Hi! With whom do we have the honor of speaking today?

Hi, I am Manuel and I am 35 years old.

What exactly do you do at alugha? What does your work consist of?

I am responsible for moving pictures. And I don’t mean filmed moving pictures but everything that needs to be animated. For example computer animation, animation, motion graphics and so on. 

For the “average joe”: HOW do you do that?

I “just” string together a series of 25 frames per second… how these frames were created is a question of approach.

What obstacles do you fight during your daily work? What are the difficult tasks of your job?

My own quality standards are an obstacle, measured against the respective deadlines. Additionally, I have to admit that I like getting lost in details. 

How are your work and our multilingualism related? What is difficult about it?

Some time ago, I read a quote of Tony White, an animator, animation educator and author of several books. “The best cartoons lack dialogue”. If you think of the Road Runner, or Tom and Jerry, you gladly agree. White reasoned that children from all over the world should get the jokes that are made. I don’t want to doubt that quote, but sometimes, as an animator or filmmaker, you don’t get around using language. Multilingual videos at least contribute to the understanding of the jokes in the respective language. 

Which tools do you use for work?

First of all, paper and pencil - pretty old-fashioned. Afterwards, it depends on what the final result should look like. I mostly use Photoshop or After-Effects for 2D animations. If it should be a 3D animation, I use Maya. 

What have you worked on so far? Also outside of alugha?

It all started with studying communications design in Wiesbaden. Afterwards, I was self-employed for a couple of years. I had a lot of jobs in the advertising and communication sector, especially explainer videos. But I also count two movies to my works (Pettson and Findus 2 and The Seventh Dwarf). I also lectured at the Lazi Academy in Esslingen and taught 3D animation with “Maya” (program) there.  At alugha, all of the alien videos plus the alien itself and all the effects in “Berndout” were done by me. I also do all of the explainer videos: How the merger works, how the new player works and so on Last but not least, my tasks also include, of course, customer orders (e.g. videos for BASF) and explainer videos in scribble style. 

What do you want to achieve with your work? When are you satisfied? 

I want to be satisfied with myself, I always want to try something new and get better. I constantly want to expand my horizon and I want that my customers and we (alugha) are satisfied. 

Regarding your work, is there any dream you want to achieve?

Yes, there is one. During my studies, I produced two very short short films and entered an award with them. The films were short and sweet, and told in a very funny way. Both times, I made it into the top 10. One time I even came second place. But the true prize was being able to experience how the whole cinema was laughing because of a joke I made. Regardless of funny, spooky or touching. Good films do not only tell you a story, they move you. With this aspiration, I dream of producing a feature-length computer animated film. Of course, not alone but with a well-attuned team. But this would take about one to two years, so it has to wait. Before that, I might do another short film which “only” takes three to six months. I am still young I have lots of ideas, some of them even almost fully developed!

Thanks Manuel for giving us an understanding of your daily work routine at alugha! 

#alugha

#doitmultilingual

#squad

#portrait