We needed a Hitler who really vibed with the dog': meet Lexie, the world's first cinemadographer

A short film titled Blondi presents the dying days of the Third Reich using a camera strapped to a dog rather than a human operator. The camera’s placement on Lexie, a seven-month-old German shepherd, frames the image through the dog’s ears and produces shakiness and unusual angles. The filmmakers aim to make the experience uncomfortable, dirtier, grittier, and uglier to support the story’s emotional impact. The director and producer describe the dog as a source of different creative input and emphasize trust in the animal to generate the visual style. The premiere in Brixton also included a brief behind-the-scenes documentary.

"For Blondi, shot 102 years later, the camera was strapped to a dog. Lexie, a seven-month-old German shepherd, is both the title character Hitler's last dog, possibly the most famous hound in geopolitics but is also the director of photography, or cinemadographer if you prefer, as both Alvarez-Hornia (the film's producer) and Jack Salvadori (its director) certainly do. It makes for a novel cinematic experience. Sometimes you feel a bit sick at the sudden changes of pace and freaky angles."

"Some things need to be made uncomfortable, says Alvarez-Hornia, and, in a way, it needed to be dirtier and grittier and uglier for it to work. Lexie and colleagues on stage. Photograph: Harry Sweeney The image throughout is framed by Lexie's two enthusiastic ears, since the camera is on her back. Salvadori loves most the elements he didn't expect, the shakiness, for instance, is something I'd never thought of."

"And that's why I really wanted to trust the dog to do this project, because I wanted to see, you know, a completely different creative input. Originally fromItaly, Salvadori, 29, met Alvarez-Hornia, 27 and from Spain, in Cannes six years ago; both had studied directing in London. Salvadori has always loved dogs; Alvarez-Hornia is allergic but was happy to sacrifice a small bit of my health in exchange for making that movie."

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