These are preliminary sketches for my short film Captain Bligh from 2003. There a lots of small ideas that had to be left out of the film (…what a pity). The drawings were exhibited at the Filmakademie for quite some time.
I started browsing through my old sketchbooks in search for some drawings I could use. So far I choose those three. The last one is from my time in Dublin when I worked for Brown Bag Animation in 2007. Once again it rained….
Imagefilm
An Imagefilm I did for Asseco Germany. Most of the work was spent on the design. I like it. Music by Frank Schreiber, script Susanne Decker, voice artist Christian Deutsch.
Here is the youtube link:
Another Film for Planet Wissen, this time about Cookies. I did a variation on the simplified style I normally do, because I was starting to get bored. This was done in about 5 days which was only made possible by the help of Cologne based animator Kerstin Unger (http://kerstinunger.com/). Thanks to her. It is a little rough but it works quite well.
Here are two book I have illustrated in 2011/2012 for Arena. I like the sidekicks especially- the small mammoth and the dinosaur. The cooperation with Volker präkelt and Bärbel Müller was very pleasant. I am working at another volume of this series about pirates at the moment. 
http://www.arena-verlag.de/helden/derek-roczen
I made 5 new films for Planet Wissen
Sozialversicherung (Social Insurance ), Vegetarismus (Vegetarianism, Risiko (risk taking), 2 for Existiert die Welt (Does the worl exist)
Risiko is probably the most funny one. I am gonna post a link as soon as it is online, although I am afraid you need to know some German to get some of the jokes. I will post a link as soon as it is online.
Vegetarianism:
Risk:
Social Insurance
This is a project from 2011 I did for the Landtag Baden Württemberg for Taks Film and director Dorothea Künzel. The process was a little protracted, because I had participated in pitch the year before. In retrospect the design I did back then was a little to lame, so I lost to Angela Steffen, but got the job when she decided to work on Andreas Hykades Tom. I was first supposed to use her design, which I didn´t like. I am a great fan of Angela but this case was different. So I did a complete redesign, which I like a lot.
The film explains the mechanics of the regional parliament and is often used in schools. It is a pity, that I haven´t found another use for this style so far. By the way thanks to Annette Schneider of Taks Film and Dorothea Künzig for her advice….
I uploaded an edit of the animated scenes. I don´t have the sound files so they are without sound, but I hope you will get the idea.
These are some drawings from the first pitch and a link to the animation test I did back then.
Karambolage/ Glücksschwein
This was a work for Arte done in 2011. Karambolage is a TV show that is shown in Germany and in France and always explains customs of the other country. In this case it is about the Glücksschwein. In Germany for example small figurines of pigs are used as lucky charms. So if you want to wish somebody good luck you might give him a small pig made of marzipan as a present. The film explains the origins of this custom.
Basically I haven´t worked on my blog the last two years, which might be a mistake because it is the only sign of life some people might get, and a lot happened these two years. So I will start to put thinks up there irregularly. I hope someone will enjoy it.
First thing, this is also almost 2 years old is an episode of Quarks and Co., a German science TV show. I did the characters, the design as well as the animation and parts of the After Effects stuff, but credit is due to Frank Mai, with whom I collaborate from time to time. If you want to watch the episode here is the link:
http://www.wdr.de/tv/quarks/sendungsbeitraege/2013/0514/kaese_003.jsp
Hi there.
I am afraid I haven´t updated this blog for quite a long time. basically I´ve been quite busy. I am working on several new projects at the moment. The most important of which is a short film about Eduard Mörike I will probably dedicate a new post, to my concept art and so on in a little while.
I did a special for 3 Sat about philosophy (the episode about creed, the series is called Kopfkino and it was commissioned by Raketefilm in Frankfurt). I did the graphics, animation and I like some of my ideas…. It was something new for me. It took much longer then I first thought, because most of the stuff is hand drawn and it is new style for me. But you can judge yourself:
http://www.3sat.de/mediathek/?mode=play&obj=17487
Take care, Derek
Derek Roczen's Weblog 
