Director / PreVis / Rigging / Animation / Edit
Julian Mehn
BUS BUDDY
The project is based on our short film Bus Buddy, created as part of the Animation Institute’s third-year program, AniTrailer. The initial assignment was to develop a trailer for any industry event, drawing on concepts based on the word Connection, generated during a collaborative brainstorming trip with a randomly assembled team of students. The short film was completed within a single semester and screened. Following its presentation, the film was selected to serve as the official trailer for FMX 2026, with some changes. Over the following eight months, it got finalized for this purpose with a new soundtrack, a tighter edit, and an updated final shot.
Based on
bus buddy
A short film developed within the Animation Institute’s AniTrailer, that evolved from a student project into the foundation for the official FMX 2026 trailer.
Anitrailer
2025
Behind the
scenes
The film was shot using a 1979 Magirus-Deutz SH110 bus named „Anna“. The historic vehicle was parked on the Filmakademie campus, where all bus scenes were filmed over the course of a single night. The bus station was filmed separately in Remseck am Neckar and later digitally enhanced and built out around the bus.
From Concept
to realization
Our Concept Artist Jelena Sturm had the idea of a bus standing up and walking away and we build the film around it. After we found the perfect Bus in „Anna“ she adapted all her concepts to the SH110 model and we started building it as a 3D model.
The Crew
Director
Julian Mehn
Concept Art
Jelena Sturm
Producer
Sabina Stöckler
VFX Supervisor
Julian Dünser
CG Generalist
Marc Reuter
FX
Joshua Grill
Technical Director
Justus Blönnigen
Credits
Creative Director / Concept Art / Storyboard
Jelena Sturm
Producer / Assistant Director / Compositing
Sabina Stöckler
VFX Supervisor / TechVis / Layout / Lighting / Shading / Rendering
Julian Dünser
CG Generalist / Environment Artist / Grip / Lighting / Shading / Layout / Model
Marc Reuter
Matchmove / FX Lead / Compositing Supervisor
Joshua Grill
Technical Director / SFX
Justus Blönnigen
Actress
Cathleen Chiara Fink
Director of Photography
Clara Tille Berger
Assistant Camera
Moritz Müssig
Gaffer
Matthias Wanka
Electrician
Eric Baudler
Makeup Artist
Lotte Fleck
SFX
Karl Will & Cyril Fischer
Catering
Aria Wolf & Vadims Ivanovs
Drone Operator / On Set Photographer
Juljan Safrany
Set Management
Lena Hohm
Komponist
Clemens David Krauss
Musikmischung
Sebastian Greim
Grading
Sebastian Ganschow
Sound Design
Sebastian Schmitt
Kollektiv
A Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg Production
Head of Animationsinstitut
Dr. Jan Pinkava
VFX/3D
Jan Burda & Marc Angele
Animation Effects Producing
Prof. Lilian Klages
Concept Art
Yi Luo
Technical Directing
Diana Arellano
AniFilm & AniPlay
Johannes Weiland
Clara Deitmar
Clara Deitmar
Head of Production 2D, Interactive & Practical
Yannick Paul Petzold
We would like to thank the staff of Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg especially
Madeleine Mütschele
Marc Wahl
Harald Christ
Benedikt Blanz
Bettina Dobler
Veronika Heyden
Eva Grau
Hannah Kontos
Marc Wahl
Harald Christ
Benedikt Blanz
Bettina Dobler
Veronika Heyden
Eva Grau
Hannah Kontos
Special Thanks
Josef Albrecht
Holger Hahn
Konrad Auwärter
Karin Trippel, city administration Ludwigsburg
Tamara Flor, Vantage Film GmbH
Rene Störzer, city administration Remseck am Neckar
Leander Behal
Janina Zlotos
Sarah Hofmann
Lasse Falk
Haiyang Liu
Fynn Aurich
Aidan Sturm
Vincent Ruhl
Noemi Rammelt (Music Bus Buddy)
Holger Hahn
Konrad Auwärter
Karin Trippel, city administration Ludwigsburg
Tamara Flor, Vantage Film GmbH
Rene Störzer, city administration Remseck am Neckar
Leander Behal
Janina Zlotos
Sarah Hofmann
Lasse Falk
Haiyang Liu
Fynn Aurich
Aidan Sturm
Vincent Ruhl
Noemi Rammelt (Music Bus Buddy)