Woodblock, the Berlin studio founded by directing collective Polynoid in 2013, just dropped us their latest magnum opus, Bye Bear – a short film that writer/director Jan Bitzer labels a fever dream and an homage to David Lynch.

Originally pitched to Tim Miller as a chapter for the first season of Love Death + Robots, the project’s arduous six-year development process has ultimately resulted in a beautifully crafted, strangely emotional, and technically radiant 10-minute film layered with symbolism and wide open to interpretation.

Jan Bitzer: “Ultimately, Bye Bear is less about technology itself and more about the universal need for connection, community and belonging. For me, the film is a reminder that even in a time of rapid automation, the most powerful stories are still about love, trust, and friendship.”
 

“For me, the film is a reminder that even in a time of rapid automation, the most powerful stories are still about love, trust, and friendship.”

 
“Since the project was a labor of love, it went through a lot of different iterations and variations. The result is a film that bears the marks of its unrushed creation, where every frame reflects not just technical skill but genuine emotional investment in the storytelling.

“We used Blender for Modeling all the assets, Substance Painter for surfacing and Houdini for layout, animation, FX, shading, lighting and scene assembly. The film was rendered in Redshift in true 4K, edited in Adobe Premiere, compositing took place in Nuke, and final grading and conform was done in Davinci Resolve.

“The overall goal was to limit defining the look in compositing to a minimum and archiving final picture as much as possible in the raw render. We also developed a true anamorphic workflow, rendering exact over scans so we could emulate Panavision lens distortion in Nuke without losing any pixels to cropping. The camera work was restricted to live-action standards, which gives the film its cinematic quality.”

Watch the making-of interview with director Jan Bitzer:
 

 
 

 
Production: Woodblock
Writer/director: Jan Bitzer
Producer: Christian “Chan” Zehetmeier, Ilija Brunck, Jan Bitzer, Jona Brunck
Project Lead: Paul Schicketanz
Production Designer: Jan Bitzer, Tom Weber, Csaba Letay
Layout/Editing: Jan Bitzer
Concept Art: Simon Cowell
Storyboard: Anja von Harsdorf, Dzhuliya Kolontay
Cinematography: Jan Bitzer
Character Design: Tom Weber, Ben Broschinski, Alexander Dietrich, Jamie O’Hara
Character Modeling: Benjamin Broschinski, Tom Weber, Marco Hakenjos, Paul Schicketanz
Set Modeling: Tom Weber, Jan Bitzer, Thorsten Loeffler, Daniel Chun, Dzhuliya Kolontay
Texturing: Sophie Rekasowski, Jan Bitzer, Markus Eschrich, Daniel Chun, Raphael Tonn
Animation Lead: Marco Kowalik
Animation: Daniel Chun, Diana Gladenick, Georg Schneider, Jorrit Stadelmann, Jan Bitzer
Lighting Lead: Markus Eschrich
Lighting: Ole Bohnacker, Jan Bitzer
FX Lead: Fabian “Pit” Pross
Fluids/Destruction: Felix Barthel
Grooming: Georg Schneider, Rebecca Liebelt
Hair/Cloth Simulation: Christoffer Wolters, Paul Schicketanz
Tree Simulation: Ole Bohnacker
Compositing Lead: Falko Paeper
Compositing: Csaba Letay, Thorsten Löffler, Paul Schicketanz, Sophie Rekasowski, Markus Eschrich, Sarah Eim, Ole Bohnacker
Grading: Thorsten Löffler
Pipeline/RnD: Michael Heberlein, Thorsten Löffler, Paul Golter, Jack Perkins, Falko Paeper
IT Dept: Csaba Letay, Peter Hartfield
Unreal RnD: Tobias Stärk
Title/Credits: Diana Toro

Music/Sound Design: Rob Clouth

Mix: Neuton Berlin
Mixer: Thomas Wallmann

Funding: MFG Baden-Württemberg