Xaver Walser

Vaudoise insurance - 30 Sec Commercial

2012-01-24T14:41:00.006+01:00

Here are the final edited commercials from the insurance company Vaudoise that I shot the boxing match for. Since yesterday (23 January 2012) its been broadcast all over Switzerland on every channel possible. Very cool to be part of this and congratulations to the guys at Stories AG for doing an amazing job with the editing.

Swing Kids - Documentary Film

2012-01-24T14:20:00.008+01:00

Worked with director, Fabian Kimoto as camera man for a documentary film on a music group called the Swing Kids. Fabian is mostly known for his talent as a Colour Grader, but an all around talented Filmmaker. Last year he won several awards for his documentary film "The Rising Sun" on brake-dancing. Together we came up with great solutions for lighting the many interviews. Here is a few screen grabs from the shoot.

Spirit of Panama

2012-01-17T15:53:00.014+01:00

Just finished a two day shoot for a super cool documentary film. It's a project from famous Swiss film director Tobias Fueter. Most of our old guys are familiar with the classic 1993 movie, Coolrunnings. Well this time it's no comedy, its for real.

Chris Zollinger a Swiss lawyer came up with this crazy idea to put a team of Bobsleigh riders from the country of Panama together in the hope to make the 2014 Winter Olympics. They call themselves the "Spirit of Panama" and consist of a group of Panamanian top athletes that has been casted together via a TV show in Panama. There are a lot of things counting against them, but if they ever had one unfair advantage, then it is the fact that they have Spirit. This is a crucial missing element with most of the other teams and "Spirit of Panama" has it in abundance.

Below is the trailer for "Spirit of Panama". Over the next 2 years the film will take shape and eventually be in theaters and on TV all over the world. Just imagine if they do make the Olympics! They are the hope of a country.. and if anybody can do it... these guys have got the spirit to make it happen. Thanks everyone, awesome to be part of it. www.spiritofpanama.org

Here is also a program from Swiss TV "SF". The last footage came from my camera.

November, best month ever...

2012-01-17T14:25:00.010+01:00

Happy 2012 to everybody and hope we can all move one step closer to our dreams in the next 12 months. For me one of the highlights from 2011 was the month of November. The snow came late and November was my best month ever on the mountain bike. I have to mention that Patrick Koller from the Workshop in St. Moritz hooked me up with a monster full suspension mountain bike. For years I have been dreaming of a new bike and when my bike came beginning November, 4 months earlier than expected, it was right up my ally. What made it perfect is that the first snowflakes came around the 6th of December. So I had the time of my life with nobody on the mountain.

Well the snow came eventually and although it was a long wait the powder came in full swing and I got some beautiful lines. Here is a shot from my GoPro on the 1st of January.

January was not all about fun and games. One of my biggest clients re-opened its doors for business after 6 months of refurbishment. Bohemia in Zurich went through a complete process of re-inventing itself. CHF 2 000 000.- later and they are back in business. I shot the last film of a 3 part project. Was really a great journey together and special thanks goes to good friend Wade Metzer for making it all happen. In the next 2 weeks the final film will be online. Quite a bit of editing lying ahead. Here are the links for the first 2 films. Bohemia Part 1. / Bohemia Part 2.

"Love has no Boundaries" on National Swiss TV

2011-12-13T23:11:00.009+01:00

28th September 2011 was a big day for me with the launch of a documentary film I worked on for a period of about 6 months. The film really opened a lot of doors for me and on top of it all I loved every moment working on it. It also turned out to become one of the main marketing tools for the client and help justifying all the effort that went into the production.

This coming Sunday 18th December my "Love has no Boundaries" film will be broadcasted on National Swiss TV channel 3+ sponsored by Audi. It's great if your mum says to you... well done my son... you did a great job. But somehow it's not really enough. You need people to see your work, not just your biggest fan. Thats the only way forward. Very grateful of this opportunity.

Here is the TV trailer for the film.

For more visit www.beyondsinging.com

Life in a Day - The Full Movie

2011-12-09T21:58:00.003+01:00

Here is the full film from Producer Ridley Scott and director Kevin McDonald that I had the privilege to be part of.

Got the shot, but paid the price

2011-11-21T21:29:00.013+01:00

Had a wild weekend behind the camera. The most interesting by far was my first boxing experience.

I knew nothing about boxing. Yes... little did I know that I will end up in the ring myself.

It was for an insurance company where I had to shoot as 2nd unit a part of a 28sec commercial. My part will only be 2 to 3 sec. This however made it even more stressful, since I had to get a few very strong impressions. I worked myself stupid to cover all the possible angles. Shot mostly with 2 different lenses. CP.2 50mm and a very nice zoom 70 - 200mm 2.8. But time was of the essence. Just changing lenses could cost you a great shot. It was a real boxing match.. so there was not... like… "Can you please just punch that girl one more time in the face?" Oh yes... did I forget to mention it was a girl fight? I tell you… I will not stand for one round in the ring with those ladies. They are so fast… you just blink and you go down.

Well I pushed the limits as much as I could. Had this idea that the boxer should fight with the camera to give the impression that I was the opponent. So, as soon as she was done kicking butt… I jumped into the ring and she started boxing towards the camera. I got my 5 secs shot and said… it's ok, it's ok, I got it... but she just kept on going and started punching me in the ribs from all directions. Man do you feel hopeless. With the camera on my shoulder I could just run… but they were so fast. The audience loved it and did not want her to stop punching me. I got the shot, but paid the price.

Bohemia Part 2.

2011-11-16T13:47:00.009+01:00

I always thought that I don't mind traveling for my work, but prefer not to travel for my sport. Well be careful for what you wish... because it will happen. Lately more and more work away from home allows me to meet lots of interesting people and an opportunity to see more of the world. One of these projects is the Bohemia Restaurant re-invention in Zurich, Switzerland.

The refurbishment is now well underway and Part 2. of "Bohemia Re-Inventing Itself" is now available online. There will be one last film following and that will feature the new completed Bohemia. Bohemia is part of the the TwoSpice group who owns 12 restaurants all over Zurich.

The restaurant business is a tough business, especially in Switzerland. With the two biggest expenses namely rent and staff, the profits margins are low and it needs an extremely well structured business to function effectively and financially efficient. If I could just manage my own business as well as those guys I would have been so much further and have more to spend on my sport.

Enjoy the little clip.

Frans Groenewald

2011-10-31T15:03:00.003+01:00

Frans Groenewald's leaving a legacy film.

More on his website. www.fransgroenewald.com

Driving around Europe

2011-10-24T11:37:00.010+02:00

A wild few days of traveling all over Austria and Switzerland. At least 14 hours sitting in the car, hanging onto that steering wheel. Snowing with summer tyres is not a fun game to play. Back in Zurich I had to shoot 8 different short clips with a super 360° dolly track system. I arrived the day before to do the setup. Had this idea to build a stage half a meter high with the talent in the middle of the stage and the dolly track hidden on the floor. This way one could not see the track and it gave the illusion of a steadycam system, although the motion was far too perfect and synchronised for that.

It worked like a charm and was highly effective. I have to give a big shout out to Ahmet Akguel from Visuals Switzerland for their outstanding service in not backing down in any way, but being persistent in making things work and finding a solution to match my shots and budget.

Project Motion

2011-10-20T11:42:00.009+02:00

One of the best photographers I know, asked me to participate in an action photography / cinematography project. I cannot really talk too much about it, but it's a great concept and the other day, just before the falling of the first snowflake we had our second shoot together. Magnificent results, I have to say.

Working with master Filip Zuan is an absolute pleasure and really makes me analyze every detail before pressing the record button. Personally I think my strength is in the editing, but with this project editing will play a very small part. It's purely based on perfect framing and ensuring all aspects are thought through before one starts rolling. Here patience and timing is the big test. Waiting for the right time of the year, the right time of the day and knowing when the moment arrives to start your campaign, is everything. It makes you sweat, but when it all comes together it's just magic.

Well, like I said.. cannot give too much away, but here is a few behind-the-scenes shots of Filip and me in action. Can't wait for our next mission.

European Waveski Cup - Commercial 2012

2011-10-17T20:34:00.003+02:00

A 30 sec commercial for the European Waveski Cup 2012 I shot in Portugal last year during a waveski film trip. I know the waveski fans are hungry for some new footage so here is something little to keep them entertained.

