BEHIND THE MENHEIM CLINIC

Why do it?

Conceived within a weekend and pitched to our professors, The MenHeim Clinic was a small idea turned giant passion project that was one of our most challenging and unique experiences as animators. Initially, the film was created out of our school's desperate need for 3d animated film representation. Thus, a couple of 3d animators and a story artist came together to create the 3d/2d hybrid horror fever dream that is The MenHeim Clinic! We wanted to explore the mixing 3d and 2d animations like we had seen in our favorite recent works like Spiderverse and Arcane, but with our unique visual style. However, we wanted to do more than just make a simple horror with flashy visuals; the story was important to us. In the film, we explore the horrors of love and tragedy. Our characters both are dealing with a great loss. Dädrian’s tragedy is external and obvious as you follow him on his search for his lost brother. Dr. MenHeim’s tragedy is internal and ambiguous running parallel to the main story, a mystery for the audience to piece together. An odd pair, both characters are driven by deep dark emotions all because of their connection with one man, Elias. The story of two kindred spirits in conflict because fate wills it so, which is what makes the story truly interesting. It was a pretty lofty idea for a short film, but a fun challenge to figure out how to make it work alongside all of our equally ambitious visual, sound, and animation ideas.

The MenHeim Clinic is an amazing film for its content and the context in which it was made!

We taught ourselves many new programs and gained new skills just to improve the film’s quality. We led/worked with 70+ current students, alumni, and students from our school’s other campus to help with our big workload. We even had support from other student film crews on campus cheering and assisting us to whom we paid homage in our film’s many easter eggs. The production had many ups and downs throughout our senior year, and we had to explore many workarounds to maintain our ambitious vision until the end. However, we pushed ourselves to the limit for our film sparing no expense. We wanted the best horror, story, animation, music, and visuals, and, frankly, I think we had all that and then some. We hope you enjoy the film!