rollin safari short film

Too Round to Run: ROLLIN' SAFARI

Editorial note: The following article was written as part of the Animationsinstitut's anniversary publication "20 Years 20 Projects" . This commemorative publication celebrating the Institute's 20th anniversary featured 20 iconic projects from the Animationsinstitut's eventful and moving history. The article below was written by Filmakademie alumnus Johannes Weiland about the project ROLLIN’ SAFARI.

Johannes Weiland works as a freelance director, animator, film musician, and lecturer in Ludwigsburg. After successfully completing his studies at the Filmakademie’s Animationinstitut in 2003, he initially gained professional experience at various European animation companies.

However, he was drawn back to Ludwigsburg. Over the years he has realized several award-winning short films and TV series productions together with the company Studio Soi. He also works at the institution he formerly trained at: since 2007, as senior lecturer at the Animationsinstitut, he has been supervising the AniFilm/AniPlay module and a large number of student projects from the initial idea to completion.

Johannes’s best-known directing projects include short films such as DER KLEINE UND DAS BIEST (THE LITTLE BOY AND THE BEAST), DAS GRÜFFELOKIND (THE GRUFFALO’S CHILD), HESSI JAMES and the TV series TRUDES TIER (TRUDE’S FLATMATE) and PETZI (RASMUS KLUMP).

Constantin Niklas Paeplow (left) was born in Hamburg in 1988. He completed his high school studies at the Kaiser-Friedrich-Ufer Gymnasium in 2007 and began working at Trickompany Filmproduktion in 2008. In 2009 he started studying Animation at the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg, where he graduated at the Animationsinstitut in 2015.

In 2014 he began working as animation director at Passion Pictures LTD in London, together with his fellow student and directing partner Kyra Buschor (center). Since then, they have won multiple awards and have worked on numerous projects such as commercials, trailers, and short films. Nowadays, both are mostly known for the ROLLIN’ WILD (formerly ROLLIN’ SAFARI) project that was developed during their studies at the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg. Kyra and Constantin continue to work on further episodes of ROLLIN’ WILD.

Ännie Habermehl (right) moved to Berlin and worked in various VFX studios after graduating from the Filmakademie. In 2018 she decided to take an extended break from the film industry and travelled for some time. She has since found a new home in Freiburg and a new passion: gardening. Ännie now animates all sorts of plants in real time.

Too Round to Run—Article by Johannes Weiland

“What if all animals were round?”—that is one of the many questions that I have had the opportunity to address over the last 15 years. Because everyone who begins their studies at the Animationsinstitut is confronted with the mantra of the former director of the institute Andreas Hykade: every film needs a central image and a central question . The so-called “trailer semester” has been and still is my main point of contact with the Animationsinstitut over many years and I think I have slowly come to regard myself as its bedrock.

It began in 2002, when the Animationsinstitut had just been founded and I was completing my own project course there. We students were asked if we are interested in creating a trailer, a short animated promotional film, for the Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Film (ITFS) . It sounded like a good idea for some fruitful cooperation: the festival got a readymade film, the students something for their showreel. The film was also shown on the big cinema screen. We signed up for it and designed an ITFS trailer as a team (BUNNIES).

BUNNIES (ITFS Trailer 2002)

This trial cooperation then became a fixed part of the project course. The following year, the five-month seminar assignment by the name of “ITFS Trailer” began. The aim was to create a short, high-quality film for the ITFS. Every student had to take part in it .

New trailers were developed in every new year of study. All the completed films were then shown at the ITFS, but only one was used as the so-called “main trailer”. Achieving that was the holy grail . The FMX had an eye on these projects as well and also picked a film as the FMX trailer—an even holier grail that the teams secretly coveted even more...

FMX – Film and Media Exchange

In 2007, I had the opportunity to take on a post, providing regular artistic support for this trailer semester and I have witnessed the involvement of every year of students without interruption ever since. I have probably supported the development of around 75 projects now.

