drafts and created concepts of fantasy creatures and environments. Our ideas took us from the deep ...

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 gr...

The challenge for the visual effects design was to achieve a photorealistic visual aesthetic that blends seamlessly into a real film with real actors. A Portuguese courtyard, built in the HFF studio in the summer of 2022, served as the central set for the dystopian narrative of a family drama.

by Franziska Bayer, Valentin Dittlmann, Alexander Hupp, Ines Timmich and Hannes Werner The plot unfolds on an isolated island in the middle of an endless ocean and thematises the conflict between the spirit of discovery of youth and the entrenched convictions of the older generation. Although officially listed as a "VFX film 02" by the visual effects students, "Wind Up" is a joint project. For example, screenplay student Tamaki Richter wrote the script, while the production was handled by WennDann Film GmbH, which was founded at the HFF, and students from all departments took on additional roles - wenndann-film.de. The professional expertise of the film industry complemented the work of the ...