Anja Giele’s peas of mind

When did you realise you wanted to become a director? What were your first steps towards making it a reality?

I started out as a camera assistant because photography was my entry point into film. Images always meant a lot to me, as they gave me a way to express myself and often reflected something about my emotional state that I wasn’t even fully aware of.

After a few student projects where I worked as an AC – or a cinematographer – I realised that my thought process was more like a director’s. Over time, I had this growing feeling that others wanted to be DPs much more than I did. Directing started to make more sense to me. I love being able to curate different departments and to stay with a project from beginning to end, rather than jumping from shoot to shoot. That longer process feels much more fulfilling.

I love being able to curate different departments and to stay with a project from beginning to end.

I enrolled at the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg (after hearing it was the best place to pursue this dream), following my first general film studies at a conventional arts college, and thankfully got in. It is such a privilege to study there – it’s a very special place.

Where did the concept for What was I made for come from? What came first, the gym or the pea?

At our school, during the second year of the Commercial Directing programme, everyone goes together to a guesthouse in the forest – a workshop space where you sleep upstairs, everything made of wood, with good food – and you spend two days brainstorming all the projects for the year.

I went in with just the idea that I wanted to do something with vegetables and stop-motion. I’ve always liked the look of high-quality stop-motion. It all started with a dialogue between two beets underground. I can’t even fully remember how it developed from there, but together we kept refining it until it was ready to be pitched. Thank heavens, I successfully pitched to girl-boss producers Lea Staron and Soraya Szendi to begin this journey together.

Clearly, a lot of craft went into the stop-motion puppets. How were they developed and what were the key factors from the beginning?

When it was clear that it would be stop-motion with a very clean, perfect look, the first thing I did was panic – I had never directed an animated film, let alone animated myself. I threw myself into learning more about animation and talking to experienced animators at the Animation Institute, which is also on our campus.

I then convinced a stop-motion alumni from our school, who had just graduated, to build the Stevie Puppets (there were two twins) and teach me how to do it, so I could start the other two characters and the repairs. Those three days visiting him in Munich and learning the core of stop-motion puppet-making were among the best of the whole project for me. Big shoutout to Arne Hain!

When it was clear that it would be stop-motion with a very clean, perfect look, the first thing I did was panic...

Because I was feeling quite low, learning this alongside such a talented person, and crafting with my hands – I’m a DIY queen privately – gave me the energy to start the new year. From there on, it was horrible trial and error for me at the puppet frontier.

I have written a more detailed report on the BTS section of my website.

The detailed sets and world-building must have been challenging. How did you approach them?

It was our biggest stroke of luck that we got two powerhouse women, Mareike Rückert and Nele Gertsen, to tackle the production design. They worked day and night before and during the shoot to build all the sets. Alongside that, the producers Lea and Soraya had also scheduled meetings with them and all other departments on a regular basis to keep everyone on track and find help where needed.

We shot everything at 1:8 scale, so we had the street with the shop façades, the pink gym, the one top shot to the whole ceiling of the gym, the doctor’s office, and a 1:12 miniature scale of the first scene’s grey city. Only the sky was VFX; the view from Dr Cauli’s office was a big TV screen behind the set – everything else you see is real.

A huge shoutout to Nele and Mareike, who also gave me strength when I might have given up without them. They also ran into many problems, but I think their perfectionism, like mine, drove them through. And if not – superglue.

Above: Some of the neat details found in the background of the film.

How long was the shoot? What was the biggest challenge to overcome?

Our biggest challenge was probably time and finding animators, as well as surviving the long duration of the project. From beginning to end it was about 9–11 months for me. Every head of department had at least two people managing one department – except for directing and puppet repair. I really wouldn’t recommend that for the future.

Patching together 11 animators’ work into a coherent film was demanding.

It would also have been ideal to have key animators for the whole shoot or at least for each scene, but sadly our animators didn’t have much time due to their own semester work. Patching together 11 animators’ work into a coherent film was demanding, since everyone has their own style and preferences.

Stop-motion is a notoriously time-consuming process. Was there a particular sequence you looked forward to seeing at full speed?

Everything was so thoroughly planned with our animatic and many group meetings that there was no big surprise to see any of the shots at full speed. 

But of course, seeing all the individual shots come together into a narrative was very wholesome after all that stress.

Did the story change during the shoot? Were there any elements you weren’t able to achieve?

The story couldn’t change during the shoot, because everything had to be meticulously planned for stop-motion. We did, however, face a last-minute cancellation of an animator, which sparked a crisis meeting about leaving out big chunks of the narrative for time and manpower reasons. 

Thankfully, we managed to steer through it without losing any huge sequences.

Above: Director Anja Giele.

Looking back, what was the biggest learning curve for you?

Oh, so much. First of all, I was delighted to be able to work with my hands on a film project – something I’d always missed on other shoots. Then there was the stress of carrying such a big responsibility alone, the huge amount I learned about animation, and the joy of working with animators and watching them create magic.

Since I had never had such a big team, I learned a lot about this scale of teamwork and communication structures.

Is stop-motion a form you’d like to specialise in, or are you planning other types of projects?

I don’t mind doing another stop-motion project, but I think it’s hard for the market to sell me with this, since I don’t animate myself. Next time I do a project like this, I will make sure to have a second puppet person on set!

Next time I do a project like this, I will make sure to have a second puppet person on set!

I’d love to explore more mixed media, including other animation formats, and keep that tangible, hands-on, crafty dimension in my work.

How do you approach finding your own voice as a director in such a crowded industry?

It’s really hard not to be influenced too much – it’s a loud industry where everyone is shouting to be noticed. But I think my diverse background and unconventional upbringing, living in so many different places at a young age and constantly adapting, makes my thinking a little differently unique. Definitely weird!

I also consume a huge amount of culture in all forms – mostly arthouse films across genres, magazines, graphic novels and literature – and that diverse mix forms my way of thinking, rather than me being hung up on one singular inspiration.