Sketch by Julien Hill
“auf Wiederhören”
Logline: Follow Lars, a retired garden gnome who grows flowers in the woods, as he wrestles with grief.
After his wife’s death, Lars continues to fill his retirement doing what he loves, growing flowers.
The film follows him as he goes about his daily tasks of tending to the grounds, doing chores, and admiring his work before disaster strikes.
Startled awake Lars is faced with destruction.
What do you do when you have seemingly done everything right and are still faced with suffering?
SYNOPSIS
animatic
Animatic by Nick Bieber
Lars
Approximately 310 years old, Lars is an older gnome. He’s a widower,and has a son (not feature just in photos around the house) named Lotte who is about 122 (middle aged).
Sketches by Julien Hill
Other inspiration
“Gnomes, by Dutch physician Wil Huygen and illustrator Rien Poortvliet, is a bestselling 1977 book that presents a detailed, pseudo-scientific guide to the anatomy, habits, and lifestyle of gnomes, blending fantasy with a "real-life" approach. The book, which became a New York Times bestseller, describes gnomes as nocturnal, nature-loving creatures living in harmony with the environment, and it led to sequels and animated series like David the Gnome.”
Fabrication
Below is the initial fabrication that I have started. It includes the exterior 1:1 scale stump, 1:3 scale stump, 1:1 downstairs interior including set and set decoration, background trees, some RD puppet armature casts, and some exterior garden pieces.
Initial fundraiser
The name of the film has changed from “Slitzweitz” to “Auf Wiederhören” to protect us from copyright infringement and to establish our own intellectual property. This fundraiser was from when I was still in college primarily working on the directorial side of the project before I transition to the Production Designer role (present).