Just a dream, 2005, Mrs. Brainwash
link to the video
Text from the Interview
When I was 18 years old, I began working for a well known cartoon company. I was very talented and developed my drawings to perfection. I was young and motivated. ThenI began to experiment with 3D animation. My new ideas were well-received, at first from the Studio and later also from the greater audience. During the next two years my salary was multiplied by thirteen. I was the youngest among my colleagues, yet I was well respected. Very soon I had 60 artists working in my department. Business was booming. One day, I remember it as if it was yesterday, it was a Friday. It was incredibly hot, and the air conditioning was broken in the entire building. I was completely sweaty, and was about to put on a fresh shirt when two men in black suits came into my studio accompanied by my director. I was surprised that the director came down without any notice. I thought that maybe it was something to do with the air conditioning, but they didn’t look like handy-men. My director slowly approached me and quietly asked if it was possible for me to accompany him to his office, since the two men had some important questions to ask. I followed them to the office, without changing my shirt. After we arrived there the director left us to talk in private.First both men introduced themselves, then they praised my work. One of the two had an especially large nose. At that time I was working on a new cartoon and I found his nose incredibly inspiring. Then he told me, I had been selected to produce an animation. He said it had to do with the security of the state. I was not to speak with anyone about the project since it was top secret. I was to produce it as quickly as possible, and money was not an issue. I accepted the offer immediately. At that time I didn’t have a girlfriend and my parents lived 700 miles from the city in which I worked. We only saw each other twice a year. So I was free to accept the offer immediately. My dream was to start my own company so that I could develop my own ideas without having to answer to anyone else. As I said earlier, I wanted to experiment more with 3D animation, to expand my options, but as an employee, I always had other jobs to do. You know how it goes. The man with the big nose gave me a contract to read. I read it thoroughly, and as I was prepared to sign with the marker that I still had in my hand from working, the man said: „No, sign only with this pen!” He handed me a pen. When we came out, the men discreetly gave a nod to my director. My director made a strange face, one I had never seen before. He wished me luck. I had no idea what he knew about the entire affair. The two men picked me up very early next morning. They took me to the place where I would spend the next 352 days. The animation was to be two times one minute long, but I had no idea what I had to draw. They took me to the studio, which was equipped with the latest technology. I looked around and saw that they had everything I needed, even an Italian coffee machine. Then, both guys left me, and I first made a cup of coffee. The air condition worked perfectly. When I had my coffee, the door opened and a man worked perfectly. When I had my coffee, the door opened and a man entered the room. I never saw him again in my life. He was an ordinary man, the type you could meet in any supermarket. He told me that I should make an animation about a bomb. He called it the „Bomb A”. In this cartoon two cities should be destroyed by the bomb, each city with one. He handed me some aerial photographs of the cities. The whole project was quite intense. I invented certain effects which are still being used today. At the end the animations were very good, they gave a strong realistic impression. They are so good, that they are believable even today. On the last day, I gave the men the completed project. On the same evening, a mail-man gave me an envelope. A cheque was in the envelope. The sum was correct. I don’t know how much longer I will live. But after fifty years of silence,I feel the need to reveal the knowledge I have been concealing all these years. As I didn’t have much time for the project back then, I made a couple mistakes. I didn’t notice them until years later.