The years have passed. I have been confronted with some difficult, crazy, sometimes boring, but also completely fantastic ideas for potential trailers. I remember one particular day very well. It was the project development phase and we were all sitting together in a circle. Anyone who wanted to speak had the chance to present their project ideas. It was the turn of the team of Kyra Buschor, Constantin Paeplow, and Ännie Habermehl, and they held up a picture they had painted themselves. It showed a leopard hunting a gazelle. Both animals were completely round, blown up like balloons with short arms and legs—and clearly neither was in control of the situation. The team explained: “We asked ourselves: What would it be like if animals were round, if they wanted to do their typical animal things, but were not in a physical position to do so?”

Loud laughter was the response from our circle. Everyone understood this image clearly. You could already see the film playing in your mind’s eye. It was not just that the balloon-like animals looked extremely funny in their design. Also, the idea that, because of their physique, they were completely at the mercy of their environment was actually genius. A perfect central image with a perfect central question! Wherever they showed their painting, the reaction was always the same: enthusiasm.

What would it be like if animals were round, if they wanted to do their typical animal things, but were not in a physical position to do so?

ROLLIN' SAFARI Episodes

Yet, it was still hard work for the team to tease out the real core and humor of the idea. They had to realize, for example, that their idea was at its most powerful when it was left on its own. Any complex plot that they tried to narrate was in vain and turned out to be more boring than the basic idea. Therefore, they decided that they would rather show a few brief moments so that they could pick up on the situational comedy better.

A very wise decision! Because in this way, the world of the ball animals could unfold properly: the familiar animals were joined by ball-shaped zebras, round flamingos and inflated crocodiles in other scenes... all of them very funny to watch.

There was a realization that film scripts could certainly work through visual jokes alone and did not necessarily have to deliver a tense plot or interesting dialogue: a plot such as “a leopard chases a gazelle—both trip over” is clearly not a masterpiece of the dramatic art. But anyone who sees the clips immediately recognizes that even a plot like “a leopard falls from a tree” can be extremely amusing, provided that it is also visualized in such a distinctive way.

The three of them really realized their idea with a sense for great timing and staging, wonderful camera work, and well-observed animation . Four episodes were made, which poked fun at the typical scenes from animal documentaries in a highly amusing way. The mini-series, which until then went by the working title of “ball animals,” was then given its official name of ROLLIN’ SAFARI (2012).

Then came the final semester presentation with the usual procedure: Uli Wegenast, the artistic director of the ITFS and Thomas Haegele, the head of the institute at that time, took another look at the finished trailers to select the film for “their” respective festivals (keyword: holy grail!). In fact, there was a series of great trailers that year, but the two of them were fixated on ROLLIN’ SAFARI. Both claimed it for themselves and they began to argue —a bit like two stubborn boys. It took some beer and wine in the Blauer Engel (a restaurant on campus in Ludwigsburg) to arrive at a mediated solution: they simply shared the trailer (there were four episodes, after all). So, both festivals were able to base their marketing on ROLLIN’ SAFARI and work together effectively. The ball animals had therefore won both grails... very impressive!

Of course, the resonance at the official premiere of ROLLIN’ SAFARI was outstanding. Two of the three team members, Kyra and Constantin, decided they wanted to continue to exploit the potential of the concept going forward. With the project in their bags, they were invited to London. Passion Pictures tempted them with an offer of permanent jobs , with the result that they only spent part of their time in Ludwigsburg throughout the rest of their studies. For their diploma, they produced three more ROLLIN’ SAFARI episodes and then moved entirely to London. Kyra and Constantin seem to have found themselves as a directorial team. They are still working together—eight years on—as advertising directors with Passion Pictures.

ROLLIN’ SAFARI has also become a brand , now known as ROLLIN’ WILD. Now and again, when they have time, Kyra and Constantin make a new, short, amusing clip. Then, it is shared online and, in some cases, accumulates as many as fifty million views! ROLLIN’ WILD has just under 100.000 followers on Instagram. They offer a wide range of ROLLIN’ WILD products in their online shop: clothes, accessories, and round cuddly toys, too! It was a little merchandising dream that they fulfilled during the coronavirus lockdown, they told me.

