THE SAUSAGE RUN

As always with my animated shorts THE SAUSAGE RUN is an unusual and complex film. The narrative structure is based on Little Red Riding Hood.

In our fairy tale version animal and human characters are reversed: the big bad wolf is a human being and the people are animals: Little Red Riding Hood, her mother and in our case, grandpa are sheep. The forester and his wife are dogs.

With a mixture of humour, cynicism, tragedy the film expands on the idea how greed leads to corruption and a deadly pact. It’s a film which encourages reflections.

New is the ‘visual language’ of this film, telling the story through Zoetropes. The Zoetrope is an early cinematographic device that brings drawn figures seemingly magically to life. Zoetropes were important precursors to the invention of film in the 19th century.

Typical of Zoetrope film sequences (paper strips with 12 to 16 drawings) are simple repetitive movements such as running, waving, hopping, opening and closing etc..

On the one hand the film specifically employs this principle by using sequences of drawn running scenes and such like. On the other hand, keeping up with the feeling of the revolving drum, the fairy tale ‘horror’ story itself is seamlessly mixed in with the visual technique.

With regard to the music composition the synchronicity of rhythm and animation is very important. The music should also play with repetitions and interplay with the rhythmic sounds.

The premiere is planned to be in Kassel end of 2021.

The film aims for a wide audience from the age of 12 years upwards.

For its global distribution I'm going to

• send the film to about 300 film festivals
• propose it for teaching purposes to schools, universities and media centres
• offer it to TV and cinemas for short film programs
• offer it at my online-shop to buy or rent
• THE SAUSAGE RUN will be added in my successful TRICKFILM SHOW. In this unusual infotainment I give an insight into the world of animation, show my films and offer entertaining side stories about the production process.

• Because up from 15,- € you will appear in the credits.
• Because you want unusual and daring film projects to be realised that don't fit into any known category.
• Because you have the confidence that I will make another good film.
• Because you love quirky, humorous, provocative and thought-provoking stories that gives room for interpretation.
• Because you know that extraordinary films cannot be created by passion alone.
• Because together with others you want to help preventing the film start shadowed by a mountain of debt.
• Because art is very important to you personally.
• Because you love Little Red Riding Hood.
• Because you want to emphasize the importance of art in our society.
• Because you want to stand up for the region nothern Hessen and help people who, with their passion, encourage others to get their own projects off the ground.
• Because you care about animals and want to encourage films that show what greed can do to them.
• Because you see short film as a field of experimentation and you want to give me the opportunity to develop new cinematic narratives and forms of presentation.
• Because you've always wanted to be a film producer without having to take on a lot of responsibilities.
• Because you think I might win another Oscar with it.

In return, we offer material and non-material thank-you gifts:

For example, a do-it-yourself-Zoetrope-set, vouchers for streaming my films or tickets for my animated film show.

Larger sums will be named in the credits of the film with special highlighting, e. g. with a logo, and you are personally invited to the premiere.

The film is supported by Belgian and German film funds. But for a successful funding application, the costs had to be calculated very tightly.

The subsidies were used up last year, because:

• To get the story across the duration of the film is now 10 minutes instead of 7.
• Instead of the planned 1,5 years we are working on the film for 3 years now.
• Production time doubled and production costs have gone up by 35%.

Thus, we need another 50.000,- € to finance the film. To keep the production process going, I borrowed money privately.

The higher costs result from

• 15.000 € more for coloration and rework of 3000 drawings,
• 9.000 € more for music and sound design and cinema sound mixing,
• 16.000 € more for studio rent, software licences, insurances and so on,
• 10.000 € more for direction, coordination and technical post-processing (e. g. compositing).

It is up to you to become our fellow funder, co-producer or patron.

We are thankful for any small - or big - contribution.

We do not have a dedicated funding aim. So, in any case, your support will be paid into our production account minus 7% fees that go to Startnext and the payment service provider.