Isadore Post Bellum
60 seconds
About the Project
The goal of this project was to raise awareness about Mr. Zdenek Daneš and his life.
Post Bellum is a non-profit organization that documents the memories of witnesses who suffered under totalitarian regimes in the 20th Century, passing these stories on to the broader public.
To mark the occasion, they teamed up with cycle-clothing manufacturer Isadore who changed their long-standing claim "The Road is the Way of Life" to "Freedom is the Way of Life" and created a collection of jerseys, the proceeds of which supported Post Bellum.
Synopsis
Czechoslovakia in the 1950s was a dangerous place for many. Zdenek Daneš and his wife decided they needed to leave the country and flee across the border. They travelled through the Bohemian forests, evading police and at one point chased by a police dog which they outran thanks to their bikes. Eventually they reached the safety of West Germany. The couple moved to the US where Zdenek lived a prosperous life.
Riding is freedom but sometimes we have to ride towards our freedom.
How we did it
The visual style was inspired by the sketches that Zdenko Daneš himself drew in his diary.
Similar to the Sokol project, we combined cartoon animation with digital post-production techniques as much as possible. The blue and red colours emphasised the contrast between the protagonists and the danger they are running away from.
To give the film a contextual feeling for the period, we animated at 12 frames per second, reminiscent of the archive materials and drawings of the time.
The entire film, including the script, was created in one week.
The work has won several awards including 1st place Zlatý středník for the Best Video and its Use and a Special Award for animation in video at Fenix Content Marketing.
We were very proud of this film.
Credits
Screenplay: Jiří Machů, Isadore
Animation: Michal Černý, Jiří Machů
Illustration: Jiří Machů
Sound Design: Jiří Machů