Private Project

Reincarnation Mall

"Mr. Grump finds himself in an unusual afterlife: a shopping mall where karma points can purchase a new life. But his lack of points forces him to confront his negative attitude. Can he make amends and earn redemption?"

Special features:
Animated entirely inside VR using VR headsets.

Formats:
cinema 5.1, binaural VR version, DCP, stereoscopic 3D!

  • Eric Giessmann
    Director
  • Piers Goffart
    Director
  • Eric Giessmann
    Writer
  • Eric Giessmann
    Producer
  • Nicole Jankowski
    Producer
  • Eric Giessmann
    Concept Art & Animation
  • PIers Goffart
    Concept Art & Animation
  • Joshua Menas
    Concept Art & Animation
  • Georg "Goscha" Graf
    Concept Art & Animation
  • Eric Giessmann
    Postproduction
  • Laura González
    Audio Lead
  • Scott Dugdale
    Composer
  • Jonathan Buch
    Sound Designer
  • Goro Fujita
    Executive Producer
  • Jonathan Gleit
    Executive Producer
  • Justin Lieberman
    Audio Mixer
  • Richie Biggs
    Music Mixer
  • Chris Hanson
    Audio Producer
  • Meta Soudn Design
    Soudn Created by
  • SIDE
    Voice Talent Casting & Recording by
  • Khris Brown
    Voice Director
  • Krystle Futrell
    Voice Talents
  • Rick Zieff
    Voice Talents
  • Federico Moreno Breser
    Additional Animation
  • Lava Machine
    LAVAMACHINE
  • Project Type:
    Animation, Short, Other
  • Genres:
    Animation, Fantasy, Drama
  • Runtime:
    5 minutes 13 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    March 1, 2023
  • Country of Origin:
    Germany
  • Country of Filming:
    Germany
  • Language:
    No Dialogue
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Eric Giessmann, Piers Goffart

Eric Giessmann
Director/ Animator
www.ericgiessmann.com
Multiple international award-winning director for animated short film and specialized in VR content. With the founding of Studio LAVAMACHINE, he combined his passion for classical painting with the digitalization of the 21st century.

Piers Goffart
Director/ Concept Artist
www.lavamachine.com
Freelance illustrator and animator with a passion for storytelling, comedy and character acting. In 2015 he won the POS Award for best Artwork. Since 2017 he shifted his craft more and more into VR painting and animation.

As Lavamachine, we regularly give VR animation workshops and VR live painting sessions. If you are interested in enriching your festival, get in contact with us on contact@lavamachine.com. See you!

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

The film explores the concept of making the right life choices to ensure a better next life. Within the narrative, I aimed to create a compelling dichotomy between the notion of reincarnation and the mundane setting of a shopping mall. It was reassuring to realize that the story had a well-rounded quality, providing us with the essential confirmation that our film effectively conveyed the intended message using the available elements.

With this solid foundation in place, we were able to embark on a creative journey. Witnessing all the different components of the film coming together was fascinating, especially considering that this movie was primarily produced through virtual reality (VR) animation, using Oculus Quill. Furthermore, it can be experienced as a stereoscopic film and within VR headsets.

In addition to the various assets and animations, we leveraged the color information and camera movements from Quill, offering us a clear early vision of the film's final appearance. This allowed all artists to concentrate on fine-tuning within the VR environment. We maintained a frame rate of 12 frames per second with a 2-second interval to achieve a stop-motion aesthetic for the film.

"I often had the feeling that making better choices in my life would have led to an entirely different life, like in Reincarnation Mall where you can choose your next life depending on your choices." Eric Giessmann

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Some quotes from the jury worth noting include the following comments.
"Clear Winner! Concept and story-telling."
"Well told with a funny idea. Nice animation and good designs."
"Amazing Animation."
"Poetic and thoughtful short. Morbidly funny and charismatic."