22 minute read
DOSSIER
The rise of streaming is just the tip of the iceberg: Digitalization and new technologies are transforming production, as well. And we’re only at the beginning
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Focus on Technology
By FLORIAN KRAUTKRÄMER
Illustrations
OSCAR DIODORO
DEAR READER,
Just a few decades ago, our collective vision of the future involved flying cars and the ability to travel quickly and comfortably from one continent to another. Computers that control everything belonged in movies like 2001: A Space Odyssey and were not viewed in a very positive light. Today, nobody talks about flying cars anymore, yet it’s only a matter of time before there will actually be self-driving, computer-controlled vehicles on the roads. In 2020, physical travel has been supplanted by video conferencing due to the coronavirus, and by now, digitalization has taken over every last inch of our daily lives. In the film industry, this has been one of the defining discussions for quite some time now. While the transition from analog production and screening technology to digital capabilities is essentially complete, the transformation goes on and on through continuous innovation. That’s reason enough to take a more in-depth look at some of the transformations and visions that are driving production, post-production, and education. Let me state in advance, though, that film locations and real-life encounters are, and remain, crucial.
Florian Krautkrämer TAKE #12 Editor-in-Chief
Film Is Technology.
The Digital Revolution Behind the Camera
Film’s founding myth is about a handheld camera that was also a projector: Thanks to this new-found technology, images of an arriving train were projected, making the audience jump from their seats in fright. We know today that this story is just as overblown as it is wrong to assume that from that point on, the development of film technology proceeded in a straight line towards today’s standards. From its very beginnings, film was an art for tinkerers and inventors. With each production, new technology was developed – also with regard to playback. Audio, color and longer running times were not simply attributes that were added to the moving images, but rather formed part of a displacement process: Productions had to acquire new equipment and suitable personnel, and cinemas had to upgrade. At the same time, however, technological modifications also made possible new aesthetics and different storytelling. Thanks to portable sound-recording systems such as the Nagra in the 1950s, for example, it became possible to shoot fast-moving productions on the streets, without having to spend a lot of time and money cordoning off the area. Digital technology makes ever smaller cameras possible, in addition to longer hours of recording. Steven Soderbergh used an iPhone to shoot High Flying Bird (2019), and released the film on Netflix rather than in traditional cinemas. In terms of playback, the shift from analog to digital projection – as well as a fundamental restructuring that has seen streaming platforms take on increasing importance – has been an issue for some time, but what are the consequences for production?
HARDWARE Differentiation and plurality are defining characteristics of a digital transformation. This is also noticeable in production. Niels Maier founded the Maier Bros., a German equipment rental company which also operates a branch in Merano, more than 30 years ago. Maier describes the rapid pace of developments and the resulting diversity of the market as the industry’s biggest change: “Considerably more suppliers are producing similar products, some of which are aging even faster than before. Counting on one or two lamp suppliers is no longer enough,” Maier says. His company rents out the big-ticket items: cranes, trucks, and all kinds of lighting equipment. It’s not something that you can just buy on the off chance, storing multiple units in your garage. But
Monitoring the market and in-house research and development: Nowadays, film rentals must keep pace with extremely rapid technical advances.
how can you anticipate trends in order to have the right equipment – the things that will then be in demand – at your shop? How can bad investments be minimized? One strategy, Maier explains to me, is to decide as late as possible, waiting until the equipment appears on film production order lists. Being closely involved in research and development oneself is also beneficial. The Maier brothers learn about new products at trade fairs and through the manufacturers, often testing the equipment themselves, which helps to ensure their success on the market. “That’s always been the case, though,” says Maier. Just not at this pace and with such variety. The transfer of know-how and the guidance of consultants are also very important and should not be underestimated, especially in connection with green film shoots and sustainable production. For example, it’s not enough to simply rent energy-saving LEDs; you also do need to know how to use them correctly, otherwise their effect can quickly turn into the exact opposite. On the other hand – as Philip Gassmann described in his interview in TAKE #11 – there’s a lack of experience in dealing with equipment that has already been deployed in other areas in an energy-saving manner, but is still untested for the requirements of a film production.
