Cases

Here are a few pieces of client work, alongside my own films and experiments. Different jobs, different tools — and always a concrete reason for making the thing in the first place.

Launching a new product? Launch it! Literally!

‘Doesn't this ignition coil look like a rocket?’ The product-launch idea was there almost the moment I saw it.

The client wanted a social-media teaser for a new product: an ignition coil. The first time I saw it, I noticed the holes in its metal casing. That looks like a rocket engine, I thought.

So I prepared a presentation that took a rather generous detour via the historic Apollo 11 mission, just to build the necessary tension. I wanted to fire this thing into the sky like a rocket. My only worry was whether the client would let me turn the product into a huge exploding object. The team at Nissens loved the idea of literally ‘launching’ the ignition coil.

Nano Banana was new at the time and made it fairly easy to turn the perspective from a tiny ignition coil into a large rocket. Most of the video was made with Veo 3, then the latest video model. Sora 2 had also just arrived in November 2025 — the first model that could create multi-cut clips from one prompt. Perfect for a run of detailed B-roll shots.

Explaining technology in motion

3D animation shows technical processes that are hard to explain with a camera.

Even before AI video became a subject, I was asking how to show things a camera simply can't capture. After our production company closed during the coronavirus pandemic, I spent a lot of time working with 3D animation.

At Black Frame in Mannheim, I managed major 3D productions, including work for Liebherr. It showed me what becomes possible when technical accuracy meets cinematic design.

3D still lets us show things realistically when AI can't reproduce their movement reliably or with technical accuracy. CAD data for the smallest component or an enormous excavator can be rendered down to the last screw, then staged cinematically by the right 3D designer.

I still enjoy projects where we can make something technically unusual visible. For those, I work with the specialist 3D designers in my network.

Imagination is the new budget!

In this personal AI film, I test which images are now possible without a traditional shoot.

AI gives me more images to choose from. The story still comes from the idea, the selection and the rhythm.

It's October 2025. The idea that anything might be possible with AI video has pushed me to test it from the start. At the time, the problems are obvious: clips last only eight to ten seconds, consistent characters don't really work and everything still looks a little artificially AI-made.

I combine different styles in Krea to get as close as I can to a realistic look: imperfect and handheld. The girl wearing striped socks in one shot and white ones in the next isn't the important bit yet. I want the everyday scenes to feel natural, so the leap into fantasy — the adventure in space — feels even bigger.

Isometric explainer films

Making complex processes easy to see and understand.

An isometric graphic style is very good at explaining technical processes, logistics chains and industrial workflows. Looking diagonally down creates spatial depth without losing clarity: viewers can take in the whole system and several sides at once. In the film about the Liebherr Reman programme, that perspective makes the industrial cycle of remanufacturing used components easy to follow.

A photorealistic 3D model can be too much for a clear explainer. It may distract from the point, raise production costs and add rendering time. Isometric vector graphics keep the minimal, modern quality of flat design while adding enough dimension to make depth and movement clear. Even with AI, I work with experienced motion designers when the tools aren't precise enough for technical detail, invent components or introduce errors into the geometry. That keeps the details accurate and consistent with the company's visual identity.

AI makes images. I tell stories.

A short film about the difference between generating an image and telling a story.

If I'm making a film for my workshop to show what AI video can do, why not make an advert for myself while I'm at it?

It's April 2025. Realistic AI video still doesn't look particularly good, and anything that isn't cut like a rapid montage simply doesn't work. So I make a collage in a style of its own, add the voice-over and voilà: the demo for my talk is finished. And I have my own AI video reel — with a story.

Sometimes less is more

In an explainer film, the message comes first. The style should support it, not get in its way.

AI avatars often do the opposite. People stare at the face, wonder about the way it speaks and wait for the tiny moment when the person stops looking quite human. The content disappears into the background.

Sometimes less is more. A simple animated style can make a point more precisely because it shows only what the story needs.

For this demo, I created an animated Hannes to explain what AI can do.