What I have done and will be doing lands right here.
My timeline.
2016.
I started with directing in 2016 after gaining experience in theatre acting. I wanted to try something I had no idea about or any experience in (remember I was 12 ;)).
That’s when @Manfred Scholz gave me the opportunity to write a script for a full size movie production he would direct. While finalizing it with my mother @Sabine Knief-Reinhardt and developing some characters I got asked if I would be interested in Co-Directing it as well. I jumped at the chance, without knowing what a co-Director even does. We started production and completed shooting after six weeks with great results.
The final movie, called “Fehlerlos!?”, made it into local cinema about one and a half years later.
2017.
We began 2017 with a production for the movie competition 2k18, which I learned about through my school, @LFS Oldenburg. Although this was a relatively small competition we came in first, which delighted us. The perfectionist in me still spotted hundreds of mistakes within the finished results, but seeing as this was the first short film I had directed, planned and managed myself, I still saw it as a success..
Additionally, my school gave me my first ever job to film events and videos for promoting, recapturing or fun that year. That’s when I realized that a production company could improve my work and help achieve my goals. Because of the dissolution of the production company @LAMA-Media, the producers of the film I got to co-direct back in 2016, we wanted to found an own production company to combine all our services and show other people what we could do. To me, founding my own company sounded unrealistic and I didn’t think it’d possible. But I would be proven wrong very soon.
2018.
2018 started with the 99-Fire-Films Award where we competed to make the best movie with the topic: Ich liebe es (eng. I love it). Although we did not win I was still happy with the result and our rising production quality. I also learned a lot about directing and camera operation and wanted to showcase that in the next film.
The project ended up being a 45min long movie called “To(o)gether” which I wrote, directed and edited with the help of many incredible people including @Lea Machura-Badge, who I knew from 2016s “Fehlerlos!?”, and @Janis Gründler, who I actually met on this project. We became friends quickly and worked well together.
Because our means were limited, everybody who worked on this project was doing this honorarily, which is very impressive considering the amount of time and effort some people put in to this project. After shooting two weeks in October we went on with post production.
As 2018 came to an end we made another few small productions for my school @LFS Oldenburg. These would continue in the next year.
2019.
To start the year off, we competed in the 99-fire-films award again. We didn’t win this time either, but I learned something pretty important: The idea that something wouldn't work because of a lack of resources is wrong. You just have to ask for them, if it doesn’t work out, at least you tried. For the award we worked together with a local airport @Flugplatz Ganderkesee to shoot a scene with two planes flying side by side. Something I thought would never work out ended up happening just because we asked them.
I continued the year with this motto in mind. I worked on a lot of projects for my school again, including music videos and movies for the graduating class of 2019. I was also asked to work on a new project for @Manfred Scholz as DOP/Camera operator. I immediately agreed, because I owe him a lot and wanted to help out wherever I could. That was also the first time I worked with @Hauke Strodhoff. The results were amazing and cooperating was really fun. We got to film together again soon after on @Tobias Böttjer’s new shortfilm “Mutter Erde” (eng. Mother Earth).
I knew Tobias from “Fehlerlos?!” and was happy I was asked. Even though the weather varied from extreme heat to strong rains, our equipment survived and we were able to finish the project in time.
But that wasn’t all: I spontaneously got asked to be the new lead and supervising editor due to staff failure in that project. With a tight schedule in mind (because the project was already delayed by a week) I got to work and the new rough cut was finished quickly..
Additionally, we finally made the decision to found our own company. My dream in 2017 finally came true.. I never thought that it was possible but with my grandparents’ help @Inge & Horst Reinhardt and of course my Mom and Dad it was. GrisuFilms GmbH, named after my deceased cat “Grisu” was founded in September 2019. It took the whole rest of the year to be able to start working on projects. Finally, then in 2020 we would be able to start business.
2020.
Unfortunately our first contracts were cancelled because of the SARS-COV-19 Virus. For us that meant waiting. Waiting and preparing ourselves to be able to shoot and take on assignments once we could guarantee for safety on our productions.
In the 3rd quartal we finally could. In September we had our first commercial assignment and many should follow. Several customers were interested and even though we didn’t worked as much as we hoped, the company made it safely through the year.
Additionally, because social life in Germany was shut down, I had the opportunity to work on skills like screen writing or evaluating the quality of a story based on the storyline. In general, writing is a skill I am still cultivating today.