Kaufleuten Premier - Children Beyond

2011-10-10T14:31:00.008+02:00

The Kaufleuten in Zurich was the venue for the Children Beyond release party and film premier. With a jam packed cinema and 400 people filling the red chairs, it was an experience of a lifetime.

After 6 months of pumping so much energy into the project it was surreal to see my film playing on the big screen. I was standing on the side by the technical department and just looking back at the reaction of the audience. A rewarding experience.

After the film Tina Turner, Regula Curti and Dechen Shak-Daysag performed live together with the 30 children - while the media went bananas! My first Tina concert... heeehaaa. She is just an incredible bundle of energy.

Passion of leaving a Legacy

2011-10-05T09:29:00.006+02:00

Two more films completed for the company Legacy Parks to help explain the concept of leaving a legacy. I loved this project and it was a great challenge to transfer the message by showing the artists' passion for what they do though the moving pictures. Thanks very much once again to Dr. Petrie Prins from Prins & Prins and Veronica Bell from the music group Zamar. One more Legacy film will follow soon.

Bohemia - Part 1.

2011-09-20T12:51:00.004+02:00

This is the first of 3 short films about the Bohemia restaurant / coffee bar / cigar bar located in the heart of Zurich city in Switzerland. It celebrates the last 12 years of the finest cigars and the best coffee in Zurich. Bohemia is now closed for a 4 months refurbishment. The 2nd film will show more of the rebuilding process where the last film will focus purely on the new Bohemia.

For more visit www.bohemia.ch

Stuck in Zurich

2011-09-05T14:29:00.005+02:00

The plan was to go to Zurich for 3 days. Attend a congress, work on the score for the Children Beyond film, go to a trade fare and then back home... but my car's ABS unit exploded and left me without brakes down a pretty steep hill. With some back gearing and the hand brake I came to a halt somewhere in Zurich. Anyhow.... the 3 day trip to Zurich turned into a 7 day stay with friends outside Zurich.

Switzerland is a remarkable place. It was very expensive to replace the ABS unit. Although being a new client, the garage let me go without paying and said I could pay at the end of September. Then on the way home I filled my tank with CHF 92.- worth of petrol. Somehow my card did not work and I had no cash on me. They let me go with their bank info and it was ok to pay the next day. In Switzerland people just trust each other.

Roland Frei and I worked on the Score for the Children Beyond 20min Doc. It was the first time I gave so much attention to audio. Roland is a master and came with wonderful creative solutions for audio craters in the film. Check out NJP Tonstudio for more on what Roland does.

A few days later I had to present the film in front of Universal Records Germany, Prosieben TV station, Audi and all the other advertising companies which form part of the marketing campaign for the project. It went down just perfect and everybody loved it. Since the 1st of September the new website www.beyondsinging.com has been launched and it's great to see the project unfolding step by step. The official CD release party and film premier is on the 28th of September and the music will be in stores from the 7th of October.

Legacy Parks - the film

2011-08-16T23:58:00.003+02:00

Legacy Parks film done. A great venture and a happy client.

Bohemia - Shoot 1.

2011-07-25T21:45:00.022+02:00

Two weeks break and back in the shooting game in Zurich at a restaurant called Bohemia. Bohemia is famous for being the first restaurant to roast their own coffee beans and as a result making the best coffee in Zurich. The place has got so much character and colour. Originally it started off as a butchery and then was taken over as Bohemia Cigar Bar, but since the smoking law kicked in things changed and Bohemia needed to move with time. The place asked for a make-over. Although clients don’t understand why they have to change something that suits them perfectly, the inside were old and very un-economic. The huge fridges originally for the butcher to hang his meat where a complete waste of energy.

I was asked to document the old Bohemia for what it is and then over 4 months follow the process of refurbishment all the way to the new Bohemia. From this I have to cut commercial films which they will use to keep excisting clients informed and for advertising purposes.

Together with my IT man, Benjamin Walz we developed this killer timelaps system that is made of 3 HD cameras taking a photo every 60 sec's. The photos are then transferred via wi-fi to a main computer where they are backed up x2 on external drives. Everything happens automatically. Even in case of a power failure battery power will provide energy for an entire day with enough memory to store 3 days of photos on every camera. As soon as power is restored the system will automatically start-up and download & back-up all unsaved data. I even have the possibility to access the files from anywhere in the world by logging in via an online server and check on the status of the cameras, external drives, and photo quality for dirty lenses etc. Let’s hope it all works out the way we planned it.

Bohemia looked well after us and there were never a hungry or thirsty moment. Gaffer Pietro Bartesaghi did a great job setting up our gear and making sure we could pump out the interviews and creative filming. Thanks also to Visuals Switzerland for all the rental gear. It helps so much to have a personal relationship with a rental company that goes out of their way to serve you with the best equipment. Three to four weeks from now the first film will be online.

Here is just a test film I made 2 months ago to show the client what Bohemia looks like through my camera lens. Nothing official.

Leaving a Legacy

2011-07-11T08:11:00.021+02:00

A heavy last 2 weeks of work, completely burned out. It started with a career highlight as one of my hardest script writing voice over attempts became a reality.

It was between 12 and 2 in the morning in Barcelona when the inspiration just started flowing. By the time I put the pen down and went to bed, I had no idea what I wrote. I just wrote as fast as possible to get all the ideas down, however had a feeling I was onto something.

4 days later in a Zurich studio I got goose bumps as we recorded one of the world's most iconic voices reading the script that was written by a monkey. Pretty special moment.

The next day I departed to South Africa to work on a project that has been coming on for the last 10 months. The concept is something I have always been interested in and was stoked to finally get started.

In many ways it makes sense shooting in South Africa as it is a country that is extremely well geared for rental of filming equipment. Especially Cape Town has got it all. With my long relationship of rental with Panalax & Panavision and a reasonable budget for the project it was the perfect opportunity to take things to new heights.

During the last week we worked with 3 great companies to transport the concept & explain the message from the client about leaving a legacy. Art, music & diamonds were our subjects. First, we spent an entire day with what is probably Cape Town's most respected diamond cutter; Prins&Prins. What they are doing there is just one of a kind. With all the big bully monopoly companies it's refreshing to know that magic still happens in the heart of the mother city.

We shot a trade master at work with 41 years of experience in diamond cutting. Just incredible to watch his dedication and precision. The owner, Dr Petre Prins is a gentleman and he spoke from his heart as we captured his passion for diamonds on camera.

Next was the commercial kitchen artist Frans Groenewald. Very interesting creative character. It was raining cats and dogs that day and we briefly faced the elements in-between showers and pulled some pretty special shots off. One of the highlights of the shoot for me was shooting plenty of extreme close-ups with a 100mm macro lens. To be able to get so close to the action and capture so much detail was essential for the production.

Last was the beautiful music group, Zamar. The funny thing was that my dad told me first about the band. For me, who has the reputation of not listening to him, it was kind of remarkable to follow his recommendation. Just shows you, I should have started it ages ago.

We focus on front woman Veronica Bell to tell her vision of her mark she leaves in people as their music inspires rhythm in all of us. Again, we were challenged by the one storm after the other, but like always the clouds gave way and just gave us enough time to do our magic.

I have to mention gaffer - Barret de Kock & assistant - Dieter Fouche for their incredible commitment in making the production work. Barret is going to get far in this world since no problem is too great for him. The fact that you can just leave him to sort it out and you carry on with something else is priceless. Dieter on the other hand planned and scheduled our extras to make every scene flow into the other. This way we spent less time struggling and more time setting up the shots to get the most out of every scene. Thanks guys.

One scene worth mentioning is the last shot on day 5 of production. I wanted to have a tracking crane shot on top of a mountain panning out while a couple walks into the picture. The crane has to move outwards, revealing location as the sun sets with Table Mountain in the background. Logistically it was a mini nightmare. We already had to postpone the shoot with 2 days because of rain. Then it was the 10 meter crane to take up the mountain and none of us had a clue how to really construct the monster together. By far the biggest thing I have ever worked with. But it worked out like always with a few minor changes and the last 15 minutes gave us 14 takes to get one perfect shot. We shot with a wonderful Compact Prime 18 mm Carl Zeiss lens. Very thankful for the smooth aperture to stop down as we pulled back with the sun into the lens. But yes, keeping the right composure, exposure & focus was a great challenge for a humble camera operator.

