THEM

What can hold their society together when a new leader divides them?

In a forgotten village, where everyone is cut from the same cloth, a new, self-proclaimed leader arrives changing the local way of life. Dividing lines are carved out as the once unified society is torn and segregated.

THEM is a cautionary tale of misguided ideologies, destructive leadership and of being an outsider. But most importantly, it is a film about celebrating what we have in common rather than what separates us.

Written, Directed and Animated by Robin Lochmann
Director of Photography: Mika Ceron
Music: Thomas Moked Blum
Produced by Robin Lochmann, Mathias Schwerbrook
Motion Capture Performer: Ryan James
Miniatures: Berton Pierce, Claudia Brugnaletti, Alex Friedrich
Sound Design and Mixing: Frank Kruse
Voice Recording: Ryan James
Foley: Carsten Richter
Mixing Assistant: Maxim Romasevich
Editing and Postproduction: Robin Lochmann
Postproduction Assistant: Laura Adel
Grading: Federico De Luca
Fluid Simulation: Alex Mackay
Associate Producer: Julia Radke

Voice and Vocal Performers:
Ryan James
Yalin Özer
Keegan Luttrell
Gregory Norton
Patty Mulloy
Estrella Bonilla
Ljubina Krnjajic
Marco Wedel
Henning Koch
Set Assistants:
Hamed Mehravaran
Filippo Spreafico
Keegan Luttrell

Thanks to
Birgit and Peter
Frank Nagel
The Post Republic GmbH
Michael Reuter
Petra Kader-Göbel
Alexis Jang
Martin Stebbing
Jilianne Schröder
Patrica Trenkle
Maria Swiderski
Nikolai Stefansky
Filmbauarbeiter GmbH & Co KG
Delight Rental Services GmbH
Twopair Films

THEM is an independent short film produced in Berlin, Germany. Combining digital and analogue techniques, a unique look was created for the the world in which the film is set. Rich in detail, the landscapes, houses and props were crafted by our very talented model makers allowing most of the background plates to be captured in camera. The characters were added in postproduction, combining motion capture and animation, making the characters seem almost life-like but still maintaining a handmade look and feel.

While the world of the film is entirely fabricated and deliberately artificial, the inspiration for the story was very much grounded in the the real and the present. From problematic leaders to the culture wars, from racism raising its ugly head and becoming mainstream again to the exploitation of natural resources, it can sometimes seem as though our world is becoming more divided than ever.

I wanted to tell a simple tale in a complicated way so that it could resonate with any culture and be understood by a child. The actual beliefs and values of the leader who takes over the village are irrelevant, and merely symbolic of ideologies in general.

After a few months of testing with some basic miniatures and rotoscoped silhouettes for characters, I teamed up with Mika Ceron (Director of Photography) and Mathias Schwerbrook (Producer) and the project slowly gained momentum. The miniatures that I had previously built were remade into bigger and better versions (Berton Pierce, Claudia Brugnaletti, Alex Friedrich), and we went on to shot for 5 days in a small studio. Here we shot a large portion of the background plates of the village and the landscape, capturing as much in camera as possible, before going into the first round of editing.

Only after the shoot and some more research did I decide to create the characters in 3D using motion capture. I had no previous experience with character animation or motion capture so the learning curve was steep. Using a system designed for VR, we captured all the motions in one day with actor Ryan James, before going into an intense round of postproduction. After finishing some scenes, I built some extra models and did another 6 days of reshooting on my own in my apartment.

As the film started to approach picture lock, Thomas Moked Blum began composing the score with a combination of world instruments and electronic sounds. Although there is no real language spoken in the film it was clear early on that adding spoken word would the characters come to life. I had several recording sessions with friends who would improvise or read bits of made up sentances that I had written after listening to various tribes and foreign languages. Foley artist Carsten Richter created all of the sounds to bring the world to life and everything was fine tuned and mixed by Frank Kruse.

The process of making this film was a long one and I invested a lot of time and energy into many of the details, but in the end it would not have been possible without all of the support that I received from everyone who helped to make this film a reality, it takes a village. Thanks to all of you!