2019
Year
02:37 Min.
Runtime
16:9
Format
15 fps
FPS (frames per second)
Synopsis
A woman in a wheelchair is waiting for the bus at a bus stop. But when it arrives, it is not as easy to get on as expected. Will she make her meeting on time?
Film Facts
Won “Best of Brickworld Chicago Film – International” award at the Brickworld Chicago International Film Festival in 2022.
The movie is based on a real story that happened in Paris. It inspired me to write this film with some adjustments. For example: The real person in the wheelchair was a man, not a woman.
Production (Animation) and Post-Production (Visual effects, editing, sound effects and music) took approximately 9 months to complete. I originally planned to finish the movie within 3 months to be able to submit it to several festivals. However, after two months I realized, that the time will not be enough.
This is the first time I use animated faces in the form of blinking eyes. The LEGO minifigures were animated without a face and the eyes were added in post-production with After Effects. This was hard work but definitely worth it.
It is also the first time that I conciously use Color Grading. So far I only used it to adjust the color from scene to scene, but here I use it as an effect. For example I reduced saturation and brightness to better present the rainy and depressive atmosphere.
All the bus passengers are dressed in black and only have eyes, but no mouth. This is symbolic for all the colorless, miserable and all-the-same-looking people who use publich transport in the morning to go to work. Additionally, most of them are looking at their phones all the time which is also a critical reference.
Fun Facts
The rain coming down is a visual effect and was added in post production. However, the water drops on the street and on the glass were put there with a waterspray between every frame when animating to realistically simulate the effect of the rain.
The music that you can hear in the background in the bus driver’s cabin is an hommage to the song “The Girl from Ipanema” which is famous for being the classic waiting room or elevator song.
Usually, a Lego spider has a “running gag” cameo appearance in every one of my films. But you will not find it in “Out of service”. Why? Truth is, I always meant to place it on the bus at some point…but completely forgot. However, another spider supervised the complete production: The Spider-Man Lego minifigure sits on top of the building behind the bus stop for the whole duration of the movie.