The last two days I filmed for my brother's wine business, BLANKbottle. Always fun to be with him on the road. We cruised all over the Boland, even popped in at world renowned winemaker Eben Sadie, and shot some beautiful Swartland landscape. The snow covered peaks made it chilly, but stunning pictures.

Pieter H. Walser film I made a while ago.

Now there, a bucket full of editing ahead, but that's ok, would not mind if I don't have to pick up the camera for 2 weeks or so.

Barcelona

2011-06-16T15:18:00.011+02:00

Six days in a beautiful, very hot, inspirational city. Barcelona really has it all. Great weather, located right by the Mediterranean sea, art, culture and brilliant architecture from Gaudi.

We went mainly to refill the creativity side, but also a thing called holiday. Holiday, what's that? Something you can eat...? I was in my element with the photo camera. Took lots of photos, making experimental time lapses and filmed some weird people protesting for anything you can think of.

What impressed me the most of the city was how well organized everything is. The streets and beaches are very clean. All the time trucks come to pick up rubbish. Every night, sometimes after midnight, the roads get washed down. We never for one moment felt unsafe in any way. Walking around with lots of camera gear it's always in the back of your mind, however you felt more like a monkey checking for something that was no problem at all.

Go and check out this city. It will not disappoint you, only if you are a surfer... Be aware, the place is flat, no waves.

Tina Turner in updated Children Beyond Teaser

2011-05-30T23:18:00.005+02:00

We worked a great amount on the sound track and updated the teaser with some new shots that include Tina Turner. The final film will be a 15 -20 min TV production that will be part of the new CD showing more inside on the concept and recording.

Busy April

2011-05-04T21:53:00.011+02:00

The past month was filled with hard work and motivational filmmaking. So many things have happened and I would like to mention just a few.

"Life in a day", produced by Ridley and Tony Scott and Directed by Kevin Macdonald. released a beautiful new trailer for the project. The date for premiering at cinemas in the USA is on the 24th July 2011 - exactly one year after shooting. Some of my footage made it into the final film and I am looking forward to see it on the big-screen.

For the wine industry I shot a short harvesting interview clip for Wade Metzer. It is about his work during his time in South Africa on his Vit.B wine 2011 venture.

We also shot the recording for the newest CD of The Children Beyond project that is driven by Regula Curti, Dechen Shak-Dagsay and Tina Turner.

It was a great honor to have this type of responsibility and to work on the production together with amazing people. Also working with composer Roland Frei and Photographer Nathan Beck was very inspiring.

Music and film will be ready at the beginning of September 2011.

The Children Beyond

2011-03-30T20:30:00.005+02:00

I had a new challenge which is probably regarded as the world's most complicated topic - religion. Studio Seeschau is taking on new grounds with their Beyond project and is mixing a music CD together with 6 different believes on one music CD. It gets done through the voices of children. Not an easy project. Firstly, because one is working with normal, energetic children and secondly the topic of believe. The material was shot by famous filmmaker and photo Journalist, Alberto Venzago and I had the honour of cutting it together. I took the job very seriously and analyzed every step I took. The goal was to cut a pre-trailer from the footage to show to potential sponsors and distributors before the real filming and recording start. Buddhism, Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism and Sikhism - all edited together in the first of many more edits and filming to come. If you really break it all down it simply comes to love... and love never fails.

The Horse

2011-03-29T21:42:00.002+02:00

Another short Polo clip I made for the St. Moritz Polo Club.

The challenge was not use any soundtrack and just working with other natural sounds.

iMac - Problem

2011-03-04T15:30:00.003+01:00

Recently I have been having problems with my iMac. It puts itself to sleep whenever it wants and it became impossible to work. A good friend told me that he once had similar problems and they tried everything to fix it. Hardware, software and hard drive tests couldn't cure the problem. Eventually after sending it in for repair, they stated that the dirty fans caused overheating, which send the computer into a sleeping mode. So I called a friend that knows it all about Mac's in the valley. He is also the only guy I know that even has the tools to open an iPhone. Well, we took my poor little iMac to pieces. So much so that I thought we would never be able to get it back in working order again. The fans were pretty dusty and with his vacuum cleaner we sucked the entire Mac spotlessly clean. After cleaning we slowly reassembled it the way we found it and to my surprise the machine worked again in perfect harmony. Heehaa....

27th St. Moritz Polo World Cup on Snow - Passion film

2011-02-14T10:24:00.012+01:00

I filmed the 27^th St.Moritz Polo World Cup on Snow event on a 40cm thick frozen lake. It was a serious upgrade from my previous 7 years of filming the Polo event. This time around I had a very good second camera operator, a helicopter, steady cam system and 4 different cameras to help us cover all the angles.

The hardest thing about the job was the temperature on the lake. It was anything from -17ºC to -8ºC every day. With hard work we covered the event the best ever and tried extremely hard to be innovative with the camera angles. Filming from the perspective of rider and horse, I tried to bring out the passion behind the sport.

The official new website of the St. Moritz Polo club launches on Monday 14 Feb together with the official event film.

All photos by Filip Zuan www.filipzuan.com

Below is the official film.

In the credits

2011-02-01T10:02:00.006+01:00

Life in a Day is a documentary film that was produced by Ridley and Tony Scott and directed by Kevin McDonnell. It was filmed by 86 000 enthusiastic filmmakers around the world on the 24th of July 2010. Kevin McDonnell’s idea was to have it like a time capsule. When we look back at what people were doing in 2010 it will show a day on earth across the world. I was fortunate enough to be one of the 1125 people who made it into the final 80 minute film. The film was broadcasted live on You Tube together with the premier screening at the
Sundance festival on the 26th of January 2011. From now on it will be shown in cinemas around the world.

VIT.B commercial

2011-01-19T20:25:00.003+01:00

Another great adventure came to a completion. The Vit.B commercial was truly an interesting project that I thoroughly enjoyed directing. The clip is now official on www.vitaminbwine.com or you can view it directly below via YouTube. A great thanks to Wade Metzer and his brother Myles. These guys put a lot of hard work into the planning, script writing and voice over.

The VIT.B commercial

The Making of from the VIT.B commercial in Zurich City.

Music from Victoria Loren, Stereobaby and master musician Olivier Girardot.

Vodafone "point of view" commercial

2011-01-14T20:20:00.013+01:00

I have been helping as an extra action camera operator and production assistant on a “point of view“ Vodafone commercial shoot. It was a very interesting day with great action. I filmed the actors closely from my snowboard as they skied at great speed down the snowy faces of the Alps in St. Moritz. Focus was set at 1 meter and it was challenging to keep a safe distance.

I don't think the director realized how good the conditions were. Perfect, no wind, blue skies, not too cold and with fresh 20cm of powder. It looked sooo good and I was proud of the Engadin.

Since it got shot from the “point of view“ of the actors enjoying their winter holiday the director thought filming with DSLR cameras would make the commercial more realistic. Almost all the shots got done on the Canon 7D and 5D cameras and that make it much more maneuverable specially being on the snowboard. They also had several GoPro cameras placed in all funny positions. It was refreshing to see that even on a big budget commercial of this sort with a client like Vodafone that they use the same equipment as Sub Graviti.

Here is the commercial.

Neal Stephenson film online

2011-01-10T07:24:00.002+01:00

Here is the Neal Stephenson film now on the official Össur Media YouTube channel.

Neal Stephenson

2011-01-03T22:12:00.009+01:00

About 18 months ago I worked on a short film for a company called Össur. Its a medical company that builds amazing products for people that where born without limbs or were in some kind of an accident that harmed them in such a way that their leg or arm had to be amputated. An amazing sport person close to my heart was attacked 12 years ago by a shark and in the process lost his leg just above his knee.

His name is Neal Stephenson and to many watermen an absolute legend and to waveskis surfers around the world a hero. Before the accident Neal was South Africas number one bodyboarder and rated amongst the top 4 body boarders in the world. Neal took up waveski surfing after the accident and within a period of 2 years he won back in 2000 3rd place at the world championship in Jeffreys Bay South Africa. I had the privilege of producing a short film about him and now after many months the film will finally be made visible. Össur wants to show people in similar life changing situations that there is real hope of continuing living out your dreams. That your world can truly be a life without limitations.

As soon as its online and official I will post the link here. In the meanwhile enjoy some of the stills coming from the film of this amazing individual.

