On an old, forgotten military base in the Pacific, soldiers who have lost their minds due to the hardships of war have been gathered to complete one final mission. There, far away from civilization, Sergeant Al cultivates his love for the brave soldiers, Dr. Friedrich cultivates his talent for photography, and the mentally lost General A creates his art. But General A does not use paper or canvas, he attempts something completely different.

Fallen Art is Tomek Baginski’s second short animated film for theatrical release. Though it uses the same technique as the previous film, it is stylistically very different from the climate of The Cathedral.

“I needed a breath of fresh air after the pathos of The Cathedral. It cost me a lot of time and energy. This time around I wanted to try a lighter style,” says Tomek. “The idea for Fallen Art came up during the final stages of production of The Cathedral. It was supposed to be a story about the military, filled with dark humor and a touch of hidden meanings. Writing the screenplay, the military theme seemed innocent enough. Sort of a light satire with delicate controversy…Now the film will probably be received much more seriously. I chose a particular technique, where months go by from simple brainstorming sessions to the grand finale,” adds Tomek.

The production and execution of short films for theatrical release is a secondary objective at Platige Image, which normally works for the advertising industry. “I’m very happy that people like Tomek want to bring their ideas to life at Platige Image. We’re trying to support and help them in the process, because the production of such projects is not only a great way of promoting our studio in Poland but internationally as well,” says Jarek Sawko.

Unlike The Cathedral, Fallen Art is not the work of a single individual. It is a collaborative effort by several artists, who for the most part are employed by Platige Image.

Tomek: “From the beginning I knew I wanted to get away from the one man band work scheme. I wanted to test whether I would manage not only as a seasoned graphic artist, an animator, but more than anything as a director. A number of very talented young graphic artists worked on the film from the beginning.” “We would most definitely like to develop an internship program where talented artists gain valuable experience by engaging in regular production work at our studio,” says Marcin Kobylecki.

That is how Rafal Wojtunik, who created the concept art for the film, arrived at Platige. ”I found Rafal while browsing internet forums dedicated to computer graphics. His works clearly showed that he knows how to use color and pencil, and that he is a very gifted and talented artist. Rafal is an exceptional artist, so I suggested he work with us on the film. First we needed to create the character of the Doctor. I liked the sketches so much that I asked Rafal to create the concept art for the entire film,” says Tomek.

Rafal Wojtunik: “The ideas were born while I was watching the storyboards and reading the story. From the beginning Tomek assumed that the characters will be rather realistic, but when he saw them, he agreed they will fit perfectly to the overall climate of the film. I wanted the characters to look weird enough to show how twisted they are, and at the same not to be associated with any particular army.”

The main assumption of the technique used in the film was the combining of the modern language of computer animation with classical hand painting so that the picture would gain the texture of an actual painting. Almost every background is painted, as are the characters. Japanese anime and amateur camera movements were mimicked to achieve the feeling of an ordinary handheld camera, instead of predictable computerized movements. Character animation was a great challenge. Grzegorz Jonkajtys, one of the key animators, used special software to bring digital characters to life in a three-dimensional environment. The process of creating such “digital puppets” involves creating a virtual skeleton inside a three-dimensional character, then programming special controllers, which the animator uses to manipulate the character. Later on, the animator creates specific poses at key frames, which make up the main phases of movement.

"My biggest challenge was animating the furiously dancing general. Taking into account his physiology and rather large size it was very difficult to make him perform such a dynamic dance,” says Grzegorz Jonkajtys.

Right from the start the film was divided into 6 sequences called acts, which in turn were made up of 75 shots. Each one of the shots received a catalog and a number. That is a huge amount of data, but special naming conventions made the work easier, especially towards the end of production when minor corrections were required.

The film weighs in at around 300 gigabytes, and took approximately 6 weeks to render. It took around a year and a half from basic screenplay drawings to the final product. The actual work took about 8 months.

"I tried to utilize the computer only where it would speed up the process and increase the quality. Most of the time I tried to give the co-creators of the film artistic freedom,” concludes Tomek.