Permanent Collection

Martin Schmidt Captures Panic Attack in “LINES” Short Film

Posted on Wednesday, February 18, 2026

German director/animator Martin Schmidt just dropped us his new personal short film LINES – a minimalist yet intense collision of sound and motion inspired by animation pioneers Norman McLaren and Oskar Fischinger.

Martin Schmidt: “After many years of developing narrative TV and cinema projects for clients, I felt the urgent need to return to the roots of visual music.

“The film visualizes the visceral experience of a panic attack. It explores the breaking point of tension and how the collapse of rigid boundaries, whether in a burnout state or in a polarized society, can finally lead to peace.

“We didn’t want to just add sound to the picture. Instead, the film was created in an intense iterative loop between myself and the sound team.”

“The biggest challenge was the symbiotic production process. We didn’t want to just add sound to the picture. Instead, the film was created in an intense iterative loop between myself and the sound team.

“The aggressive vibrating patterns of the color fields dictated the quality of the music and sound design, while the intimate, panic-driven breathing in the audio track forms the base of the visual rhythm.

“Technically, the goal was to achieve the imperfect, vibrating aesthetic of 1920s analog film using modern digital tools, bringing sterile geometry to life with organic emotional chaos.”