GRETEL - Richland Films 2012

This project began in 2012 with the creation of GRETEL, a feature-length dark fable was created by Thomas Muschitz (writing & directing) and Anthony Wood (camera & editing). In 2021 James Barany Studios received all of the original footage from GRETEL, and production began for GRETEL REDUX. The first task was editing GRETEL down to a 'short' format from 2hrs. down to just 35min., allowing for animated short guidelines to be adhered to.

EDITING & ROTOSCOPING - James Barany Studios 2023

After the GRETEL footage was reduced and reorganized for dramatic and narrative effect, thousands of key frames were then produced from the original footage. This rotoscoping was done through digital painting and drawing approaches as a response to the original footage. AI technology was then used to help generate 'tween' frames. Procreate, Photoshop, EbSynth and After Effects were all incorporated in the production pipeline.

STOP-MOTION - James Barany Studios 2023

Visceral stop-motion textures and transitions were then created to help deepen and transform the dramatic shots provided by Muschitz and Wood from their original film. GRETEL REDUX builds on their dark aesthetic and augments, layers and combines numerous additional elements into each frame. Dragonframe and Procreate were used  for this specific task in the animation process.

Muschitz & Barany

This unique project is a collaboration between the creative efforts of two old friends who met during their time together as undergrads at the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design in the late 80's. This project is just one of their many creative collaborations including: ALIEN FAKTOR (visuals and musical scoring) VICTIMMIZER (media, animation and sound design), Experimental Animations (animation and musical scoring), LIEBESLIEDER, GRETEL and GRETEL REDUX.