Also check out more on Neal Stephenson in Mutual Addiction the movie. http://www.subgraviti.com/movies.php

For Euro 7 via Paypal you can do a digital download here. http://shop.subgraviti.com/product_info.php/info/p14_Mutual-Addiction---Digital-Copy---Download.html

Merry Christmas

2010-12-23T17:16:00.001+01:00

Alberto Venzago

2010-12-02T09:51:00.003+01:00

I had the great honour to have an espresso with renowned filmmaker and photo journalist, Alberto Venzago. He is one of Switzerland's best photographers, still or moving pictures. Talking to him, you quickly realize that this is a man with a great deal of knowledge in the film industry. He has got a very strong distinctive style of working with heavy contrasted black and white pictures. Alberto is known throughout the world and artists like Tina Turner and Penelope Cruz - just to name a few - are his clients. His work gets presented by Wim Wenders, one of Germanys most influential directors. Alberto knows everybody and most likely worked at some stage with them all. Even worked with Oscar winner Anthony Dod Mantle, cinematographer from Slumdog Millionnaire. The hour and a half flew by and before I knew it my parking money was finished and it was time to go. My head was full of thoughts and that night was dedicated to dreaming and in the process I forgot to sleep.

VIT.B shoot - Zurich City

2010-11-29T23:37:00.020+01:00

I just came back from a 2 day intense shoot in Zurich City. I filmed a Viral internet short film for an excellent wine maker named Wade Metzer. Zurich is a stunning city and it was brilliant to spend so much time in the heart of the city going from location to location.

The highlight by far was the filming we did inside a theater house. The place is just too good to be true. It has it all. It reminded me of the Star Gazer Cinema in Worcester South Africa, owned by Trevor Daly. It was the place where I had my first ever surf film premier. The good old days....

Anyway, back to this theater. Whichever scene we had to shoot, we found it within the theater house. Whatever props we needed we found them with very little effort. It was like a giant movie studio just for us to do what ever we wanted. And we did. It would have been inspirational for any filmmaker. The sad thing about the place is they have until 2014 before the bank sector demolishes it and build some sky scraper office block in its place.

Here are a few behind the scenes photos. It was a small production, but surely stood out as an epic experience working with wonderful dedicated people.

New RTM Slide film

2010-11-29T12:55:00.004+01:00

Just finish a demostrational film for Rotomod with surfing from Mathieu Babarit and Caroline Angibaud. Taylor Lausten did the narration. Everything was filmed on location in Portugal a few weeks ago. Hope you enjoy the short film.

Interview with me on Kayaksurf

2010-11-17T18:54:00.004+01:00

There is a nice new interview with me on Kayaksurf.

Check it out. Kayaksurf.net

Lourens van der Westhuizen

2010-11-05T10:23:00.009+01:00

One more Wine Rockstar film done! Since this guy is a real rock climber and wine maker, it makes him a true rock star in the wine industry. As if that's not enough, he planted his vineyards in dry rock! The other interesting thing about Lourens van der Westhuizen is that all his wines are single cultivars. He does no blending. What you get in a specific block of grapes is what you will find in the bottle Enjoy the film.

Eben Sadie - Underground Rockstar

2010-10-27T09:15:00.004+02:00

Eben Sadie is one of South Africa's most spoken about, undercover wine makers - if there is such a thing. My brother Pieter H. Walser, another hardcore, spoken about winemaker and myself had the privilege to spend 12-hours with Eben in the amazing Swartland area where he sources his wine.

He shared many great moments with us and I captured it all for Woolworths on camera. From Friday Sadie's wine will be available in selected Woolworths stores across the country. Here is my latest work about this inspirational character. He has got an interesting theory and I think it comes across strongly.

The Parlotones - Push me to the Floor Blending Film

2010-10-14T17:28:00.006+02:00

My newest work that I directed for the Parlotones "Push me to the Floor" wine blending film.

Otherwise check out their Facebook account.

The Behind the Scenes of the making of from the same shoot.

Commercial shoot in Portugal

2010-10-13T08:44:00.007+02:00

Seventeen days in Portugal. I took a group of young waveski surfers to Portugal to shoot a commercial for the 2011 World Championship. This was just one side of the mission. Together with the 2011 Worlds and the Santa Cruz Ocean Spirit Festival I will also have the world premier for my new waveski film. For me it’s going to be the biggest premier up to date and it was important that I filmed some spectacular action to go with it. And that’s precisely what happened.

Out of the 17 days of filming we had just 2 days that we could not film because of rain and strong wind. The rest of the time we were blessed with excellent surfing conditions all day long. I gathered a total of just over 300 GB of rushes. The material came from 5 different cameras: the surfing telescopic camera, lifestyle camera and 3 water cameras. All performed excellent, without any problem in a very hostile environment. The best filming experience I had on the trip was sitting on the back of a jetski while speeding next to the white water as the riders surf the wave in full glory, at times less than a meter away from me. It was my first time that I have experienced this angle seeing the riders so close and being right next to the action. I captured some incredible images in absolute perfect wave conditions. It is guaranteed to put the movie in a league of its own.

To see some ‘behind the scenes’ footage of our mission, check out www.subgraviti.com

Project P10.

2010-09-13T16:38:00.007+02:00

I am working on a new surfing film where I am taking a group of young waveski riders to a secret location for 2 weeks filming. Here is a small teaser about the up and coming film. All the filming was done last year in J-Bay South Africa. I will do daily video highlights during my time on the shoot so check back from the 20th September on Sub Graviti for updates.

Or go directly to the links below. Project P10 on Sub Graviti Productions / Project P10. on YouTube / Project P10 on FaceBook

Suvretta Snow Sports ski film short

2010-09-06T16:32:00.007+02:00

The last winter I shot a last minute job for a ski school. No script and had only one day to film it. Here is the result on YouTube.

Click on the link to the official website.

Crossing the Swiss Alps

2010-08-24T22:42:00.002+02:00

I had a 3 day biking trip crossing the Swiss Alps. Just one photo to prove I am not always working.

24th July 2010

2010-08-19T17:30:00.013+02:00

About a month ago I filmed something really interesting. Ridley Scott, director of the Gladiator and Blade Runner…. just to name a few, hosted a filming day where everybody could document their day on the 24th of July. The best rushes will then be put together in a feature film as a sort of time capsule so that this day will forever be documented in the history books. I am a big fan of Ridley's films. Actually his brother Tony Scott's films are what I like most. Films like True Romance, Man on Fire, Domino and more. But since they are brothers, I thought it a great opportunity that those guys might see a snippet of my work. I was not so keen on filming myself and managed to find somebody very interesting to film, so that I could concentrate on the actual filming.

Her name is Regula Curti. A very versatile woman, who last year produced a CD called "Beyond" together with Tina Turner and Dechen Shak-Dagsay. She was completely open for the challenge and was really looking forward to our day of filming.

On the 24^th, at 4 o’ clock in the morning, I started filming Regula's day. She did nothing different to any other day and I was basically just like the fly on the wall capturing the moments. Doing everything myself was a mission and the long day of filming completely exhausted me. I was filming with a new type of camera, different lenses than what I was used to and recorded the sound and picture separately. This drove me nuts since there was no time [or a spare hand] to use a clapper board to line up the sound! But I did it and it turned out to be a great day of filming.

I uploaded the rushes to Mr Scott and his team and then Regula asked me if I could cut something together for the Beyond CD with Universal records. She needs an English version for the USA launch next month. It was a privilege to use the music from the "Beyond" CD which is super high quality and a pleasure to work with. I think the result is good, considering shooting it in one day without the intention to use it in this manner. I am very happy with the outcome.

Here is the link to the official website from Universal Music where the film is on.

www.beyondsinging.com

Theater show in Chur

2010-08-11T12:10:00.005+02:00

Was filming at a theater performance in Chur Switzerland last night for the www.origen.ch festival. Really funny show, with wonderful actors and overall a great little job for me.

KrewKlub

2010-08-02T15:56:00.006+02:00

A while ago I had to produce 4 different 30 sec commercials for a restaurant crew club. I had total freedom with the production, but had to do it simple and fast. It was a small project and I absolutely loved it.

Berlin

2010-07-05T23:28:00.015+02:00

Holiday was our main objective. Inspiration was another. The good thing was that I got a lot of both. Yes, holiday is not something that I do often and you sort of forget its importance while you are stuck in projects. The funny thing is that it can really count in your favor to take some holiday every now and then. If you are rested and experience interesting things, your head fills with inspiration and ideas flow much better when you are working.

