“Upstairs” by Matthias Hoegg

In the brilliant three-minute short Upstairs, Matthias Hoegg imagines what goes on behind the doors of our neighbors’s apartments. It’s a simple idea executed by a filmmaker with a superb understanding of visual storytelling possibilities in animation. Hoegg uses a box motif to both represent the claustrophobic physical living space of apartment dwellers and neatly frame the intensifying stream of paranoia running through the mind of the main character.

Hoegg also exhibits mastery of his digital toolbox and achieves a distinctive look using a seamless workflow of Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash, After Effects and Maya. The short was commissioned by Channel 4’s Random Acts and produced by Not To Scale London in association with Lupus Films. His student short Tuesday appeared in Cartoon Brew’s inaugural Student Animation Festival in 2010.

CREDITS
Director: Matthias Hoegg
Sound and music: David Kamp
Voices: Steve Furst
Additional Animation: Jason Kotey, Nick Brooks
Tape mastering: Munky
Producer: Daniel O’Rourke