Interview with ‘Wind’ Director Robert Loebel

18 March 2015 // Interviews

Laura-Beth Cowley

Features Writer

Wind is a short film that demonstrates the strength of those in less than perfect surroundings, showing humankind’s fortitude and ability to adapt. A simple idea done well and with no dialogue, the narrative can and has been enjoyed across the international divide. Created by Robert Loebel the short blew through the festival circuit, capturing the eyes of judges and fellow animators as it went.

Reminiscent of early Eastern European animation, Berlin-based Loebel’s well-understood piece showcases both wonderful, simplified design choices and a true understanding of key animation principles of weight, movement and balance. The film has now settled into the framework of animation as a modern example of animation at its purest. The use of nature’s force, the strength of people to make a life wherever they must and excellent comedic timing compelled me to grab some time with Robert, fresh from his trip to Russia for yet another screening.

Where did the idea come from to make a film using these strong visual themes?

The origins of the idea for this film started when I was visiting Berlin architecture university where there was a professor talking about his own experience of visiting the Philippines or small villages in China and how the people are living with very little, and how they are creative to make a living for themselves. This was very interesting to me, so I wanted to make a film about people who have a difficult living arrangement with their surroundings, but they nonplussed by it as they are used to it – they have adapted. Then in 2011-12 there was also the great ‘Occupy’ movement, I remember in my shared flat every Sunday we would read the newspaper and discuss what was happening in the world. I thought my graduation film could be about people who are living in difficult surroundings and work within a system – in this case the wind – and when it suddenly stops you can see how everyone reacts as they are all used to it and don’t know what do without it. It’s perhaps as though if we suddenly had to live without the internet, everyone would think what now?

When creating the film did you work on individual sequences as and when they came to you or did you have a very clear vision of what the narrative arc was going to be?

I had a lot of sketches of what could happen, then I put the animatic together and structured the direction of the wind and how everyone had to work against it. The structure was that everyone has to continue from the last sequence, so there’s a connection to the next shot.

This was your graduation film from HAW Hamburg – University of Applied Science, can you tell us a little about the school and how it developed your attitude toward animation?

They’re really well-known for being an illustration university, and very well-known for their comics. In Germany a lot of great comic book artists have graduated from it. They have a small workstation for animators and  , because the animation tutor was really nice, I just ended up staying there and producing a lot of stuff. So this isn’t really a school of animation but you can do animation there. I then moved to Berlin during my graduation film so produced it here, so I wasn’t like a normal student who’d stay in university and make it there, I made it at home instead. The process behind making it was very long, I think five months or so. I spent three-to-four months animating which for a three-to-four minute film is very tight. This was also my first 2D animation and I had to do it quick – I’m also not the best at drawing, so I used simple shapes using key frames with them and floated them to the next frame like a flip book. Because they have to walk against the wind everything was really nice and slow, so this was also a good way to learn.

Could you tell us a little about the technical process behind your film? 

I started by animating on paper, then when the deadline was getting closer and I had to finish by adding colours, shadow and compositing, I realised it would be a lot quicker if used a Wacom tablet and drew directly on the computer. It was really fast and a good way to learn how to use TV Paint, Photoshop and After Effects.

You have a very original style of design, where does your inspiration come from?

I watched films with a strong, natural conflict. Once the film was done and I was visiting festivals, lots of Russian people kept telling me that there was another film about wind by a Russian guy that had done it ten years previously, but I had never seen it. I really like a film called Au Bout du Monde (Dir. Konstantin Bronzit) about a boarding house at the top of a mountain where the house always tips to one side, then to the other, fighting against gravity. It’s such a simple conflict yet creates a very strong image.

Generally I searched for inspiration in animated films with a strong and simple conflict. My all time favourites for example are La Maison en Petits Cubes by Kunia Kato, The Village by Mark Baker and a French TV series called The Shadoks. The common ground of these films is the strong natural conflict, but the characters have a daily life that makes this conflict looks natural. They kind of learned to deal with it.

So for my story I tried to do the same. I need to have to develop a story that follows one character and around him. I think the drawing style developed out of my daily sketches, as I told you previously it’s a really simple way of animating, using simple shapes with my drawing inspiration coming from the comics I read.

How much do you think your work is influenced by living in Berlin? And what is it like to create work in one of the most artistically fertile cities in Europe?

I met a lot of people at festivals, and here there a lot more who are animation based. Meeting more people, for instance I met my sound designer, who worked for David O’Reilly, here at Pictoplasma. I sent him my storyboard and then he said “Yeah okay, I’ll do it”. Hamburg is a really great artistic city but I think Berlin has more happening in general. To be honest, I watch a lot of films online on Vimeo which influenced me a lot more than Berlin.

Wind has had a very successful festival run as well as being incredibly popular online, how do you feel about this success?

It was great! At the beginning I had some goals – at first I wanted the sound designer David Kamp to work on my film and when I got him I was like “Yes! Thats so great”. Then I wanted to get selected for the biggest film festival in Germany which is Stuttgart and it was selected – but then it got a special mention and I was like “Wow, what’s happening?”. Then I got selected at Annecy, I didn’t get any awards but suddenly all these animation people were liking my film. The festival circuit is the best place when you’re just out of university, because you meet all these people and meet others in the same position, you can win prizes that are sometimes money that can give you the opportunity to do more of your own work. It’s really the best. But with the success also comes pressure, as people will be like “Oh, here’s that guy that did Wind, what’s he going to next?” As time passes I’ll have a concept and be ready to work again, you have to put away your doubts and hope the next film will be great.

Could you tell us a little about your involvement in the “The Doodle Workshop” and what is most appealing to you about this type of collaborative work?

This [project] was to get four animators together and print every frame out, then get the animators to use them as a base for their own style and work. It was a huge, collaborative process and it was quite an important thing to do, I think. It helps you think about working with others and get inspiration whilst doing it for yourself and others, like an international workflow.

You often illustrated and create comics, how do you feel your work process differs for these different formats?

It changes a lot. When I’m drawing a comic I start with the first frame and just draw until the last frame, I don’t have to think about how the timing is going to be like in a animation, or how they move. You can write a really fast-paced story and people can talk. Everything in animation has to be really strict. I think there are a lot of animators that also maybe animate from the first frame to the last without really thinking about what happens in-between, but I have to think a lot (maybe to much) about how the story looks in every frame, and what the ending might be. When you animate it might be three or four months’ work and if its doesn’t end well then it’s a big waste for time. In comics you can draw one page in a day, whereas in animation at 24 frames-per-second it takes a long time. When I have a new project I just sit there, think about things and storyboard for months, but with comics I just draw. It’s funny, you don’t have to think about it as much, it’s a lot faster.

What are you working on currently?

Well, I’ve finished doing a piece for a museum and I’m hoping to do a few short, week-long projects to get myself back into practice, before completing my next short film. I’m struggling on the ending a little, so hopefully these little projects will refresh me.

To see more of the work of Robert Loebel you can visit his site at robertloebel.com