Berlin is a big modern city with a great deal of interesting history. What interested me most were the elements of things happening around the fall of the wall 20 years ago. Also the great graffiti art visible everywhere. One thing that I found very interesting is that there was a lot of poster graffiti on the walls. A graffiti artist told us that if the police catch you sticking a graffiti-poster on the wall, the penalty is a lot easier on the artist than when you get caught spraying the walls. Posters are like advertisement in the eyes of the police but spray damages the buildings. Well, for me as inspiration hungry tourist it did not matter. Both worked well to get a message across and draw ideas from the artist's work. One guy's work that stood out was ALIAS. He is one of Berlin's most famous graffiti artists. You can see more of his work on www.myspace.com/aliaslovesyou Its got some elements of the UK artist BANKSY but it's still unique in its own way.

Music is a fascinating thing and can really make or break a film. So another highlight of my trip to Berlin was meeting Olivier Girardot. For the last 2 years I have been working together with Olivier on the production of several films. The highlights are the work we have been doing for the Parlotones on Giant Mistake and now the newest Push me to the Floor film. Although we work together, we have never actualy met in person. Just on the internet. I found Olivier on Myspace and was amazed with his unique style and fantastic music composing. So to finally meet Olivier was such a sureal experience. I took a bottle of autographed Giant Mistake with me and we sat together with our wives in a park in Berlin and enjoyed lots of classic moments together. We also briefly discussed the soundtrack of Push me to the Floor and found some solutions on making the film gel better. Read more on Olivier on www.myspace.com/ogcomposer

I can recommend Berlin as the perfect weekend vacation. If you want to visit a layback city full of interesting history and modern art it's surely the perfect place to go.

Europa Cup 2010 in France

2010-05-28T15:39:00.018+02:00

I have just returned from an inspiring filming week on the West coast of France. (Plouhinec) It was a waveski event with all the hottest riders from all over Europe attending. By now I know most of the riders since I have been working closely with them for the last 10 years.

This is not the first time that I do this type of news media, a current affairs news cover that should look like a classy short film - filming during the day, editing at night and uploading before the break of dawn. Although searching for music can be very time consuming, sourcing music for this project, was an inspiring experience. Music is very important for the success of a production. To my mind more than 50% of the success is dedicated to the sound and therefore it is so rewarding to find the right songs after searching the internet sites in the hope to discover the next big unsigned group.

I traveled with the TGV train and at times it was flying at 320 km per hour. A first for me and what an experience to commute at that speed! Arriving in France it was completely overcast, grim and gray. Adding to the atmosphere the town had a Scottish, almost Gothic feeling with classic little cottage houses everywhere. This set the stage for the start of the show.

The next day the weather was the opposite with perfect blue skies and beautiful 4-5 ft clean/green surf and a dolphin joining the surfers in the line-up. It was easy to make that look good. I did a total of four 5-8 minute films and we had about 10,000 views on www.subgraviti.com over 5 days. I am happy with the outcomes and it opened new doors for Sub Graviti.

There were many special moments during the course of the event, like when one of the British competitors told me that his 2 year old son watches my film "Gateway to Sorga" at least once daily. This was a good feeling, stressing the responsibility to produce decent films. Children all over the world watch the films and you as filmmaker plant dreams in their hearts and fill their heads with images. You better make the dream pure or a generation of riders grow up with a fake evil gray reality of the world.

You can watch the highlights of the event at http://www.subgraviti.com/euro10.php or on the Worldriders Channel on YouTube.

Rock Star - Pieter H. Walser

2010-05-05T12:52:00.006+02:00

Not much I can say about this film. It really speaks for itself.

El-Paradiso One Year Close to Heaven Film

2010-04-23T21:45:00.014+02:00

Recently I completed a huge year long project with the El-Paradiso mountain hut. The film is called: "One Year close to Heaven"

The project was overwhelming in many ways. I filmed at El-Paradiso for about sixteen times over the period of one year and accumulated a confusing amount of footage. The script changed so many times and it caused a huge headache. But it was not only the script that changed, also the objectives of the film changed in the course of the production.

Although it is a very interesting topic for the employees and owners of the hut the rest of the world is not really interested. The challenge was to do the magic in the editing. It took five weeks to cut this monster together. A complete overkill, but I believe the edge was found. Watch the film for now from my homepage at http://xaverwalser.subgraviti.com/ or a big quicktime download at this link.

My sincere thanks to Hans-Jörg Zingg and El-Paradiso for the opportunity to make it happen and trusting me to go all the way with the film.

Making a difference

2010-04-15T17:14:00.013+02:00

I felt strong in my heart to make something useful for the sake of humanity. I have all the tools to my exposure and it was just a matter of time to find the right cause where I was going to spend some of my valuable time on. The thing is, the older you get the more hectic your life becomes. First, there was just yourself and wondering how many sessions a day I can be in the water surfing. Then the girlfriend came around to worry about and you thought how simple your life was before. Then she became your wife. Then the business started. Then the little Noah monster turned up taking up the last little bit of time that we had. So to have a balanced life spending enough time with the family, running a successful business, try to keep fit and spending time with friends not to become a complete isolated freak takes a fair bit of planning. Ooo yes, not to mention... you need to find some time to sleep as well.

I once learned that one should get yourself in a position where you are not just earning money to pay the bills and eat. If you can get just above that breadline to give yourself a little bit of room to move you could find so much more creativity and it could be an opportunity to give to someone in need. How cool would that be, I thought.

So finally my opportunity came along to give and this short film is the result of it. I truly hope that I could even in the smallest margin make a difference. Even if it could just touch one persons heart on the planet it was worth it. Shofar_Film

Speeding down the white faces of the Alps

2010-04-12T22:41:00.004+02:00

Now it’s not often that I get asked to film this type of work, but when it comes around I am always up for the challenge. The job at hand was to film for a ski school on the St. Moritz mountain that will be used to market their Freestyle department via an internet commercial campaign.

It was really great fun with a full on high-speed chase following the riders down the mountain. The level of skiing was super intense and a great experience concentrating not to trash your equipment or crash into someone else as we were speeding down the white faces of the Alps. I am well pleased with the results and looking forward to start cutting it together.

The Parlotones at Kirstenbosch

2010-03-29T11:48:00.008+02:00

Really nice photo of my brother Pieter and myself in the Sunday times when we where at the Parlotones show in Kirstenbosch, South Africa.

Neil Pendock is South Africans biggest wine writer and it was interesting meeting him at the show.

Check out the link to the Times blog.

Also a nice short ad from the Parlotones with my 30 sec commercial from the Giant Mistake Parlotones wine edited into the piece.

How do you get to the next level?

2010-03-27T12:29:00.014+01:00

We all have to climb the ladder one step at a time. There is no easy way of getting to your goals. It’s a slow, often painful, process with no ten-point plan to reach the top successfully. One thing that I learnt over the years is that in order to achieve the extraordinary you have to take risks. And if it means putting it all on the line, then so be it. Of course you could possibly lose everything, but on the other hand, you could also win big time and never look back.

Not too long ago I felt I wasn’t moving towards my goals fast enough, especially in comparison to the previous 2 years. I realized that in order for me to work with the top guns I would need take it to the next level. The only thing I could think of doing, was to hire one of the country's best directors to assist me on my next shoot. Sure, the income of the shoot wouldn't justify the expense of the director's fees, but I know it would be of much more value than going to a college ( which would cost even more). My theory was confirmed when that same director said: “Those how can, DO, and those how can't, TEACH”. Another friend of mine also said something that made a lot of sense: “It’s the one's who know they can't do it, who learns the quickest... by employing somebody better to do the job”.

On the actual day of filming we started at 5am. We had a hectic schedule ahead of us with definite time marks for each location on the storyboard. But somehow we managed to stay roughly on track. This was only possible with the help of an enormous, enthusiastic crew of dedicated staff, friends and family.

The highlight of the day's filming was the media dancing scene, made up of twenty 1920's-dressed dancers. The make-up artists and hairdressers did an outstanding job of making the media frenzy look believable, and I have to say: I truly believe we made it look like in the movies.

Thanks very much to all the people who formed part of this wonderful production.

