DETLEV is a film about uncovering deeply rooted loneliness that leads to healing. It is also a film about using an open-faced German sandwich called the Toast Hawaii to get warm—but not by eating it.
This tension between that kind of puzzling and at times grotesque quirkiness juxtaposed against deeper existential themes repeats throughout the entirety of the piece. Ultimately the viewer is left touched, warmed even, by the main character’s unraveling and his journey back to becoming whole.
“DETLEV is a short film about a man who’s always freezing and searches comfort in a bizarre ritual with a Toast Hawaii night by night,” director Ferdinand Ehrhardt said. “One night he is being watched and, full of shame, his world starts to crumble and he faces his biggest burden: How hard it is to open up about his deep-seated loneliness.”
Ehrhardt’s diploma film at the Animationsinstitut of Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg near Stuttgart, Germany, DETLEV took nearly 3 years to make and was touched by over 40 people.
“We animated this as a pretty classical puppet animation, so the puppets are built by Arne Hain, who already worked with Phil Tippet and is also a director of stop motion such as the short film The Last Bar.
“We animated his silicone based puppets in a set that uses mixed scales to use the effect of a forced perspective. To tell the vastness of this parking lot, we built a smaller scaled background in comparison to the foreground of his car.”
Speaking to the technical craft of the sets is a particular source of enthusiasm for Ehrhardt. “They were built by a lot of people,” he told us, “but of course I have to highlight the powerhouse that is Céline Ahlbrecht as our production designer for this project.
“She is usually a production designer for real life sized sets and you can absolutely see this in the realism she achieved in these miniatures. Also the DOPs Sebastian Ganschow and Leoni Gora are very experienced in filming human sized characters, not only puppets.
“We tried to make the audience forget the fact, that it’s watching an animation but instead of this let them dive deeper in the story than to just wonder about the tricks and technique.”
Raw and persistent sound design contribute to this effect, such as the rhythmic and often disturbing sound of Detlev’s shivering breath. “We tried to let the audience feel the dry and harsh reality of DETLEV that is then emphasized with some surreal dots and make the surreal moments stand out more in this authentic and tangible surrounding.”
The textural richness of the puppets and tactile quality of the film overall also contribute. “In general,” Ehrhardt said, “that tangibility is the reason for me to make stop motion my bread and butter as a director, as you can truly feel the world, the little accidents and imperfections, when it’s there in front of a camera.
“I really love to use as much in camera effects as possible. So for example in DETLEV we only have one single green screen shot, the rest is all in-camera, besides some little added effects. Even the peeing is a real practical effect!”
When asked about hurdles the team faced, Ehrhardt’s answer is characteristically lucid. “We mainly shot in winter and the first studio that we were provided by our school was not a lot more than a big garage with no heating and very poor isolation. So in that dark cold room we became little Detlevs ourselves.
“Animating a lonely shivering guy while being a lonely shivering guy wasn’t always the easiest time, but if you watch the film until the end you see the solution to this problem that also saved us eventually.”
Next up for Ehrhardt is a partnership with some school friends on a12 minute stop motion short called Lovebird, which they are happy to report they is fully funded.
“Together with other collaborators we want to build a new center of European stop motion in our hometown, Leipzig. One week ago I finished the script—full speed ahead from now on! I feel very excited and thankful for this opportunity.”
Congrats team, we’re excited for you as well!
For more behind-the-scenes on the production, check out the images below.
