Wearing Your Boyfriend to a Party
Project of the Month: ONE PAIR COAT
Everybody has his or her favorite piece of clothing. The way too old band shirt, which has irrevocably absorbed a discreet whiff of sweat and beer. The ugly Christmas sweater that you would love to wear as early as September, but don't want to line up with the overzealous gingerbread fanatics. Or, the pants that definitely fit really well and flawlessly a year ago without any problems. I do get dizzy, yes, but they should absolutely be like that!
In ONE PAIR COAT, Jolanda's favorite piece of clothing is her boyfriend Hendrik. Now, this sounds more barbaric than it really is. See for yourself and learn more about ONE PAIR COAT from director Yi Luo.
Watch ONE PAIR COAT now!
Interview with Director Yi Luo
Hi Yi! How did you come to Animationsinstitut?
When I came to Germany in 2007, I first studied Communication Design with a focus on illustration in Augsburg. After a few years of working, I noticed that my animation dream was still floating around. Luckily, I was accepted to Filmakademie and in 2015, I started studying here.
Your film is about the couple Jolanda and Hendrik. Hendrik acts as a coat for Jolanda—how did that idea come about?
I don't know exactly. One evening, the idea suddenly popped into my head when my boyfriend was sitting next to me. I thought, "Oh, he's so cute. Wouldn't it be nice if he was my coat and I could take him and wear him everywhere!" That's how it started.
Do the two share everything with each other?
Basically, yes. But they only share what they want to share with each other. Because they respect their respective wills.
Were there any particular challenges in the production?
One was a struggle with time: I thought all along that I could make the film within three weeks—quick & dirty. However, it ended up taking three months. That was very frustrating because I didn't know when I would finally be done with the film. In the end, I was happy with the result; I think the extra time was worth it.
Another problem was that I only had a very rough animatic at the beginning, which I kept working on during production. The danger was that until the very end, I never really knew whether the film is going to work properly at all. The time pressure mentioned above did the rest.
In the end, however, this also had its advantages: I wasn't just working off an initial idea, but could flexibly introduce new ideas during the production process. That really motivated me. Of course, I could only make the film this way because I was working on it alone.
In addition, I was late on finding someone for the sound design. That's why I ended up having to do sound design myself for the first time. It was a very cool experience in the end, though. Fortunately, my good colleague Michael Bohnenstingl helped me with the sound mixing. Otherwise, it might have taken even longer.
Storyboard and Concept Arts of ONE PAIR COAT
What have you done after graduating?
I continue to work on my diploma film DODO'S PAPA IS AN ENGINEER. It's about a complicated, personal subject and therefore, the film has become long and quite elaborate. Nevertheless, it should be finished this fall.
I also participated in ASF, where I could start and develop my next project. As soon as I'm done with the diploma film and take a little break afterwards, I'll follow up with it.
You also teach at Animationsinstitut nowadays, right?
Yes. I teach fourth-year students in design. I help students shape the appropriate style for their diploma films.