But for both of them, the ROLLIN’ WILD brand is now a side-line to their main directorial work. Nevertheless, the ripples that this apparently simple idea from their old student days has made are remarkable.

For the Animationsinstitut, the course of the project also had a particular effect at another level: it could be that ROLLIN’ SAFARI gave birth to today’s “AniFilm/AniPlay” semester . What was once the ITFS trailer semester has continually moved on over the last ten years. Short, high-quality projects still have to be produced in just a few months. But the remit has changed fundamentally: instead of a film, the challenge is now to invent an interesting brand, an intellectual property (IP), that can be exploited in a wide variety of forms. All the specializations at the Animationsinstitut play a part in this. A central image and a central question are now turned into multiple products (films/games/installations, etc.).

Study Animation at the Animationsinstitut!

The “ball animals” were definitely a milestone in the history of the Animationsinstitut. I am excited to see what will come next. The question “What if all animals were round?” has certainly not yet been answered completely. I hope that Constantin and Kyra will think up one or two more amusing animal stories. But even the existing episodes will continue to bring a smile to the faces of many more thousands or even millions of people, I am sure. Thank you for that!

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Rollin’ Safari, Animated Shorts of Bloated & Round Wild Animals

• March 9, 2013

Rollin’ Safari is a series of four animated shorts created as an animation project by students from Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttemberg , a film school in Germany. Each short puts a humorous spin on animals seen in the wild by making them extremely bloated and round. When a roly-poly predator chases down it’s prey, it is now very entertaining to watch, not gruesome. Rollin’ Safari was entered into the upcoming ITFS and FMX animated film festivals. You can learn more on the project from CGSociety and the official Rollin’ Wild Facebook page .

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Rollin' Safari

Rollin' safari - four official trailers itfs 2013 and fmx 2013.

• International
• Animation Prize

Rollin' Safari: Balloon Animals Animated Short Is Adorable, Hilarious

Balloon animals are pretty great but what if animals in the wild were actually balloon-shaped. What then?!

This video done by German animation studio, Flying Stone GBR , features a bunch of bloated, roly-poly African safari animals. All that's missing is a David Attenborough voice over.

The video was featured as a trailer for two special effects festivals back in April.

HT The Mary Sue

Also on HuffPost

13 Dancing Animals GIFs

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Rollin' Safari (2012)

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31 Best Wordless Videos to Teach Problem Solving

Wordless videos are a fun and entertaining way to get your students learning and talking. Using wordless videos to teach problem-solving is a great way to keep your students stay engaged all while working on their goals.

Who Could Benefit From Wordless Videos?

Students who struggle to solve social problems can benefit from first practicing problem-solving someone else’s problems in a wordless animation, for example, prior to having to solve the social problems in their own lives. It’s easier to identify problems in someone else’s life than it is in your own life.

Ways in Which to Use Voiceless Videos

• Answering wh-questions: Have your students watch the animated short film and then ask them wh-questions.
• Retell a story/sequencing: After watching the films have your students retell or sequence the short film.
• Solving hypothetical problems: Use the following wordless videos to teach problem-solving. Stop the video throughout and have your students identify the problem and a possible solution to the problem. Then you can move on to practice solving problems in real life .
• Predictions/inferences: Stop the video throughout and have your students make predictions and inferences about what might happen next in the film.

Don’t Forget to Grab your Freebie!

Be sure to grab the freebie that goes along with this bundle of wordless videos. The freebie comes with:

• Problem-solving
• A set of wh-questions
• Story retell with predictions

There are 31 sets of the following worksheets.

Before you begin…

• I have watched all of these short animations to make sure they are appropriate. However, please preview the entire video prior to showing your students as you know best what is appropriate for your level of comfort and for your individual students.
• Almost all of these videos show ads prior to the start of the animation short. I suggest cueing up the video prior to showing the video to your students as some ads may not be appropriate.