SOFTWARE The importance of consultancy and continuing education is crucial in post-production, as well. Cine Chromatix, a post-production house with several locations in Germany, relies heavily on cooperation with the ZeLIG Film School in Bolzano and local producers in South Tyrol, where it operates a large offshoot, Cine Chromatix Italy. “You can only really harness the potential of post-production if you integrate it into the production right from the start,” says studio manager Florian Geiser. That’s why Cine Chromatix Italy (► see Studio visit p. 50) makes contact early on by participating in producer workshops. With the ever-growing capabilities of digital post-production and effects, it’s becoming increasingly important to encourage producers to involve post-production and VFX supervisors while they’re still working on the script. That way, shooting and post-production are well coordinated and costs don’t get out of hand in the end.
With remote working on the rise and faster Internet connections expanding, you’d imagine that face-to-face contact wouldn’t be so important anymore, especially in this field. And while Covid-related restrictions were in place, working in far-flung locations was a good – well, the only – way to push projects forward. But Geiser doesn’t see it as the only future scenario. “Having two people working directly in the room with each other on the visuals or audio does allow decisions to be made more quickly,” he says. That’s why his company built a working cinema in Merano a few years ago, not without risk. “Of course, in 2018 we asked ourselves whether building a cinema now was the right decision,” Geiser says. Who knows how long a big screen will actually be the standard for which one produces? But so far, the investment has been worth it, Geiser says. And: “The expansion of VFX and post-production services here in South Tyrol is also a way to bring talent back who had to emigrate to England, Canada or New Zealand, for example, after completing their training, due to a lack of jobs,” says the studio manager. However, this also raises the question of how future developments can be anticipated in time, because post-production possibilities and technologies are also steadily increasing and developing at an ever-faster pace.
INNOVATION For a field that is truly driven by innovation, it is primarily private-sector investment that is needed for the development and expansion of promising future technologies – and consequently also for research that leads to new applications. Public film funding and grants cannot necessarily provide this. In addition, production funding is tied to specific projects, and development funding is firstly limited and secondly usually awarded for content rather than infrastructure. So how can one set trends in developing new techniques and visual worlds? A producer friend of mine has
In order to optimize the ever-growing VFX possibilities, producers are advised to collaborate with post-production from the very beginning – whether on-site or remotely.
posed the following hypothetical question to me: Let’s assume it’s 1995 and someone here in Europe has the idea for the film The Matrix. Could the bullet-time effect be developed here as well and brought to market with the film? I don’t have to think about it for long: It seems unlikely. That’s why the French film-funding body CNC has created an instrument called Aides aux industries techniques, innovation et relief, which can be used to provide targeted support for the digital processing of (interactive) films, among other things, but which also favors investments in infrastructure. Investments in environmental initiatives can even be subsidized in a targeted manner. It is not just a question of time and money, however; it is also important to have a culture of exchange and discourse. Anyone flipping through the monthly magazine American Cinematographer will quickly discover that, in addition to showcasing talent, the main focus is on highlighting inventiveness. There are meticulous descriptions of efforts to develop special mounts, for example, that make it possible to film a parachute jump in ways never before seen. In addition to funding and interest in developing prototypes, there must also be a platform where people can share their ideas in a prominent way.
TRAINING The focus of training, today, is also on teaching methodological skills as opposed to having students practice with software that may be outdated by the time they graduate. “The important thing is not so much which software is learned, but learning how to learn software,” confirms Professor Jürgen Haas, who heads the animation department at Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts. The increasing quality and importance of open source programs is also changing education, because students are now applying with work that is already very advanced – sometimes with a technical quality that could previously only be expected at the end of a degree program. As a result, some type of research in the technology field is becoming important at universities as well: not only to be able to teach and apply new technologies, but also to impart a culture that is not satisfied with procuring high-quality equipment, but rather can go beyond that. The very special and equally challenging thing about film is that you can’t just reduce it to technology and the constraints that come with it; but its possibilities for expressing content can’t be separated from the technology either. Money and equipment are important, yes, as is the correct operation of new technology; but in film, it’s ultimately the work done on the content and dramaturgy that counts.
