concept for a feature film
2005 - 2010
Emmi & Krrzlfzz
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Emmi & Krrzlfzz was supposed to be our first feature film. The idea was based on Johannes Weiland‘s graduation short film Annie & Boo.
In 2003 and 2004 many people approached us after Annie & Boo was screened at festivals. They thought that the story of a friendship between a girl and a strange creature that claims to be a Coincidence had the potential to become a feature film. And so did we. We started to work on the story in 2005. In 2008 and 2009 we also produced one scene to get a better idea of the characters and their environment. But then we stopped. It did not feel right - neither the story nor the way we approached the characters. If we had continued it would have been out of wrong reasons.
about
Manuel Arenas, Ben Bocquelet, Maria Bo-gade, Carsten Bunte, Uwe Heid-schoetter, Markus Huber, Lellis, Torben Meier, Benjamin Quabeck, Marcus Sauer-mann, Heiko Schneck, Mathias Schreck, Jakob Schuh, Michael Sieber, Johannes Weiland
team
by Manu Arenas
moods
In the busy streets of a fictitious German port eleven year old Emmi gets to know the fantastic Coincidence-creature Krrzlfzz. Emmi is hard-working and über-correct and Krrzlfzz an idler, who lives only for the moment. At first this prevents them from getting along, but when Emmi finds herself in real trouble Krrzlfzz is the only one she can truly rely on. Through him she learns that she can't control everything, and he learns through her what friendship means. Together they will have a great adventure.
Emmi is eleven, a loner, who feels responsible for everyone and everything in the small guesthouse she has been running with her grandmother for as long as she can remember. Emmi's mother has been dead for years and her father has abandoned her as boys tend to do when the going gets tough. But Emmi doesn't need boys. She knows how to get by and stay in control. What Emmi needs is her guesthouse, her schedules and above all, order.
But then Krrzlfzz appears. A Coincidence in person. His name is coincidental, his appearance is coincidental, and each time he yawns a coincidence occurs. In Krrzlfzz's life things very rarely go according to plan. In fact anything which can go wrong, generally does. And so it is no great wonder that Emmi doesn't think much of Krrzlfzz at first.
But then Krrzlfzz appears. A Coincidence in person. His name is coincidental, his appearance is coincidental, and each time he yawns a coincidence occurs. In Krrzlfzz's life things very rarely go according to plan.
the story
In fact anything which can go wrong, generally does. And so it is no great wonder that Emmi doesn't think much of Krrzlfzz at first.
But when her grandmother has a serious accident one of the regular guests senses his chance to turn things to his advantage. He deceives Emmi to gain possession of the guesthouse. However the true proprietor is Emmi's missing father. And even though Emmi is afraid of meeting him and asking him for help, he seems to be the only one who is able to save the guest house.
A girl obsessed with scrupulous accuracy and a Coincidence set off into the wide world to find a father, who perhaps doesn't want to be found. They experience a wheelchair hide-and-seek race in an old people's home, they escape at the last moment from a condemned house, and steer into the eye of a storm though neither has any idea how to sail. They befriend some homeless people, meet Emmi's totally perfect classmate Isabel and are followed at every turn by an ugly yellow Coincidence-creature. Behind them they leave a trail of utter chaos and confusion. But one often has the impression that they change the world for the better without noticing it themselves.
In the end they find the father. Or rather the father finds them. Because even if you can't rely on boys, at least you might rely on one Coincidence or another…
by Uwe Heidschötter
character designs
why we stopped
The story of Emmi & Krrzlfzz is about how we deal with order, chaos and control to find our inner freedom. It’s one of those things you deal with when you are a teenager. We wanted to use animation to transfer this rather abstract and cerebral topic to a more playful and visible world. The story should be told with human characters living in a modern city: any coincidence needs a form of expectation that is not met. The backdrop of the story should signal in every frame that humans have tried to establish order and predictability in their world. They have created streets, clocks, schedules a.s.o.. CGI seemed to be the best medium to show this vibrant city life. It contains the same underlying mathematical construction, the attempt to create order to make processes more efficient. On the flip side we struggled to shape our characters in a way that they fit to their detailed CGI environment. We had to deal with the uncanny valley. To solve these issues we needed a bigger budget - a budget too high for our small studio with inexperienced directors. Over the years, we had created a project that did not fit to where we were in our professional lives. So we stopped and tried to be smarter next time.