31 Wordless Videos to Teach Problem Solving

1. t he small shoemaker: 5:32 minutes.

This short is about Mr. Botte’s shoemaker’s shop, and the passionate and skillful shoemaker’s daily life is about to be disturbed as another shoemaker creates a street vendor stall just in front of Mr. Botte’s store!

2. The Sweet Cocoon: 5:57 minutes

End video by 4:55. Please preview the end of this video prior to showing it to your students. I have decided to end this video by 4:55 minutes to avoid the sad ending for some of my students.

This animation is about two insects that decide to help a struggling caterpillar in her metamorphosis process!

3. The Wishgranter: 4:48 minutes

This short film is about a world where wishes are granted by mythical beings that live under fountains. The wish granter is forced to go above ground in order to grant a wish of love.

4. Dustin: 7:45 minutes

This super cute animation is about a pug learning to have a new roommate of an automatic cleaning robot.

5. Rollin’ Safari: 2:01 minutes

Enjoy this fun short film about what the world would be like if animals were round.

6. Piper: 3:20 minutes

Watch a hungry sandpiper hatchling as she ventures from her nest for the first time to dig for food by the shoreline. However, the only problem is that the food is buried under the sand where scary waves roll up onto the shore.

7. Hola Llamingo: 3:52 minutes

Enjoy this film about the beautiful, fleeting friendship between a boy and his pinata which comes to life.

8. Soar: 6:14 minutes

This short film called Soar is about a young girl who must help a tiny boy pilot fly home before it’s too late.

9. Brush A Fox Tale: 3:37 minutes

A young fox who enjoys painting has a crush on his neighbor. When he tries to hide it his other paintings come to life to try to convince him otherwise.

10. Fishing with Sam: 5:53 minutes

A pesky little penguin keeps stealing all the fish from a bear, a seal, and two other penguins, but they disguise a plan to take care of that pesky little penguin.

11. The Box: 7:01 minutes

This animation is about an old man who finds a mouse in his house. He ends up taming the mouse he first wanted to get rid of.

12. Coin Operated: 5:14 minutes

Watch this short film about the life of a young man that spans over 70 years in the life of one naive explorer.

13. Partly Cloudy: 5:49 minutes

Enjoy this super cute film. Everyone knows that it is a stork that delivers babies, but where do the storks get the babies from? The answer comes from the clouds, where cloud people sculpt babies from clouds and bring them to life.

14. Lifted: 5:03 minutes

A cute animation about a young alien who is in training to capture a human but gets overwhelmed with all the switches.

15. Ormie The Pig: 3:52 minutes

This fun short is about a pig named Ormie. Ormie wants a cookie. But they are out of reach…or are they? See Ormie’s attempts to gain the warm sweet taste that is his obsession.

16. Embarked: 4:24 minutes

Watch this super cute short about a treehouse who follows his family even after the young boy moves away.

17. SpellBound: 3:06 minutes

A young girl who is jealous of her sister must save her after writing negative thoughts that unexpectedly transform into monsters.

18. The Birds: 3:25 minutes

An animated short about a group of small birds that make fun of a larger funny-looking bird, but when they try and get rid of the larger funny-looking bird their plan backfires and the large bird is soon laughing at his bullies.

19. A Fox and A Mouse: 6:23 minutes

Enjoy this sweet animation as a lonely fox hunts a mouse – and their relationship evolves as two owls begin to get in the middle of the fox’s hunt!

20. Pigeon Impossible: 6:15 minutes

A newbie secret agent is faced with a problem seldom covered in basic training: what to do when a pigeon gets trapped inside your multi-million dollar, government-issued nuclear briefcase.

21. The Children’s Tree: 1:58 minutes

This short film is about an imaginative little girl, a good-hearted old tree, and a helpful butterfly.

