Robert Lembke – Wer bin ich?
This multi-layered documentary reconstructs the life of Robert Lembke, one of the most iconic TV hosts and journalists in post-war Germany. As part of the Megaherz design team I was responsible for the title design and the creation of an extensive motion design package.
The central challenge was to develop a unified visual language that ties together assets from vastly different eras and formats — including photographs, personal documents, archival footage, and studio material. Always with the goal to support the documentary’s narrative.
Tools: Adobe After Effects, Adobe Premiere, Maxon Cinema 4D
Title Design
The title animation draws inspiration from the simple text animations of the early days of television and picks up the light and cheerful character of the original “Was bin ich?” theme melody. It is projected onto a stage curtain to visually integrate with the set design of the reenacted scenes.
Biographical Sequences
To visualize the more turbulent episodes of Robert Lembke’s biography, we created a series of animated sequences.
Using dynamic camera movement, we connected documents, photographs, and illustrations into cohesive visual scenes.
Screen Replacement
To present original footage from “Was bin ich?” in a fitting context, it was composited into a vintage television placed within a stylized living room recreated in the studio.
Side note: A green-painted TV screen wouldn’t have been our first choice for screen replacement — but sometimes, you work with what you’re given. The director loved the set, so we made it work.
Unified Archive Look
To unify the wide variety of visual sources — including archival footage, documents, photographs, and illustrations — we designed a flexible framing system. This allowed us to present assets of varying formats, aspect ratios, and quality levels in a consistent visual context, without disrupting the viewer’s experience.
To handle the nearly 300 elements efficiently, we defined specific workflows implemented through custom scripts for Adobe After Effects.
Keyvisual, Layouts & Explorations
Kevisual for ARD media library: Alsia Wimmer
Credits
Client: SWR, NDR
Production: megaherz
Producer: Fidelis Mager
Director: Martin Weinhart
Motion Design: Markus Feder
Key Visual: Alisa Wimmer