Credits:

Location: Romond
Assistant Director: André Liebenberg
Props: Rhona Liebenberg
Gaffer/Spark: Barret de Cock
Runner: Pieter H. Walser and Frans Smuts
Costumes: Aneen Walser and Natalie Williams
Costume suppliers: Playhouse Somerset West and Hospice Somerset West.
Make-Up: Stephanie Roos
Assistant Make-up:
Hair: Charne Erwee
Assistant Hair ………….
Catering: Heidi and Albert Ahrens
Script coordinator: Pieter H. Walser
Script grammar: Johan Slabbert
Behind the scenes photographer: Dawane Smit
Technichan: Caleb from Red One Africa
Lights: Michele St. Arnaud Panalux
Organization: Siskha Brand and Sulandi

Choreography: Natalie Williams and Adele Harris
Living props: Alana Walser, Rhona Liebenberg, Frans Smuts
Old photo camera rental: Camera Land Cape Town and Hospice Somerset West

Special thanks: Steve Straker – Hands on Wine

Actors: Kahn, Neil, Paul, Glenn, Pieter H. Walser, Allan Mullins, Andre Liebenberg, Patricia McNaught-Davis

Extra equipment: Liebenberg
Music for dance choreography: Paul Williams
Leading dancers: Natalie Williams, Adele Harris, Aneen Walser and all the amazing dancers.

All photos by Duwayne Smit

Vaseline shoot with André Liebenberg

2010-03-22T20:56:00.005+01:00

I am back in Africa. Its funny to live in Switzerland and work in Africa. Normally it`s the other way round. But anybody who knows the Walsers knows that we do not like to do things the ordinary way. We like to make things complicated for ourselves.

I was invited to a Vaseline shoot with André Liebenberg. André is one of South Africa`s most famous directors. He has a lifetime of awards behind him, including 12 Loeries and several international Cannes awards for his directing work. He became famous for his Castrol ads in the 90`s and managed to build a reputation of working with children. I respect this man enormously and when I got the invitation to attend one of his commercial shoots I was over the moon with excitement. One of my friends said I looked like a cat who just got milk.

The shoot was wonderful and I learnt a great deal. It really feels like it took me to a new level of understanding. One aspect where I learnt a lot was with lighting. Lighting is really a science. You need to have a feeling for it. Sometimes it looked like a squatter camp that they built around this little pot of Vaseline but it delivered the most amazing results.

I was building set, carrying stuff and sitting on the best spot on the set, next to Andrès` director chair!

St. Moritz Polo World Cup on Snow

2010-02-04T23:24:00.008+01:00

I have been filming the Polo on the St. Moritz frozen lake for the past seven years. The event is attended by high profile people. The focus varies from fashion and people to polo. Fur coats, expensive jewelry and a good game of polo are at the order of the day.

My work normally does not require special marketing skills. I usually make the best possible movie and it sells by itself. Seven years of experience taught me that the Polo has a different marketing game. You have only 4 days in which to be adamant, sell your work, win new clients and secure yourself for the next year.

It reminds me of a weekend 10 years ago with my great buddy Don Guan Demarco (Juan Slabbert) who owns a meat processing company. He invited me to a marketing weekend at a little fishing village on the west coast of South Africa called Yzerfontein.

We prepared chicken burgers and barbequed marinated pork ribs at a fast food stand. It was early morning and meat was the last thing on people’s minds. The occasion asked for drastic marketing measures so I started acting like a chicken!! It drew the crowds and that day I even managed to sell meat to a vegetarian! It was an ultra successful weekend and Juan made more than enough money to cover the cost and establish himself. So when I have to do serious Polo marketing, I remind myself of our Yzerfontein experience and start ‘acting like a chicken’.

Over these years I learned to apply special filming techniques to the game of Polo. I learned to go with the flow of the game, focus on the players and not so much on the ball. For example, when a player hits the ball and it goes out of picture, there is no need to follow the ball frantically. Rather go with the pack of polo players until they catch up with the ball again. In this way the picture still flows and it gives a smooth transition back to the ball. It also makes life a lot easier back in the editing room. With easier editing in mind, I concentrate on the transitions between wide and close up. I also learned to stay away from where the pack of media is moving. It’s much more interesting to get the shots over the heads of the audience than to get really close to the action and miss all that great depth-of-field.

An expensive train journey from Geneva Airport

2010-01-14T22:19:00.004+01:00

I learned a hard lesson on my way back from Geneva Airport. I had a six hour train journey ahead and plenty of work to do on my MacBook Pro. The battery was running low and I started looking around for a power point to charge the computer on the train while continuing with my work.

I changed seats when I found one just two seats away. It worked like a charm and I was back in action. Somehow I got the impression that the laptop was charging much faster than what I was used to. Anyway, at least it would buy me a little more time working.

I finished my work and arrived safe home after almost 24 hours of traveling. Two days later my computer battery exploded! The back plate kind of shot off and the battery popped open. In disbelieve I had to just watch what was happening and could do nothing to save it. Really,

if this meant a new laptop, it would be a terrible setback. I tested the MacBook without the battery and it worked fine. That was quite a relieve, but still the mystery of the exploding battery was an open end.

The next day we had some friends over for dinner and I told Stephan, a Swiss architect who also uses a Macs, the story about my exploding battery. He immediately asked me if I recently traveled by train and charged my computer via the power points. I was completely surprised

with his fast reaction. It turned out that the plug I was using for charging my MacBook is used for vacuum machines when the train is stationary. When it's moving, the voltage can change between 110V and 1000V. And I thought that it was cool that the battery was charging so fast.

It cost me CHF 200.- to change the battery. The machine works fine again. I hope that this blog entry will prevent that somebody else fall into the same vacuum trap.

Bellevue Rhein Hotel project

2010-01-13T16:18:00.009+01:00

This was another great project I finished of in 2009. Its a commercial for a hotel in the middle of Germany playing on the legend from the Lorely story. Together with the commercial I also made two behind the scenes productions to show more on the making of the commercial.

Read the full making of of the project in the August 2009 blog

See the production online at www.bellevue-boppard.de under the video button.

Hands on Wine films

2010-01-11T22:27:00.014+01:00

A short while ago in South Africa I filmed for the Hands on Wine company and Woolworths a commercial and two interview shorts films. The theme was the rock stars of the wine industry. In the films we market two wine makers. Matthew Copeland and Adi Badenhorst. Both characters. The clients were happy and here are the results.

Music was composed by Olivier Girardot and a fantastic rock song from Blue Stahli called "Scrape"

BLANKbottle Pieter Walser with his wine for Woolworths "Alexa" and The Boss

Music by Olivier Girardot

30 sec commercial for Kainos Tennis film

2009-12-30T08:32:00.004+01:00

You can watch the full film on http://www.youtube.com/kainos9

Santa Claus broadcast for London

2009-12-02T23:37:00.007+01:00

On the weekend I was assigned by a Frankfurt based company to film news for a British TV station on the CLAUWAU Santa Claus world championship at a village called Samnaum. Seven different nationalities took part, even as far as

Japan

. I was under the impression that I was going to be the only cameraman at the event. In fact it was completely the opposite. You had to fight to get a spot at the action and interviews. Channels from all over the world were there. The broadcast company needed 15 minutes of rushes in DVCAM format. This was quite strange for me since lately I was getting frustrated with the quality of HDV footage and getting used to 4k files with its amazing clarity. To go back to DVCAM was for me like going back to the Stone Age. The quality is just terrible. Well that’s what the client wanted so that’s what he got. The village is quite remotely located and therefore I had to upload the rushes via FTP server. The client then downloaded it in Frankfurt, edited the package and sent it to London where it got aired. Amazing how things have changed over the last years that even the average Joe can send files as big as 4 GBits through the internet for broadcasting.

Current Affairs in Reunion Island

2009-11-13T20:06:00.018+01:00

Being on a low-budget-current-affair-one-week shoot on the Island of Reunion can be a challenge. I had to produce 7 news feeds for the World Waveski Tour single-handed in just over a week. The biggest challenge with news is to not compromise on quality of pictures, but to know when to stop so that you do not fall behind. My goal was to bring across a very positive impression of the tour, waves and Island in the bulletins. It’s my responsibility as director to put the dream of the tour into the audience’s hearts and make the sponsors look awesome.

In my opinion, it’s incredible difficult to run a business in Reunion. The term COOL is the problem. COOL in French means that you do not care, are never in a hurry, never on time and do not stress about anything. COOL means that you just earn enough to live, you work for the town or government (since it’s safe) and the topic ‘money’ is rude and something that never gets discussed. All of the above is not what I stand for and therefore I believe I qualify as being completely uncool.

