Danny

Biography

DANNY represents the work of design-driven director Daniel Bartels. He creates visual stories with a keen eye on design.
Daniel is a very passionate person with the strength to create the universal visual language for a product or an artist and to enhance it using the power of visual effects. His specialties are abstract concepts with a focus on elaborated details.

Daniel studied media design in Mainz, where he discovered his passion for the magic of animation and visual effects. He deepened the knowledge from his studies with an internship at ACHT in Frankfurt. After that, Daniel worked beside his studies as a freelancer for animation, where he also acquired skills abroad in Shanghai for PIXOMONDO. The know-how he gained led Daniel to create and realize a music video for his diploma thesis. This experience successfully pointed his interest in directing, even more so when the work received fantastic reviews and led to winning awards and praise at international festivals.

After graduation, Daniel continued working at ACHT as a Motion Designer, where he worked for clients like Audi, ZDF, ProSieben, Lufthansa and Loreal. In 2011 Daniel changed to The Marmelade, taking over the 2D department in Duesseldorf. During this time, he continued collecting experience as a director for music videos.

Daniel started full-time freelancing in 2015 as a motion designer on projects for clients like Braun, Mercedes, BMW, and VW. This work gave him financial and creative freedom for directing, the career he now pursues professionally. Besides freelancing, he directed a music video for Universal Music: Lena Meyer-Landrut – Traffic Lights.

Daniels first commercial work was for Porsche, making way for him in advertising. The full CG project enabled him to combine the motion design experience, aesthetics, and skills with his directing knowledge. In a commercial campaign for Mercedes x DFB for the Worldcup in 2018, Daniel was not only the animation director but supervised a top international team of motion designers. This work expanded to additional commercial work for Bombay Sapphire, Munich RE, Reebok, SAP and König Pilsener.