Jan Hebein, director and 3D artist in Austria: “After my first collaboration with musician Clemens Ruh, I knew I wanted to work with him again. I was very fascinated by his music and his thoughts.

“We wanted to create something that would evoke thoughts about the self. A story about time, space, and our inner doubts. Through Clemens’ experiences, we were able to refine the story and visuals.

“We started with basic scene ideas to create the overall composition. After that, Clemens created a musical concept and a rhythm. He also recorded a first take of the voice-over with his partner Luzie. This way we were able to get a feel for the pacing of the film which helped us to decide the order and length of certain scenes and elements.

Thematically we went for a dark and mysterious vibe. This led us to the black-and-white look. It was a good practical experience for me to limit myself to this one visual theme but bring in as much variety as possible.

“When we picture-locked the film, Clemens continued developing the music further into an arrangement that supported the overall arc of the film and hits the emotional cues. He also created the sound design and recorded the final voice-over.

“For the whole project, I used Houdini and rendered it with Redshift. The procedural workflow helped me enormously. Quick and small changes or even large ones were not a problem. I love when a program supports such a level of flexibility.”
 

 
Director/animator: Jan Hebein
Writer: Jan Hebein, Clemens Ruh

Music/sound design: Clemens Ruh
Narrator: Luzie Juckenberg