While reading the book Kinderreime (“Children’s Rhymes”), I suddenly got the idea of making a story out of a rhyme. When I talked to my mom and dad about it, they liked the idea, too. “Es war einmal ein Mann” (There was once a man …) is my favorite rhyme, which is why I decided to use this poem for the u19 competition.

First I used Google to search for pictures on the Internet. I printed them out, and then cut them out with scissors. The skeleton was especially hard. Then, with our digital camera, I made almost 100 photos of everything I had cut out. From photo to photo, I changed the position of the parts a bit. Dad helped me transfer the photos to the computer. Then I added the writing, drew in a few things (like the water drops, the meadow, the sign for the pond, the whistle …), cut out and erased a few things. It was a lot of work and took a long time. In the beginning it was really hard, but it turned out to be a lot of fun.

My father explained to me how recording the sound worked. I spoke the rhyme a few times until everything fit together. The whistle was especially funny. At the end I put all the pictures together with Windows Moviemaker and added the sound.