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Almost my size.
Welcome to Candy Trips.
I'm Melissa and we're going to hospital.
But not because we're sick.
We're on the set of Own Drum.
They're doing a cool stop motion film
and Paul will pick us up.
This is an unusual location.
Why are we in hospital?
We're shooting an animated puppet film,
so we don't need a studio as such,
with lots of lights and stuff.
We just need a dark room
which needs to be big.
DONATE BLOOD
You can donate blood today. I'm pale already.
INSTITUTE FOR FORENSIC MEDICINE
Excuse me, is this pathology?
Here's the Barbie set. Puppet pathology.
And the casting couch.
Yes, Robbie.
He applied as a puppet doctor today.
No entering for non-lab staff.
But I'm Professor Dr. Lee. So I may enter.
CASTING COUCH
Hi, I'm Kai.
It's creepy.
There's body parts all over the place.
Heads.
A bag full of hands.
I wasn't all wrong about pathology.
Are you filming?
All the time.
All the time!
What a guy. Wicked.
Tell us what it is exactly you do.
I direct the film. We're shooting
an animated puppet film called Own Drum.
It's a stop motion film about Barbie.
It's about Barbie falling for a woman,
but society forces her
into a perfect relationship with Ken.
She realises she needs to rebel against society
to be able to follow her own path.
That's very daring, let's say.
I take it you didn't ask Mattel?
No, we didn't ask Mattel.
I don't think they'd like it.
No, they wouldn't.
We're under Mattel's radar which is good.
But we're not using the original Barbie heads.
Our heads are a bit bigger.
The puppet workshop made them for us.
They have animated eyes
and eyebrows, mouths and so on.
EXTRAS FEMALE 01
REDHEADS
It's creepy. They look so real.
It looks creepy coz there's nothing on them.
The male ones are not original Kens
coz he's very inflexible.
He doesn't have many joints.
This is an action figure which has lots of joints
and is easily animated.
They always say Barbie is over-sexualised
and girls can never fulfil that.
But seriously, which man looks like this?
The women are wearing underpants
which can't be taken off.
They're so over-sexualised
they can't take their *** off.
My films have always been about sexuality,
about sexuality in society.
How free are you in your sexuality in society?
Barbie as the stereotypical female
was an intriguing subject.
And the plot...
The forces of society, homosexuality...
I mean it's a bit more relaxed in Germany.
But if we look at Russia right now...
Yes, it's... Many people said,
is this even a current subject?
Sure, in our circles,
in Berlin, it's no problem.
Do films like this contribute to this
or will the ones who are stupid enough
to hate gay people even watch this film?
It's about... being present.
To show it. Homosexuality exists
and it should be visible on the outside.
It shouldn't be secretive or hidden.
Even if people disapprove,
the more you show it and live it,
the more normal and accepted it becomes.
Stop motion is an animating technique
which animates individual frames.
The puppets are moved, a picture is taken,
they're moved, a picture is taken. In the end
you have 24 frames which make up one second.
It looks like the puppet is moving.
24 frames per second.
It's happening right now, but it's less difficult.
The effort behind such a project
is not always apparent.
We have a costume designer
and a set designer who work on the sets all day.
It's not easy working with miniatures.
Our costume designer makes Barbie's clothes.
And our set designer builds the sets and props.
She makes teeny tiny steaks herself
which are eaten at the restaurant.
How do you finance this?
If there is no sponsoring?
There is a little bit of sponsoring.
The film was supported by the government.
But it's not enough. It takes a lot of money
to hire people and equipment
for such a long time.
So we have a crowdfunding campaign
to raise more funds.
Did you hear that?
Out there?
That's how we're trying
to get money for post production,
because that costs money, too.
Almost my size.
We found Tarzan.
The nice guys from Own Drum
are giving away one doll.
If you want it, answer this question:
If you were to make a Barbie film,
what would be the subject?
What would happen? Write us a comment.
The best comment wins the doll.
Right, we did see a lot of body parts
and naked skin after all.
What do you think about stop motion films?
Do you think they're cool
or should it all be done with CG?
Write us a comment, I'd be happy.
Watch my other clips here and here.
See you next week. Bye.
Subtitles by Stephanie Geiges