22. Hey Deer: 6:15 minutes

This fun short film is about an adorable, cocoa-drinking deer who is eager to tidy and shovel show in front of his house every day. However, there is a suspicious earthquake every night which causes the mess day by day. Between two cups of cocoa, the amazing truth reveals itself which changes the deer’s life forever…

23. Catch It: 5:25 minutes

A group of meerkats takes care of their beloved and unique fruit but a twist happens when a vulture comes and disturbs their peace of mind.

24. Mouse for Sale: 4:16 minutes

This short is about a lonely mouse in a pet shop, craving to be bought by someone. But he’s got one big problem: his huge ears. The kids entering the store keep laughing at him. Will Snickers find the buddy he so desires, someone who will take him for who he is?

25. One Man Band: 4:02 minutes

Watch this super cute short about a young peasant girl with one coin left when she encounters two competing street performers who’d prefer the coin find its way into their tip jars. The little girl is caught in the middle as a musical duel ensues between the one-man-bands.

26. Dust Buddies: 4:05 minutes

A story about the friendship between two dust bunnies who live peacefully under a couch. When an evil maid comes to clean the house and sucks Fuzz into her vacuum, Lint must overcome his fears and set out to rescue his friend.

27. The Stubborn Donkey: 4:25 minutes

The short film is all about a stubborn donkey who is difficult to move but a bit of greek music just could do the trick.

28. The Egyptian Pyramids: 3:36 minutes

This cute animation is about an archaeologist who is about to discover the secret of the Egyptian Pyramids.

29. Minuscule: 5:09 minutes

The short film revolves around the day-to-day existence of slugs and how a caterpillar tries to blend into the family.

30. Jinky Jenkins and Lucky Lou: 3:52 minutes

When the misfortunate Jenkins and the Lucky Lou run into each other one morning, they find a thrilling and fulfilling change of pace as they hurtle down the hills of San Francisco in an ice cream cart.

31. Can I Stay: 3:48 minutes

This sweet short animation is about an apprehensive homeless girl who must traverse a dangerous, wintry city in order to escape her adorable pursuers.

Get me my Problem Solving Wordless Videos Freebie!

Problem Solving Restorative Justice Graphic Visual :

Use this Flip Book Graphic Visual to help your students solve their conflicts with others and to make things right.

• 1. Identify the Problem: Fill out the scenario by writing down what happened and drawing what happened.
• 2. Have your Student Identify their Feelings: Draw their emotions and write down their thoughts in the thought bubble.
• 3. Have the other Student Involved Identify their Feelings: Draw the other person’s emotions and write down the other person’s thoughts in the thought bubble.
• 4. Make Things Right: Identify how to make things better.
• 5. My Notes: Fill in any additional information you might find helpful to know or remember.

Get your students talking and problem-solving using these super cute wordless animation videos to teach them problem-solving skills. Also, you can use these short videos to teach story retell, sequencing, answering wh-questions, or inferences/predictions. Are your students ready to start solving real-life problems? Be sure to grab the 71+ problem-solving scenarios freebie to get additional problem-solving practice!

Tuesday 7th of February 2023

I have used this resource numerous times. This is amazing! I appreciate you taking the time to create this and for making it free. My students love them. you visuals and graphics are on point. Will you be making more. I would pay for it as I find it worth it and very useful. Some of the other Wordless Video I have seen that I like include: The Present, Snack Attack, Carrot Crazy, and The Bridge. There are others...Please let us know! Thanks again!

Melissa Berg

Wednesday 8th of February 2023

Hi Judith, Thanks so much for reaching out! I'm happy to know you like this resource. I currently don't have another set in the works, but since it is a fan favorite I can definitely add it to my list of ideas for the future. Thanks for the suggestion and additional videos to look into. All my best, Melissa

Monday 7th of November 2022

This is great for my high-functioning autism students!

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Rollin' Safari

Humorous children's film with animals.

Film commentary: Rollin' Safari

Discover the other films in the series on the website of the creators, genre and keywords, recommended age, discover another comedy cartoon for children, other films to see with the family....

ROLLIN` SAFARI - what if animals were round?

ROLLIN` SAFARI - what if animals were round?