SCHOLARSHIP
Every year, IDM awards a scholarship for a 12-month course in lighting and camera staging at Maier Bros. headquarters in Cologne. IDM pays the entire course fees; the scholarship holder from South Tyrol (who must speak German) is compensated through a part-time job at Maier Bros. Info: film.idm-suedtirol.com
Heidi Gronauer, the director of ZeLIG in Bolzano, explains to me that the documentary school was able to respond effectively to the lockdown in Italy from March to June of last year with online courses, particularly because digital classrooms have been part of their European program ESoDoc for several years. She says that, while the handling and operation of cameras can’t be learned online, editing and an understanding of visual dramaturgy certainly can be. Heidi Gronauer also attaches particular importance to working collaboratively: “Whether online or in the classroom, students need to learn to work in a team, to rely on one another – and they need to learn how to learn from one another.” No new innovation or technological solution can replace that. On the contrary: Learning to work together also makes it easier to adapt to the changes brought about by digitalization. In closing, I asked Heidi Gronauer whether she was optimistic about the technology-driven future of her graduates. Since this is not a question that can be answered with a simple “yes” or “no,” she didn’t. In her view, one of the current challenges – irrespective of whether students are on site or online – is to support their development of a unique view of reality. And to encourage them to actively shape new developments in the audiovisual sector. The Covid crisis in particular has added another layer of difficulty. While services such as Netflix are gaining market share and thus providing ample employment, will enough diversity be maintained to reflect the complexity of the world? With all the changes that the industry is undergoing, it’s important to maintain the uniqueness of different voices. “When it’s not clear where the market is going,” Gronauer says, “it’s that much more important to not just follow fads, but to lay the foundation for your own voice.” T#12
These days, the software you learn to use in film school quickly becomes obsolete. Collaborative effort and a constant willingness to learn new things are more important.
RENTALS, TECHNOLOGY, POST-PRODUCTION: SOME SUPPLIERS IN SOUTH TYROL
► CINE CHROMATIX ITALY VFX and post-production, Merano/Meran www.cine-chromatix.it
► JENNESSEN MOTION PICTURES camera rental, Merano www.m-p-j.eu
► MAIER BROS. equipment rental, Merano www.maierbros.it
► PANALIGHT SÜDTIROL equipment rental, Bolzano/Bozen www.panalight.it
► REC SÜDTIROL camera rental, Bolzano www.rec-roma.com
► ZELIG SCHOOL FOR DOCUMENTARY,
TELEVISION AND NEW MEDIA
Film school with two technology-related curricula: Photography/Light as well as Editing/Post-Production, Bolzano www.zeligfilm.it
FILM Why Not You (2020)
DIRECTOR Evi Romen
Director Evi Romen on religion and masculinity, the constraints of village life and her feature film debut Hochwald (Why Not You)
Interview by DORIS POSCH
Photos
ANDREAS JAKWERTH
SCRIPT Evi Romen
PRODUCTION Amour Fou Vienna
“The older I got, the more I yearned to make something myself.” Evi Romen worked as an editor for many years before her directorial debut, Why Not You.
FILM Why Not You (2020)
DIRECTOR Evi Romen
“The fact that good fortune or wealth cannot save you from your fate has always left a deep impression on me.” Evi Romen during the TAKE interview at Filmcasino Vienna. Twenty-year-old Mario (Thomas Prenn) longs to leave village life behind and become a dancer. At Christmas, he bumps into his childhood friend Lenz (Noah Saavedra), who as a wealthy winegrower’s son has had more opportunities handed to him in life and dreams of an acting carreer. The pair make a hasty decision to head to Rome together, but their dreams are shattered when Lenz is killed in a terrorist attack. Mario is left to deal with the highs and lows of a life torn to pieces. Having already enjoyed a career as a film editor, Evi Romen decided to turn her hand to directing with her first feature film Hochwald (Why Not You). Set in the microcosm of a small mountain community in South Tyrol, it tells the story of the impossible dream of escaping the shackles of village life. We met the director for a chat at Filmcasino in Vienna. In this interview, she explains how her film was inspired by the 2015 terrorist attack on the Bataclan theater in Paris. She also talks about dealing with death, how the doctrines of the Catholic Church promote a culture of blame and homophobia, and the fear of accepting fate.
