Merry Coonsmas!
This year we wish you happy holidays in the coon way: Through the eyes of a child and playful enthusiasm.
We sometimes go the extra mile for our customers, this time for LIEBHERR and in the form of a time-consuming stop-motion film.
The Liebherr Christmas bakery was mainly produced as a stop motion film - one of the most elaborate film productions there is. Behind 2 minutes of film are over 2,500 individual pictures, a few clever tricks, many helping hands and a lot of preparatory work. Because every detail counts and every wrong move throws back hours.
The principle of a stop motion film is simple: you take a photo of an object, then move it a little, take another photo and then string these images together. A content production in the heart of Munich.
The Liebherr Christmas bakery consists of 2,787 individual images, which are then played back at a speed of 24 frames per second. However, such a production requires a lot of preparatory work before it is ready. Every single scene is sketched out in advance to have an exact picture of what happens when and how, what camera angle is necessary and what props are needed. Because at the time of shooting every movement must be right. Nothing may be moved or rearranged unconsciously. The camera also runs through a precisely defined recording area using Motion Control. In addition to 16 models from the Liebherr shop, about 40 other props were also used.
With stop motion films, countless pictures are taken, which are then played back in sequence, similar to a flip book. The object in front of the lens is always moved a little bit per frame in millimeter work. In the end this results in fluid movements. Here the dough is being rolled out by a bulldozer. Since it was easier to move the model forward through the dough, the shots were then played back in reverse order. The recording for this picture took about 2.5 hours.
The main difficulty is that the objects must always remain in position for a few seconds until the picture can be taken. There are all kinds of helpful tricks for this. For example, in order for the reachstacker to be able to stand in this position, it was held by a weight attached to a transparent fishing line. Double-sided adhesive tape was also often used to ensure that the models did not slip by accident.
A further assistance was the use of Bluescreens, a technique for color-based image cropping, which allows elements to be added to the images or even necessary tools to be cut out. For example, the magical winter landscape was created in the window, or support arms that held models or utensils in position were retouched out again.
Rebecca Junghans & Katharina Kaufeldt
With the support of many wonderful people and a workload on the edge of our washability limits, we were able to bring this project to a successful conclusion.