Director Danae Grandison on pitching, community, and finding her place in film.
Interviews • 4min read
Interviews • Written by Genero
After creating the brilliant mockumentary ‘Eddie: For the love of video‘, we caught up with German director Carlo Opperman to go behind the scenes on the short film, which was commissioned by HP as part of their Keep Reinventing campaign.
EDDIE - Aus Liebe zum Vidjo
EDDIE - Aus Liebe zum Vidjo | Making-Of
Being constantly surrounded by colleagues and creative people, you automatically develop this very specific form of humour that applies to your specific profession. From time to time you realise that all the people around you feel the same and you are not alone with the ups & downs connected to working in a creative job. Basically I wanted to portrait a funny and ironic example of my own lifestyle and of the people I work with. I wanted to make the target audience feel understood. It definitely has its autobiographic elements 😉
If you keep looking for challenges and you’re not afraid to take them, you’ll reinvent yourself along the way.
In my opinion, there is no recipe, but one thing I learned for myself: If you keep looking for challenges and you’re not afraid to take them, you’ll reinvent yourself along the way. You’ll have to. Jump in the water and you’ll learn how to swim.
It was the most fun I had directing something in a long time. Compared to a normal commercial, music video or film production that is supposed to meet visual standards of quality, we radically scaled-down the crew on this one. It’s been just Lukas (Eddie), Christian on camera, Patrick recording audio and myself directing & producing. The documentary/mockumentary style of the film made this possible and necessary. That’s probably why it was so much fun: It was a professional, yet incredible creative experience. We were able to improvise a lot and just see where the scenes would take us. We shot a scene each day and really had an incredible week. There wasn’t the usual rush and time pressure because of extra hours and big crews. Just four friends making their little movie, as cliché as it sounds.
We shot it mostly on our own gear, to be flexible and fast. Sony FS700, handheld, zoom lens. Both the DOP Christian Alsan and I are touring with bands around the globe – so we are used to “run-and-gun” filming. We knew how much a funny moment could be ruined by big and slow equipment. E.g. It’s all available light in the film. Personally I think most filmmakers (and I’ve done it myself) are slowing down their creative potential by adding the coolest, latest, biggest camera & gear to their production. It’s not about the gear, its about the story.
Thanks! Its been my first time directing a funny film to be honest. Compared to other styles, it needs to be figured out on set a lot more. The only way to find out whether it’s funny or not is to act and film it. It’s a lot of timing and improvisation trial & error. It would have been impossible with a packed storyboard and a big crew because we needed the first 1-2 days to figure out the character and the best way to deliver the jokes.
The idea machine. That would save me a lot of frustration and self-doubts haha.
Eddie is someone with a very clear goal and purpose – no one can stop him. Maybe we can learn from him to do what we love and do it with all our heart. On the other hand, he makes a mistake all of us do from time to time, especially filmmakers: He needs to realize that he’s not a doctor who’s saving lives, he’s not changing the world, he’s not fighting for any particular greater cause. He’s just making entertainment and/or art. Calm down, relax – its not the end of the world if you don’t get that shot, Eddie. Perseverance is great, but there are more important things in life, even though looking through the camera’s viewfinder we sometimes forget that.
A very special thanks to Carlo for chatting with us.
Interviews • 4min read
Interviews • 4min read