The not falling behind thing is almost impossible due to the fact that internet on the Island is scarce and slow. To upload a web cast of 50 mega-bytes takes anything between one to two hours. That is while the connection lasts. We were also hit by a massive rainstorm. Probably the heaviest downpour I have ever seen. The locals were not really moved by it and for them it was pretty average. Six hours without being connected can really put a spanner in the works.

I wish the budget allowed us to do the mobile studio filming with some lights. I ended bouncing the sunlight from my golden reflector into the studio and as long as there were clear skies, it did the job just fine. No back light unfortunately, but a beautiful golden glow. Ever since I started traveling with my microphone boom pole I believe I have added nice subtle production value to my web casts. The down side to the boom pole setup is that I need more man power, but now there are no more unnecessary microphones in the shot and the M66’s audio is just perfect.

I put in an extra effort to track down some epic musicians for the edits. Music is just as vital to a good edit as story and pictures. Sometimes I believe more than 50 % of the edits go down to the soundtrack. It really has to be a complete package from story to picture to sound. Being the producer I am the one with the vision of what I want to achieve with the production. How the music and the pictures will set a mood and feeling to the event. At the end of the day I need to be happy with the edit and once that happens the chance is pretty good that the audience will also be satisfied.

Check out the news feeds on www.subgraviti.com/reunion09.php

World Waveski Tour Event Teaser

2009-10-27T10:58:00.007+01:00

From 2 to 8 November the Association of World Waveski Professionals is having another Tour Event Stop on the beautiful island of Reunion in the middle of the Indian Ocean. I have once again the honour to cover their news feed for them and will depart on the 29th of October. I had to produce a 24 sec commercial to market the event. The ad is made up of some scenes from B-Sides (the movie) and my up and coming Project XXX 09 rushes.

Music from Olivier Girardot: Check out www.myspace.com/ogcomposer

I will update this space again as soon as I have found my feet on the Island.

First Video Highlight now on www.subgraviti.com/reunion09.php

Commercial shoot in Cape Town

2009-09-29T09:01:00.028+02:00

Opportunities come every now and then and its up to us if we want to take it or not. This commercial shoot was one of those. A case of throwing yourself in at the deep end, take on the challenge and fill the production with high-risk manoeuvers.

The biggest problem is that you set goals for yourself and when you reach them naturally you want to go bigger and better when the next project comes your way. Well, maybe not everybody is like that, but I know the Walsers are certainly built in this manner. With this job it was no different, but to achieve it I had to convince the client that if he wants to raise the bar further he has to increase the budget. I am not a particular great sales person, but this time round I knew that it was the only way to go forward, especially after the Parlotones blending film. In some ways you shoot yourself in the foot since this particular client might take longer to commission me again. The thing is the additional cost will go purely towards the hiring of better equipment to add production value and not more money in my pocket. The flip side of spending the money on the gear and stay humble is a mind-blowing end product that is not going to stand back for anything. If we want to take on the big guns and play in the 30 sec commercial space we better start pulling out a few more stops. This will however mean that I cannot blame the equipment anymore. If the commercial is not good now, then its just me who is not good enough.

I planed the ad pretty well, but with all the country hopping misunderstandings kept on crawling in. So much that 3 days before the shoot the only thing that we had left was the Cape Grace’s Bascule bar and their yacht. We hung on to our false hopes and my brother Pieter, the client and I held an urgent Skype call meeting. The question was should we terminate the project and delay it for a later stay. Walking away from it now was a crazy sinking thought. We came so far and now stopping? This kind of talk just inspired me more that we can make this thing work. Getting so close and then ending up not doing it was not what I wanted to hear and in my eyes no option.

Miracle after miracle started rolling in and we solved the problems one by one. I had to alter the script slightly, but mostly for the better. Just as we had thought we dealt with all the issues and found solutions for the problems the Cape Grace told us that there has been a misunderstanding and we cannot have the bar and the boat for the shoot anymore. It was the only two things that we actually had and the reason why we were committed not to abandoning the commercial. Loosing this would mean in theory we have nothing.

With a great deal of praying and Gods Grace over the Cape Grace we went in full blown on Thursday morning for the 2 day shoot. Things just fell in place like it was always going to be and so much better than we originally planned. I never had any doubt that it was going to work out, but when we lost the yacht and bar I was pretty disappointed about the entire affair. To cut a very long wonderful story short it was a big success and I am looking forward to dig into the editing. There are a lot of people worth mentioning that without them this ad would have been nothing at all. Thanks so much guys for sticking with us through the experience and help making it happen.

Steve Straker – (Hands on Wine). Siskha Brand – (Hands on Wine). Pieter Walser – (BLANKbottle) Planning, Actor, Assistant. Wilhelm Walser – Sound, Runner, Gaffer. Aneen Walser – Fill in actor, Make-up. Juan Slabbert – Fill in Actor, Runner. Allan Mullins (Woolworths) –, Actor. Ivan Oertle (Woolworths) – Actor. Okkie Slabbert – Actor. Johan Slabbert – Actor. Rob Kellerman – Band. Fred May – (Shofar) Band, Matthew May – Band, Ira van der Merwe – Shofar. Johan – Bodyguard. Calab Heymann– (Red One Africa) Camera Technician. Mario – Kaapseklopse. Andrew Rosettenstein – (Cape Grace). Eldine – Make-up artist. Christian and Alana Walser – Transport, Catering, Manfred Thieroff – Navy mission. Beba Hauptfleisch – Support, and finally the big master in the heavens, God for making the impossible happen. Ooh boy we would have been lost without Him.

Editing will probably start in the next few weeks. Just need a little bit of sleep first.

In the Wine lands

2009-09-22T10:45:00.003+02:00

Another day in the Winelands of South Africa behind the camera meeting interesting people. The last few days I spent with my brothers filming amazing winemakers in great locations. This is all part of a set of wine films that Woolworths will be showing all over South Africa to boost the Hands on Wine concept of finding the rock-stars of the wine-industry. We manage to find some epic locations and pulled of some crazy stunts in a very short timeframe.

The Parlotones - Giant Mistake premier

2009-09-22T08:20:00.005+02:00

On Wednesday was the launch of Giant Mistake, the Parlotones’ new wine and the film in South Africa. After travelling for 33 hours from Australia with the master copy of the film, I arrived at Cape Town International at the same time the event started. Attending were 200 people consisting of mostly media, wine people, Woolworths executives and the friends and family of the people involved, some of South Africa’s most important wine makers and the prominent media people of the country were attending.

The film started and the attention was fixed to the screen. I concentrated on the quality of the sound and wasn’t really nervous. Everything went perfect and the people loved the 7 min short film. There after the Parlotones played live and unplugged for the guests. The guys gave it all and it was an incredible experience. Together with the band rocking, we drank the Parlotones’ wine – Giant Mistake. It couldn’t have been a better evening. There I stood in one of the most luxurious hotels in Cape Town, signing Giant Mistake Bottles, with media from all over and rocking with the Parlotones after watching our film. For sure a highlight of my career. Go and visit www.theparlotoneswine.com and enjoy the film yourself.

Last days in Australia

2009-09-22T08:13:00.004+02:00

After a very busy 2 weeks of supplying news to all the local stations and our web casts, I had very little energy left. For 10 days straight I filmed during daylight and edited during the night. Falling behind was out of the question since it would only backlog and once that happen you will never be able to catch up again. It’s probably also better to keep it up, treat it as news rather than films and pump it out daily. News is only news for today, there after it’s not interesting anymore. It was a challenge giving attention to all the matters at hand. If this was not enough I had this bright idea to release a new Waveski DVD smack bang in the middle of the week. The premier for B-SIDES turned out to be a success with well over 150 people attending. If you want to get your hands onto this movie you can purchase it from subgraviti.com/movies

My last day in Australia ended on a pretty relaxed high note. After packing all the gear back in its boxes I went for a final quick surf. It was perfect. 3 ft left peeling sand bottom point break with only a hand full of surfers out. I had the opportunity to shake off all the hard work of the past weeks and just forget about all the responsibilities and enjoyed the surfing.

News Feed in Australia

2009-09-07T00:26:00.008+02:00

For some it's luck, for others it's coinsedance, for me it's meant to be......even the insignificant!

