by Alexander Schönauer – Berlin, Germany
When I started working on my CollabFeature Segment THE VISIONARY it was a big leap of faith for me.
I had just moved to Berlin about two months earlier. I left my network in Vienna and had absolutely no industry or personal contacts in Berlin except two people working with me at a digital lab and post production facility in Berlin. One of them is a good friend who I met in film school. The other one was Xavier Agudo, director of the segment HOTTIE LOLLIE, who first told me about this bold and interesting project while we were waiting for the bus home on a chilly Berlin night.
By then the project was already a moving train running full steam. All the filmmakers were in place, they figured out a story about a backpack going around the world and they were pitching story ideas to each other. My first thought was: this will never work out! Filmmakers who have never met, making a feature film with a consistent storyline. The internet as the only way of communication. A homepage as the central intersection to provide information and coordination between the filmmakers. And two guys from Detroit running the whole thing. A big idea. Very likely to die a slow death along the way – but I also caught fire. Because WHAT IF it would all work out? Wouldn’t it be amazing to be part of something like that?
Xavier mentioned that one of the filmmakers dropped out and so they were looking for someone to fill the gap between a segment playing in Berlin and the following one in London. First I said that this is nothing for me, because I know nobody in Berlin – it is absolutely impossible for me to organize it in just a few months – especially without a budget. Besides that I had a very demanding job at the postproduction house. But thinking over it again and again I came to the conclusion that I would be a fool not to take the chance. I checked out the homepage. It was very simple but also very functional, and the group of filmmakers had accomplished so much – the concept worked. Especially Marty and Ian, the two fathers of the project, seemed to be very dedicated. So I applied … and got no response.
Weeks went by, my job at the postproduction house was over, and I contacted Marty. It turned out, that something went wrong and they never got my application. I sent my data again and finally I was in. My first reaction: pure fear!
It was middle of May, my slot to shoot was the middle of August. I would not be in Berlin the first week of August because I was to be the best man at my best friends wedding which was partly celebrated in Croatia – no way to cancel (family and friends are first place anyway for me). So two and a half months left and I did not have the slightest idea about a story. I did what I always do in these situations – I called my good friend and partner in crime Arne Nostitz. We met and ping-ponged ideas as we always do. At the end of the evening we had a story … but way way, WAY too long for a five minute short film. So I said, what about if you join and we also ask another friend of ours, Nino Leitner, and make three segments which will lead from Berlin to London. We pitched the idea to Marty and he was fine with it.
Fortunately my first draft of the script was well received and after a few inputs by Marty, Ian and the group, which helped the script very much, the script problem was solved. Middle of june. One and a half months left. Still no actors, no crew, no locations – but a little money. Luckily I had a very well paid editing assignment in May and June, so I decided to invest 1.000 EUR in the film and also bought the Canon Rebel T2i (550d in Europe) with accessories and sound equipment to feel safe on the technical side.
Where to start turning the script into a story? My plan was scalability.
I wanted to be able to shoot no matter what, but to increase the production value when I had the chance to. Thus I wrote the story for interior locations, mainly about people talking. Therefore in the worst case I could always shoot at my apartment. Arne also has an acting gene in him so I wrote the lead part with him in mind. He auditioned and delivered a spot on performance. Still no crew, no lights, no grip, no other actors.
I started scraping everything together – and had the luck of my life!
In front of the post production house I mentioned a nice old Mustang, owned by one of my coworkers. He said yes and my lead character could drive around in this hell of car in front of some nice Berlin landmarks, so that the audience knows were the segment takes place. Checked that. Next thing: camera. My PostProduction house also owned 4 Red One cameras. Because they liked the project they gave me the camera for free, but only if I found insurance for it. One problem less. One more – insurance for this kind of equipment is about 600 EUR. But, what a nice coincidence, the Mustang owner, worked at a local film rental house and got me a super special price for loads of lights, grip and a dolly.
Thanks to the german website www.crew-united.com I found a very good and enthusiastic DoP (who brought his gaffer and ACs), a wonderful sound mixer, a still photographer and, one day before I had to leave for croatia, a producer. All of these guys were absolutely wonderful and I owe them so much. I did not have a chance to meet the producer in person before I left, but he did not care. He organized cheap insurance, catering, production cars and so much more. Because I shot Xaviers segment I got to know his wonderful hair & makeup guy as well as his main actor who also is a photographer, and provided some of his lights and was so generous to let us shoot in his appartment, which became the writers room.
Two days before I left for Croatia and the only thing which was missing was the casting studio location. I visited the three locations I researched over the internet, all not usable. While I was on the location scout I heard of a private film academy just around the corner. I went there, knocked on the door – and found the perfect casting studio.
Throughout this time I casted actors. Again, Berlin proved to be the perfect city for this. With the help of the website www.schauspielervideos.de, a searchable collection of around 7500 german actors, I found several actresses and actors who seemed suitable for the roles. I sent the screenplay, invited them to audition and finally had my cast completed.
The next day I flew to croatia – the constant emailing and phoning led to a horrible horrible invoice, but it was worth it. When I came back to Berlin everything was in place and we were able to start shooting as planned. The shoot went very well and I still cannot believe how it all came together so nicely. I was so lucky to find this awesome cast and crew within just a few weeks.
On the one hand it was the nature and concept of this project which hooked the people on the other side. I am sure it was possible because Berlin is the number one filmmaking city in Germany.
The concept of the whole project, to find an international crew over the internet, also transcended to the making of my segment. I found most of the cast and crew over the internet, we stayed in contact over Skype and email, shared documents over a dropbox folder and had team members of german, south american, italian, arab, afro american and austrian roots.
Today after one year, the project is still very alive and getting bigger and bigger. The assemble edits are critiqued by the team, Marty and Ian, the project initiators, still find new ways to improve the website, central editors are working on trailers, we have a publicist and a project coordinator. I can’t wait to see what happens next and YES, it is absolutely amazing to be part of this unique and unprecedented collaboration.