- How did you team up for ALL THE TIRED HORSES? How did the idea for the film come about?
Nele: ALL THE TIRED HORSES was created during the first class at the ZHdK. students from all fields are thrown together to make a film in a short space of time. The challenge is to realize a project with as yet unknown people and different creative visions that everyone involved is satisfied with in the end. In ALL THE TIRED HORSES, an employee of an advertising agency tries to give meaning to her everyday life with meditation and mindfulness but fails.
Julius: We came across a tweet with the headline “Nobody wants to work anymore”. The author had collected newspaper articles since 1890. Each generation has apparently been saying this about the previous one for more than 100 years. Our head author Antonella Nicoli was working in an advertising agency at the time and there was a sudden increase in burnouts in our immediate environment. Covid had just come to an end and we asked ourselves whether the phrase wasn't slowly becoming true.
- ALL THE TIRED HORSES is not your only project. With SOLO SHOW, you are already in post-production on your first joint feature-length film. What can we look forward to?
Nele: SOLO SHOW revolves around art student Roy's first exhibition and how it threatens to fail because he smuggles cocaine into Switzerland on the side. While Roy slips into different roles to navigate both worlds, those around him also cling to their carefully staged facades: a real estate agent with an anxiety disorder tries to sell an apartment and a masked couple stage their sex life.
Julius: Roy's opening is a kind of pseudoplot with which the film observes people who repeatedly stage themselves. The stories in SOLO SHOW are inspired by my art studies. I collected and studied these performative situations because I thought they could explain something about our distance from each other. The film describes a feeling I have about our current times and hopefully reduces that distance a bit. SOLO SHOW is almost completed and is discomforting in the best sense of the word!
- How much do short and feature-length films differ for you? Were there any surprises?
Nele: Usually, the difference lies in the available resources – such as budget, time and crew size. Our feature-length film was made with the budget of a short film. We chose to drastically reduce the size of the crew compared to the short film. We had to work with a lot of double roles and often had to think of creative solutions. But we were also very flexible as a result. A further difference is the dynamic within the team. In a feature-length film, you have more time to adjust to each other, establish routines and learn from previous experiences. Our shoot was divided into three parts, which gave us the opportunity to keep making adjustments. With a short film, on the other hand, there is hardly any time to correct mistakes.
Julius: I've struggled with most of my short films because you have to come to the end so quickly and I always run the risk of telling a simplistic punchline, which I then distrust. But that seems to be a personal problem – there are so many great short films that don't do that. Anyway, with this longer story it was easier for me to organize things thematically and create a mood. The way we shot our first feature-length film is also different from the short films concerning the size of the crew. We worked exclusively with existing light and therefore had much more time to search for images instead of constructing them.
- What do you miss most from your ZHdK days?
Nele: I particularly appreciated the opportunity to express myself creatively and to accompany an entire process from start to finish. As a student, you could immerse yourself in every department and follow all aspects of a production. This is often no longer possible with the same intensity later on as a producer. I found it particularly rewarding to see so many people with a shared vision and so much dedication working together. And of course, the trips that the ZHdK made possible for us - especially to the mountains. As I am from Berlin, I really enjoyed that.
Julius: I miss the endless technical possibilities!
- Nele, what advice would you give young producers? What are the tricky aspects to watch out for?
Nele: I think it's important to make sure that everyone in the team feels supported. It helps not to share problems with every department straight away, but to look for solutions first before spreading uncertainty. At the same time, you shouldn't be afraid to ask questions at the beginning. The better you understand the needs of all departments, the better you can manage the project. And above all: don't let yourself be unsettled too quickly. In most cases, your own instincts will tell you pretty well what works and what doesn't.
- Julius, what can upcoming directors who are considering studying at the ZHdK look forward to?
Julius: Professionals are regularly invited to share filmmaking techniques in a very intimate setting. I had a great time at the ZHdK! I perceived the Film Master as a very accommodating environment, with a lot of attention to detail, in which you can shoot and experiment a lot.