Besides working on set for television film productions, Christian successfully produced various fiction short films gaining credits in writing, directing, cinematography and editing.
”I knew that this was about working with what we have. But as I kept this in mind while writing the script, I never really felt it being a restrain. It's about creating a believable world. I want to engage the audience with my story instead of having them to reason about the set-up itself. Still it's about pushing the limits, doing what we've never done before. That's when putting all of my former experiences together really made me confident in taking the leap into pulling off a feature project. But it was only after the cast was complete and Erika (original score) jumped on board when I felt we could really go for it. Not only did we manage to come up with something which has actually never been done before by anyone else around us, but we were also thrilled to raise the bar once more, constantly being on the peak of what we were able to do on our own. Looking at our finished film - it definitely paid off!”
After she graduated from a musical conservatorium in her hometown, Erika studied 'Music for Film' at the 'Academy of Cinema and Television' in Rome. Since then she composed for a wide range of various projects, such as documentaries and short films of different genres.
“Usually it's about composing music onto edited material, but not so with Chris. We met at an early production stage for a reason. He was really conservative about the script and the topic, gave me nothing but a straight emotional outline. Chris didn't want me to be influenced by the visual storytelling right away, and I liked this kind of approach. We have a similar idea about the importance of music and sound in film and that's where I decided to be part of it. I knew this was about putting in a huge amount of work, but I was quite curious about scoring a feature film. Actually there's not many feature projects of that kind available around here.”
”The moment Chris told me about his project I knew that he was up for making it on a serious level, but not only regarding the film itself. I've been handling online campaigns for a couple of years now, and what I liked from the beginning was that Chris knew his audience, he knew for whom he was about to make this feature. We sat down to create an outline from what he wanted and that's where my experience played in. Approaching a campaign for such an ambitious project wasn't something usual. But looking back on how things worked out - it was worth the effort.”
“I remember the time we were making single two minute scenes to get that first feeling of filmmaking. We grew with our craft producing various shorts until Chris came up with the idea of making something about spaceflight. To be honest, nobody really believed him being serious about it - but he was. I mean, Chris had a vision, and so it came that he built the first set piece even before finishing the script. It all seemed quite risky to me in the first place, but in a retrospective that's how our fifteen minute short got actually made. It's about working ahead, taking a risk. It's about believing in it. Right after finishing 'Spacetime' Chris asked me how about doing a feature. It was something we had never done before, a huge leap for everyone. That was when I felt that risk again, but this time I knew we could pull it off. He told me about the story and after reading the script I was on it right away.”
“Sometimes Chris came up with ideas that felt being out of range, impossible to pull off and so it was with our last short called 'Spacetime'. But he went for it and we got it made. Somehow this changed my mind about his approach into filmmaking. What I've seen is that he has always had a clear vision, that sense of knowing what's possible. Chris would hold me close to every single production stage, so whenever I had my doubts we argued about it. Reasoning about my character and the whole script in general really helped me finding the confidence in playing the part. It was a huge step forward making a feature. But once again we went for it with all we had and got it made.”
“Chris knew I never acted before, but that was exactly what he'd been looking for regarding this role. Without giving away too much about the plot, looking back, his approach to my character really makes sense now. He had a clear vision about it and about the project itself. That's where I thought putting in that work in supporting him and his crew felt to be the right thing, and it was!”
