by Shelly Schoeneshoefer

Arriving at the Berlinale Talent Campus, I assumed that my reserved ticket would be waiting for me I went to the three HAU offices and after many discussions, ended back at the auditorium where I received my golden ticket.
Dirk Meier, a colorist and postproduction consultant led the discussion by asking for the backgrounds of the audience. It was a surprising 80% of directors, script writers and cinematographers. There were a few editors and sound engineers but not one colorist among the group. He then proceeded to test our color vision, what we see, what kind of pitfalls we might fall into and, most importantly, that we need to start with the post production side before even making the film.
The experts explained that many struggle with the digital world. Rather than taking the time to understand it, people just move ahead, often creating more disasters in their footage which cannot be salvaged, than having good results. These experts all agreed on the importance of paying for a postproduction advisor. It will make all the difference in the world.
The talk included all the pitfalls that could happen, from having incompatibility with frames rates or not having a color or gray board to help give a reference point, and how to work towards getting high quality results. It is also important to have an assistant editor who makes lists of all the references, so that you can go back and find the material that may be corrupted or dropped out for some reason.
 This was only one of the many lectures which could be attended at the Berlin Talent Campus. It is a wealth of information to anyone who wants to make a movie or is interested how films are made. Since there were not many colorists in the audience one would think that Dirk Meier would have a monopoly but clearly he was looking for more to have an interest in the topic. He said, “it is a lot of work and they don’ even get an Oscar for their work.” I have to say that is a category which should be added since it is just as important as other jobs.
These three professional lecturers helped fill in the gaps on my technical knowledge of film making. Colorist Dirk Meier on films like ANTICHRIST from Danish director Lars von Trier’s and A FANTASTIC WOMAN by Chilean director Sebastian Lelio. Nicholas Goodwin is head of post-production at Constantin Films. Niko Remus is a German post-production supervisor who worked on Turkish director Semih Kaplanoglu’s film BAL, German director Margarethe von Trotta’s HANNAH ARENDTH, and American director Jim Jarmusch’s ONLY LOVERS LEFT ALIVE. 

So where can you go to have three amazing teachers in one lecture? The Berlin Talents is a fantastic forum full of young and old and what they have in common is their enthusiasm.