After spending so many years as an editor, how did you find your new role as a director? EVI ROMEN I’ve always seen my career as an editor as preparation for becoming a director. I studied at the Vienna Film Academy and my original plan was to start making films straight away. But then, quite unexpectedly, I found that I had a talent for editing – and editing is actually the best job in film! That said, the older I got, the more I yearned to make something myself. Directing came pretty easily to me; the only aspect I was worried about was directing the cast. But here, too, editing stood me in good stead, as it has given me a really good eye for detail. I was also able to relax during filming because I knew that any issues could be ironed out during the edit – the only thing we had to get right were the emotions.
Why Not You is set in a rural community that is very familiar to you. Why did you decide to use a South Tyrolean village as the backdrop for the various issues you wanted to tackle? ER I hadn’t intended to film in South Tyrol at all. But it so happened that I was in South Tyrol when the Bataclan terror attack in Paris took place. I heard about this global event through the local news, including the reports that a young South Tyrolean may be among the victims. With South Tyrol being such a small, close-knit region, I immediately wondered if I knew him.
SCRIPT Evi Romen
PRODUCTION Amour Fou Vienna
EVI ROMEN was born in Bolzano/Bozen in 1967 and lives in Vienna. She has more than 20 years of experience as an editor of series and films for TV and cinema, including The Bone Man, Silentium and Braunschlag. She won the Diagonale Prize for Best Artistic Editing of a Feature Film for My Best Enemy in 2011 and the Austrian Film Award for Casanova Variations in 2016. In 2017, she was awarded the Carl Mayer Screenplay Prize for Why Not You, her directorial debut, which won her the Golden Eye in the Focus Competition at the 2020 Zurich Film Festival.
The film was inspired by the Bataclan theater attack of November 13, 2015. On top of that, you’ve chosen to weave in several other issues, such as homophobia. Why this issue in particular? ER The decision to explore homoeroticism was very deliberate. I wanted to take a more modern approach to it. Homophobia still exists today, but young people are more fluid and, to them, it’s no longer so important to fit into a particular box.
The fictitious attack in Why Not You is shown from Mario’s perspective, yet you also use a microphone to give one of the attackers a voice. Why did you choose to portray it like this? ER I knew from the outset that the attack had to be fictitious. Gay clubs are sadly still vulnerable to attack. I’ve always found this perplexing because we live in a man’s world so the amount of homophobia around is surprising. I kept changing my mind when deciding how to film the scene. At one stage, I left the attack out of the script completely, only to then depict it in a lot more detail. Nobody ever imagines that something like this will happen to them. From a filmmaker’s point of view, it was interesting to explore what it’s like to be totally unsuspecting and to only realize what’s going on as you are dying.
Radicalization has been dealt with by a number of films in recent years. Most of these center around young, white, lower-class men in a suburban setting. Why Not You explores both an ideologically motivated attack and the religious practices of Muslims. These issues are often conflated in the media, but you chose to examine them side by side. Why is that? ER My film is a document of our times and I wanted to show one way people can lose their lives in our present reality. It wasn’t my intention to create a film about an attack or radicalization. It was more a case of acknowledging a possible threat.
FILM Why Not You (2020)
DIRECTOR Evi Romen
“Nobody can escape where they come from.” In her film, Evi Romen uses a tragic event to address the constraints imposed by small villages, gender roles and religion.
Did you always have German actor Kida Khodr Ramadan in mind to play the character of Mami, an imam who gives Mario a sense of belonging? ER I felt it was important for my story to be told by normal people and not by huge stars. But for this particular character, I wanted someone famous. Kida Khodr Ramadan initially turned down the role because he didn’t want to play an imam. But I wrote him a letter and explained to him that this part was different from those he had played before. And luckily, he changed his mind. I needed a rabble-rouser, someone who the boys would like.