For my trip to Australia, to cover the World Waveski Titles, I needed a new hard drive to back up my files. I read that LaCie drives are 'no good mate...' I do have 4 of them, but I am still of the old school, shooting onto tape. When I got to Zurich, I found that the price of the G-Drive I intended to buy was increased by CHF 200.- and this was not within my budget. I decided to scrap the original plan and went across the road to the first Apple dealer and bought another LaCie 500G for half the price of the G-Drive.

Emirates is really the nicest airline I have ever flown with. Firstly, 30kg of luggage is allowed on board - a gorilla filmmaker's dream! How cool!! Then probably the best of all was that we flew with the new A-380 monster Airbus. Whoooo... what an amazing plane. Wide Screen TVs, epic food, even power at your seat to charge your MacBook Pro for that last minute edits at 10 000 ft.

Many more meant-to-be's took me safely to Australia and all the way to my job. By now I have completed several news feeds that are available from www.subgraviti.com/worlds09. Check it out!

Loreley shoot

2009-08-26T16:31:00.006+02:00

What a hard weekend. All for just 30 seconds. Anybody that’s not part of this filming world would not understand how much work goes into a 30 second commercial. I most certainly forgot.

After picking up all the hired equipment with a huge van, my navigation system sent me all around Frankfurt. Navigation systems and I am great friends. I remember so clearly how it once sent me right though a parking lot. I even had to get a ticket. At least I got out without paying. Imagine that.....

On Friday I made my way to my final destination. I wanted to set up all the gear the night before to make sure I was not wasting any time during filming. Saturday morning my assistant/ cameraman/ director/ lighting/ gaffer arrived and around 8 we started setting up outside in the street. All the actors arrived shortly after that and final practice and make-up was in full swing. Just before 11h00 we started filming outside on the crane. The head actress playing the character “Loreley” did a fantastic job under very hard conditions. There were really a lot of people in the streets. Then we had to close the roads and traffic was piling up for hundreds of meters. It was also hard to work with the general public, to play along and walk natural without looking in the direction of the camera while we were bagging the shots for the 30 sec puzzle. To say it was hard, would be a complete understatement. Continuity was virtually impossible but I remembered an interview with Danny Boyle about shooting in Bombay and how he just had to go with the flow of things as they tried to shoot a film in the highly populated streets of Bombay. If he could do it with a 7 million budget then I am for sure up for the challenge.

Back to the matter at hand. The day went extremely well. I got most of the outside shots, staying fairly calm. One classic shot is worth mentioning. I had to shoot a crane shot of wet tracks across the road coming from the Lady Loreley's bare feet. We tried several different methods but none was successful. Spraying water under her foot soles, standing in water, carrying her on a chair and then printing foot by foot. At the end the only thing that worked, was rubbing cooking oil on her feet, carrying her seated on the chair and print foot by foot. It was so successful that 2 days later, when I left for home, the prints were still in perfect condition in front of the hotel entrance.

At 22h30 Saturday evening we packed the gear and called it a day. On Sunday I was up and rocking by 6h30 setting up an extremely complicated restaurant shot. The problem was that I wanted to incorporate the great view from the Rhein river. This meant lots of natural light coming through the windows. We had 5 very powerful HMI daylight balance lights to light up the room. The glass windows and mirrors added to the adventure of the game. We did the lunch time shoot at breakfast time to have the restaurant as full as possible. Lots of interesting close-up’s with dripping water and great moving dolly shots to make for another epic day of filming.

All and all I am pleased with the outcome. My assistant, Lawence Richards, did an outstanding job and is a very talented producer to work with. Nattily, in the roll as the Loreley, worked extremely hard and was absolutely sent directly from heaven for this commercial. I cannot imagine another actor doing it better. The fantastic hotel staff helped as runners and made sure we always had refreshments. The end product will probably be available online some time in October.

El-Paradiso trailer

2009-08-19T22:13:00.011+02:00

I was commissioned to shoot a film of events happening over a period of one year at one of the most spectacular mountain huts in the world, the El-Paradiso. We are now halfway into filming. I had to make a teaser about what we are producing so the client can already use the material in marketing his business for the coming winter. Music was produced by Olivier Girardot. Over the next 4 months filming for a complete short film will continue.

Go and view the trailer at www.el-paradiso.ch under movies or just view it below.

Casting

2009-08-18T11:35:00.003+02:00

I am in

Germany

for the casting of a lady actor for the commercial shoot coming up the following weekend. What I love most about my trips up North is the Autobahn. You can drive as fast as you want or as fast as your car can go. Driving on the German roads is an absolute pleasure. Most of the cars, mainly BMW and Audi, are fairly new and with good drivers. The regulations for both car and driver are some of the strictest in the world and it can be seen on the roads. It’s a world apart from conditions in

South Africa

Any case, straight after arriving, I saw a lot of possibilities for filming beautiful behind the scenes footage. The mist was low over the Rhein river and I could not let this opportunity slip by. I ended up filming for a good 2 hours before checking into my hotel room and packing out all the gear for the casting.

I was a little worried after seeing that the first lot of girls was not what I had in mind. The hands and feet were the most important aspects and they did not match the criteria. But then things changed for the better. We found the perfect actress for the roll. She had everything that the client wanted and after practicing the part a few times everybody on the team was convinced that the production was on the right track.

The next day I spent a great deal of time on the background interviews in connection with the client's business and did some fox pop interviews with his customers as well as more beauty shots and cut-aways. Although I was a a little stressed before I arrived, things are starting to fall in place and I am now looking forward to the actual filming of the commercial next weekend.

New toys

2009-08-07T13:10:00.012+02:00

This month I have a new commercial shoot coming up in Germany and I really needed a new super prime lens for lowlight filming. A very good client of mine has got every lens in the book. The guy even owns a Hasselblad camera. It’s probably the most expensive DSLR money can buy. He also has a huge collection of Nikon lenses. I tried all of them. It’s an amazing privilege to shoot with equipment like this. But one lens in particular was my favourite. See, I remember Phil Darley from the BBC had this £10 000 wide angle Canon lens. Really a bomb of a dream lens to own, but if you can afford only one lens that has to do most of your production, then a wide angle can really spoil it. So, although a wide angle looks great, it was not what I was after. I needed to focus close and with a f-stop of 1.8 or bigger. The lens I was after was his 6 year old 28mm 1.4T . It has a heavy cast iron solid body. He agreed on me trying it for the commercial and to make him an offer for the lens. This was what I wanted to hear.

Life in general is expensive and on top of it all, our car was in for a major service and I had to buy a lot of new equipment. Equipment that I need for the 30 sec commercial in

Germany

. It’s one of my biggest jobs to date and I am pulling out all the stops to make this project as perfect as I can. One piece of kit that I need was a boom microphone. Normally I would hire the gear, but it is time that I spend some money and get my own things. Phil, my good friend from the BBC advised me to the little brother of the Sennheiser 416….. the ME66. I am a fan of Sennheiser since all the audio equipment I have from them works like a charm. After a bit of research I bought the whole kit, ME 66, pre-amp, boom pole, pistol grip and softie.

Waveski Surfing World Titles 30 sec TV commercial

2009-08-01T11:15:00.015+02:00

I had to help the Australia Waveski Surfing Association to produce a 30 sec TV ad that will be shown on local television before and during the event.

A year ago I shot some great footage in ReunionIsland and just had to find a way of editing the material and come up with something unique. I had a look at what the Association of Surfing Professional (ASP) do with their event advertisement, but I was not excited.

However, I saw something on YouTube done with maps and it triggered my imagination. I scanned in the world map and started working on it in Photoshop. The idea was to let it look like you are flying over the earth ball as the Island from

Australia

turns towards you. Then fly right into Coffs Harbour where the event will take place. It turned out well and the client is stoked. I also got a comment from Discovery Channel to say that it is awesome. So if they are happy……. I am happy.

I just want to thanks my music producer for composing the soundtrack for this commercial. His name is Olivier Girardot and really a world class musician. Check out www.myspace.com/ogcomposer

Schule Champfér Premier

2009-07-02T08:35:00.006+02:00

This coming weekend we will have the premier for the closing of a small school in a village called Champfer. It was a nice little project for me and a challenge to make something good out of it. I also learned a lot about people and especially working with children. The biggest challenge was that the children at this school speak Romanich as their first language. Romanich is the closest speaking language to Latin and I understand nothing from it.

Well I am pretty happy with the outcome of this little documentary and I hope the people attending the premier will be to. I just want to give a special shout out to all music artists for your help and support in this production. Well here is the film.