More than 40 years after the first step on the moon and almost 50 years after the first manned space flight - finally an answer to the question why boys love rockets.
The Idea for ‘APOLLO’ was inspired by my childhood. I always liked miniature models, rockets, space images and astronauts. Flipping through my sketchbook, I found this cheeky boy character. This compelled me to tell a short story about escaping from an adult-dominated world, seen through the eyes of an imaginative child and the ensuing conflicts.
I started my research by contacting NASA and ESA, to ask whether I could use their archive photos or even film material for my animated short. After some time, I thankfully received several high-resolution images from ESA and one from NASA, which were extremely helpful for making the film. They give key moments an authentic quality I could never have obtained with CGI.
I experimented in various techniques, but when the final script was finished, I knew I would work in 3D again. The smooth, gravity-defying movements in outer space, as well as the repetitive patterns of the city, would be almost impossible to convey with any other medium. In addition, I wanted to experiment with the scale of objects and with static motion blur.
The following steps were modelling, rigging, shading, animation and rendering. This took more than two years and was quite a task, because I didn’t have a permanent team. At the same time, I had begun my guest professorship at the HFF ‘Konrad Wolf’ University of Film and Television, an exciting and demanding job. Fortunately, there were great people who helped me.
Max Knoth did the sound design and music. Because the film has no dialogue, the sound becomes even more important. The re-recording was made in a thrilling two-day session, which tied together all of the elements of the film.
The story went through a lot of changes. The sound layout, made by Max Knoth, helped me find the right timing for the animatic, which I constantly refined throughout the animation process.
Director, Producer, Story
Animation
Shading, Lighting, Rendering
Design, Modelling
Rigging
Smoke Effects, Research & Development
Tools Scripting
Poster Illustrations
Editing Consultant
Sound Recording & Design
Music
Voice Recording
Foley Artist
Boy (Voice)
Girl (Voice)
Shopkeeper (Voice)
Re-Recording
Space Images
Felix Gönnert
Ina Marczinczik, Martin Freitag, Felix Gönnert
Felix Gönnert
Felix Gönnert
Dennis Rettkowski, Felix Gönnert
Dennis Rettkowski
Martin Freitag
Nesch’et Al Zubaidi, Miriam Fritz, Torsten Wolber
Rudi Zieglmeier
Max Knoth
Max Knoth
Max Knoth
Günter Röhn
Rudi Zylka, Cedric Ziouech
Hannah Pirot
Max Knoth
Ansgar Frerich
ESA & NASA
Length 6’03” min | 166 m (544.5 ft)
Format 1:2.35 | 35 mm & 2K DCP | color | 24 fps | Dolby Digital SRD | animation without dialogue
Felix Gönnert
Linienstr. 51
D-10119 Berlin
Germany
E-Mail: felix@animaflix.com
interfilm Berlin Short Film Distribution
Tempelhofer Ufer 1a
D-10961 Berlin
Germany
Tel: +49 (0)30.259 42 904
E-Mail: distribution@interfilm.de
www.interfilm.de
magnetfilm
Georg Gruber
Tel: +49 (0)163.801 07 53
E-Mail: georg.gruber@magnetfilm.de
www.magnetfilm.de