Why did you decide to put Catholicism so center stage? ER Catholicism still has a very strong presence. Not everyone goes to church and prays, but its doctrines have been drilled into us over the centuries and that’s hard to let go of. Whenever fate has a hand in things, people have a habit of turning to the religion and rituals they are familiar with. These days, the threat of Islamist terrorism means that we are constantly confronted by religion. Your talent for observation in this film can make for uncomfortable viewing. Life in the village is very superficial and a lot of value is placed on keeping up appearances. Nevertheless, in the intricate relationships between the characters, we get a real insight into what’s going on beneath the surface. ER The superficiality of village life protects you from having to enter into deep and meaningful conversations. Villagers develop their own type of language that helps them co-exist. In a small rural community, it’s hard to share your opinion with everyone. Over the centuries, this has led to a way of communicating that seems superficial at first glance, but which actually carries a lot of meaning, not least if you look closely at the speaker’s face. Superficiality also offers salvation in those moments when words fail you and you feel a need to fall back on clichés or empty phrases. For example, when somebody dies and it’s impossible to know what to say.
There are stark differences between Mario’s and Lenz’s parents. Mario’s mother is very stuck in her ways. When Mario reveals that he was sexually abused by the butcher, she even sides with the man instead of supporting her own son. Meanwhile, Lenz’s mother blames Mario for her son’s death and says that Mario should have been the one to die. Why did you portray the two mothers in this way? ER I’ve known both these types of people. Both mothers want the best for their child, but each of them has a different life experience. For a woman like Lenz’s mother, it is unfathomable that someone seemingly so lucky in life could suffer such misfortune. That’s why my film includes the line: “It’s better to live in a hovel filled with laughter than in a palace filled with sadness.” The fact that good fortune or wealth cannot save you from your fate has always left a deep impression on me. I also wanted to use the character of Lenz’s mother to explore homophobia and to ask what happens when you start to suspect that your own son is something completely unexpected.
Mario spirals into confusion and feels increasingly lost, as is seen through his relationships with father figures and friends, his sense of longing and his inability to imagine the future. ER Most young people I know feel trapped by their lack of direction and purpose. At the age of twenty, they have the power to change the course of their life. They also feel completely unique, but then confusion creeps in. They start to experiment with who they are, but in doing so can feel very lost and alone. I find these complex feelings very inter-
SCRIPT Evi Romen
PRODUCTION Amour Fou Vienna
esting to film. I’m deeply touched by just how lost young people can feel despite their air of self-confidence.
You use a wig as a recurring motif throughout the film. The wig steals the show from Mario and puts Lenz in the limelight even more than normal. At the same time, Mario wears it to help him become someone else. ER I came up with the idea of the wig before the story had even taken shape! Wigs are like jester hats – they turn you into someone completely different. But, equally, because they attract so much attention, they offer little protection. The wig represents Mario’s journey. At first, he wants to use it to stand out from the crowd, but he lacks the confidence. His best friend, however, has no such qualms and steals the show. Mario later takes the wig back off him and then, following the tragic turn of events, keeps it as a token of his grief. Finally, Mario dares to do something which he wasn’t brave enough to attempt at the start – he wears the wig for everyone in the village to see. And this ends up being the most courageous thing he does in the entire film. The forest plays a very important role in the film as both a place of refuge from the confines of village life and as a symbol of the world as a dangerous place. Does the final scene in the forest suggest that Mario will never realize his dreams? ER There are many ways to interpret what the end of the film could mean for Mario’s future. The tree trunks are intended to represent a prison. It’s clear that he’ll never be able to escape the small village community, even if he does end up moving away at some point. Just like Mario, I spent a long time trying to deny my roots. But you can’t evade them; nobody can escape where they come from. This – and the notion that returning home doesn’t necessarily have to be something negative – is one of the ideas running through my film. There are some things in life you just have to accept. That’s why I decided that Mario should parade through the village festival in just his wig. I wanted to use the end of the film to portray that feeling of: He’s one of us. And he’s someone who can never escape, be it physically or psychologically. T#12
WHY NOT YOU (original title: Hochwald) by Evi Romen was produced by Amour Fou Vienna (Alexander DumreicherIvanceanu, Bady Minck) in co-production with Take Five (Belgium) and is being distributed internationally by True Colours. The main role of Mario is played by South Tyrolean actor Thomas Prenn and Noah Saavedra is cast as Lenz. The cast also includes South Tyrolean actors Katja Lechthaler, Lissy Pernthaler and Andreas Hartner. Filming took place across several locations in South Tyrol and Austria. The IDM Film Fund granted the film € 45,000 of pre-production funding and € 650,000 of production funding.
Flo Rainer/Amour Fou
