Filmmakers Christian Wittmoser and Zuniel Kim talk about their short film The Train Driver.
Geplaatst op 6 september 2022
In the five-minute animated documentary film "The Train Driver," an anonymous train driver recounts his experience with suicide on the rails.
We love exploring different media and are currently in the finishing stages of the prototype for an animated graphic novel, so we will see what’s next.
The idea
"We‘ve had the idea of making an animated short for quite some time before reading the article about
the experiences of a train driver. After reaching out to the journalist who interviewed the train driver
and getting his permission to use the contents of his article, we started working on a script that
would lead to a 5-minute film. The script itself did not change a lot during production, we were pretty
clear on what the through line would be – being documentary and fiction filmmakers, the challenge
was the animation part."
A teamwork
We partnered with a production company focused on animated films, Raumkapsel Animation, and
applied for film funding to develop the film. With the help of film funding we hired an experienced
animator, Florian Maubach, to help work with us on the animatic for the film and help visualize our
ideas. Working with him was such a breeze, he was excellent in translating our script into visuals
and we only had to make a few passes before we had a finished animatic for the film.
The life and identity of a Train Driver
"Interviewing and recording the train driver ourselves was a way we were willing to go before
choosing to use a voice actor to record the lines from the article. Our reasoning was that the train
driver chose to stay anonymous for the article, not revealing his identity and had already given all
the answers to the journalist – so we left it at that. Simultaneously, we worked on picking the aesthetic and the technique for the film. Since water and
being at the beach was an important theme in our film, we contemplated using sand animation to tell
our story but ultimately settled on choosing watercolor painting.
When we were able to secure film funding for the production, we asked Elisabeth Zwimpfer, herself
an animator and painter, to do the watercolor paintings and bring our film to life."
After quite some time
"We knew that animation is very time-consuming but we did not anticipate that the whole process of
getting the film made would take us more than 3 years. Having the luxury of being able to hire
animators definitely helped keep our focus on directing and decision-making. It also enabled us to
work on other projects and return to “the train driver” with a fresh view each time we were asked to
evaluate the progress and make decisions.
While we are proud of the finished film and its festival run starting at Annecy, it will probably be a
while before we return to animation – if at all. We love exploring different media and are currently in
the finishing stages of the prototype for an animated graphic novel, so we will see what’s next."
The Train Driver is screened with five other shorts in the International Short Film Competition I during SHIFT Film Festival 2022.