Trial & Error Animated Short Film

Synopsis

A film about a lost shirt button, perfectionist aunts, busy cats,
startled parrots—and a long-lost friend.

Trailer

2016 | 5:27 min | 4K | 1.85:1 | 5.1 | English | 2D Drawn Animation

Idea, Design & Direction: Antje Heyn | Lead Animation: Alexander Isert
Animation Assistance: Johanna Hochholzer | Words: Jonas Lieberknecht
Voice: Alexis Krüger | Music: Peer Kleinschmidt
Foley Art: Peter Sandmann | Sound Editing & Mixing: Sebastian Reuter
Supervising Cat: Percy

Previous & Upcoming Screenings

April 2016

May 2016

7th International Festival of Animated Films ANIFILM (Int´l Competition) | Czech Republic
26th FilmKunstFest MV (Short Film Competition)| Germany
2nd Runner Up | 17th Animation Masters Summit, Flying Elephant | India
18th Future Film Festival (Short Film Comp.) | Italy
6th Int’l Festival of Animation The Truca | Colombia
Best Children’s Short Film | 16th Cine a la calle Int´l Short Film Festival | Colombia
13th Neisse Film Festival (Short Film Competition) | Germany

June 2016

40th Annecy International Animation Film Festival (Official Selection) | France
21th Nantucket Film festival | USA
6th Rabbit Fest Int’l Animation Festival (Int’l Competition) | Italy
Best Short Film / Children’s Choice Award | 9th Int’l FIlm Festival KINOLUB | Poland
31st Valencia Int’l Film Festival Cinema Jove (Int’l Competition) | Spain
37th Durban Short Film Festival | South Africa
24th Art Film Festival | Slovakia
19th Brooklyn Film Festival (Animation Comp.) | USA

July 2016

August 2016

September 2016

12th WFAF World Festival of Animated Film Varna | Bulgaria
16th The Night of Animation in Lille | France
10th Animanima Festival | Serbia
4th Tenerife Shorts | Spain
21st Split Film Festival / International Festival of New Film | Croatia
6th AniFest ROZAFA | Albania
Best Animation Film Award | 5th International Tour Film Festival | Italy
11th Shorts Mexico (Animation Comp.) | Mexico
3rd Arkadia Short Fest | Romania
4th Duhok International Film Festival | Iraq
9th Animasivo Int´l Animation Festival | Mexico
21st Split International Festival of New Film | Croatia
9th Animasyros International Animation Festival | Greece
11th LINOLEUM Int’l Festival of Contemporary Animation & Media-Art | Ukraine
10th Jahorina Film Festival | Bosnia Herzigovina
21st International Filmfestival SCHLINGEL | Germany

October 2016

November 2016

December 2016

January 2017

February 2017

March 2017

April 2017

3rd Tlanchana Fest | Mexico
3rd Al-Nahj International Film Festival | Iraq
Reel 2 Real International Film Festival for Youth | Canada
44th Athens International Film and Video Festival | USA
9th Go Short – International Short Film Festival Nijmegen | Netherlands
17th Independent Days Fimfest | Germany
9th CMS International Children’s Film Festival | India
International Film Festival of Lanzarote | Spain
12th Cortoons Festival Gandia | Spain
27th Mediawave – International Film and Music Gathering | Hungary
40th Grenzland-Filmtage | Germany

May 2017

June 2017

August 2017

8th We Like ‘Em Short Film Festival | USA

Seal of Approval “Highly Recommended”

“TRIAL & ERROR constantly surprises by its dry humor and playful imagery. It put the jury in such a good mood that they could not do otherwise than awarding the movie as “Highly Recommended”.”(FBW Germany)

FAQ

How long did it take to make the film?

The idea is actually a couple of years old and it waited very patiently for its realization. In February 2015, we began working out the script and animatic. Afterwards, we intensively started animating and finished it in January 2016.

Why did you choose drawn animation as technique?

Drawn animation is a very time-consuming technique, since you have to draw, animate, adjust, texture and colorize frame by frame. For us, it was the most appropriate way to tell the story which is based on an illustrated booklet of mine.

Why is the protagonist only shown from shoulder to hip?

That was a very bold decision as you have to show emotions without any facial expressions to relate to. To create a character, who is that minimalistic from a visual point of view, proved to be an interesting, sometimes challenging and unique task.

Fun Facts

Who is the Supervising Cat Percy in the final credits?

Percy is our studio cat busy supporting us with advices. He likes to talk a lot and comments on work-, play- and food-related subjects. Usually he prefers to sleep and snore. But if we have to make important decisions, he instantly wakes up and gives his approval or rejection of an idea by meouwing loudly.

The most difficult scenes?

Ironically the most difficult scenes were the ones that actually don’t look complicated. But I can tell you stories about a shuttering cat, which took us ages and thousands of
tests and revisions. Also the scene with the fishing rod got us all quite fed up, because we
spent so much time on it.

Management Summary

While working our crew consumed roundabout 30 kg of sweets, 250 liters of
coffee and 2450 hours of music. We had 54 program crashes, 18 export failures and found 4 software bugs, which doubled the amount of sugar & coffee. We’e spent a couple of hours performing the intended animation in real life, throwing umbrellas and buttons, taping shirts, opening boxes and catching imaginary things …