MAD GOD
How a beer with Phil Tippett changed everything.
Before Firlefanz Films, before The Last Bar, before the YDA — there was a film student at the FMX conference in Stuttgart who signed up to look after a very particular speaker. Three weeks early, before anyone else had even thought about it. That student was Arne. The speaker was Phil Tippett. And what followed was one of the most formative chapters in Arne’s career.
Who is Phil Tippett?
If you’ve watched Star Wars, RoboCop, Jurassic Park, or Starship Troopers, you’ve seen Phil Tippett’s work — you just might not have known it. Phil is the stop-motion legend who animated the original Star Wars films in the seventies, later founded his own studio, and played a central role in the shift from stop-motion to computer animation — winning two Oscars along the way. He is, in short, one of the most important figures in the entire history of the craft Arne has dedicated his life to.
When Phil came to the FMX, Arne had signed up to look after him three weeks in advance. When they finally met, the two hit it off immediately — drinking a beer or two, and Phil was relieved that Arne didn’t just want to talk about VFX and Star Wars. When Arne expressed interest in Phil’s long-running passion project Mad God, Phil invited him to California on the spot.
The spots have that warm, handmade quality that stop-motion does better than anything else — the kind of thing you notice out of the corner of your eye and think, wait, what was that? before rewinding. That’s the goal. That’s the magic.
Six Weeks in Berkeley — Then Eight Months
Arne packed his bags and flew to Berkeley. For the duration of his stay, Phil put him up in his guest room, and every day the two drove to the studio together. It was, by all accounts, like making his own films — only at a scale and with a level of equipment he had never worked with before. The six weeks flew by. Then Phil called and offered him a visa and eight months of proper work at Tippett Studios. Arne said yes before he’d finished the sentence.
MAD GOD — Thirty Years in the Making
Phil worked on Mad God for over thirty years. Without constant funding it wasn’t always easy, but Phil is an incredibly focused and impressive person — every day except Sunday he would go to the studio, sit in meetings, and then start tinkering and crafting. He is not above any task.
During his time there, Arne did a bit of everything: building props, shooting high-speed footage, stop-motion animation, compositing — and on a few occasions, pulling on a costume and playing a character called The Alchemist himself. He got to work alongside legends like Jim Aupperle — who had worked on Ghostbusters and Nightmare Before Christmas — as well as incredible stop-motion animators Webster Colcord, Chuck Duke and Tom Gibbons, all of whom taught him an enormous amount.
In Phil, Arne found not just a collaborator but a mentor. A real one. The kind you don’t forget.
And Then, Out of Nowhere — Star Wars
Just before Mad God wrapped, news broke that Tippett Studios would once again be animating the Dejarik chessboard for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker — the same iconic scene Phil had originally animated in the first Star Wars film, always recreated using stop-motion for each new installment. Because Arne was in the right place at the right time, Phil gave him the chance to help animate it. Together with Chuck Duke and Tom Gibbons, Arne animated the Dejarik chessboard for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.
Not bad for a kid from rural Bavaria who started making films with his dad’s camera at age eight.
Why This Matters for Firlefanz Films
The Mad God chapter isn’t a Firlefanz Films project in the traditional sense — but it’s inseparable from everything we do. The skills Arne built during those months in Berkeley, the discipline of working at that level, the mentorship of Phil and his team — all of it came back with him to Germany, and all of it quietly underpins every frame of stop-motion we’ve made since. You don’t work alongside those people without it leaving a mark.
Mad God was completed, ran successfully at festivals worldwide, and is now available to stream. If you haven’t seen it — it’s unlike anything else in existence. Which is exactly what you’d expect from a film thirty years in the making.
Credits — Mad God (2022)
- Director: Phil Tippett
- Stop-Motion Animation: Arne Hain, Chuck Duke, Tom Gibbons, Webster Colcord & others
- Director of Photography: Chris Morley
- Editor: Ken Rogersson
- Special Effects DP: Jim Aupperle
- Production: Tippett Studio, Berkeley CA