Exceptional, self-taught director
Florian Froschmayer is now designing filmmaking software
Florian Froschmayer has been a household name since the episode "You will be judged" of the crime series CRIME SCENE. Now, the Swiss director and Berliner by choice has developed software, with which he wants to simplify the processes of film rotation.
When Florian Froschmayer was 16 years old, he landed at the single wrong place for a creative person: a desk in an office. Froschmayer, a teenager from Zurich inspired by films, begins his apprenticeship as an office clerk after completing secondary school. A place that bores him from the first day, but for Froschmayer is part of the plan. "I wanted to go to the Film Academy in Munich, but they only admitted students who had taken matriculation exams or who had completed vocational training."
He made his first movie in his early 20s
The boring training was thus a means to the end, only that the plan remained in his head, because Froschmayer was not accepted at the academy. "I could not answer the question of why I wanted to become a director," he recalls. "This was simply my heart's desire, there was no alternative, and I didn't have an answer ready at that particular moment."
Why was he rejected? Froschmayer never found out. "I did not hesitate long. I decided to do my own thing. I wanted it more than ever."
Froschmayer, the pragmatist
He and a friend write his first script shortly thereafter. At this time he is in his early 20s, has made two short films and gained experience as an editor at Swiss television. He is a self-made filmmaker without money and without contacts.
His film "Exklusiv" (Exclusive) is a success in Switzerland. It features high-profile actors, who are not only convinced by the script, but also by the enthusiasm of the two young filmmakers. The funds for the film, about 300,000 Swiss francs, are obtained through a marketing concept - six advertising partners place their products in Froschmayer's film.
An incredible story and the beginning of the life that Florian Froschmayer dreamed of. He begins to work as a director for numerous series ("Coast guard / Küstenwache", "In the Name of the Law") and television films ("Crime scene”) and later moves to Berlin. "These were the golden seasons of television, at that time there were still many own productions of the stations, in three and five parts - I saw huge potential for me in this."
He has lived and worked in Germany for 15 years, ever since the Lucerne CRIME SCENE episode "You will be judged", which was broadcast at the beginning of September. With that, the series returned from
hiatus and caused quite the controversy with its brutal scenes. It also came into the public eye because of that.
The director as a software developer
The fan community is waiting for the next Froschmayer-directed CRIME SCENE episode, but it will have to be a bit patient, because the Swiss director is currently working on a different project, which is not directly connected to filmmaking: the design of the software SCRIPT to MOVIE. It will be programmed by professional developers.
With the help of the software, he wants to simplify the sequences during filming: "A film team is almost always big," explains Froschmayer. "You have the producer, the director, the cameraman, the make-up artists, the technicians, the assistants - sometimes 40 to 60 people are involved. It can be very hard to keep everyone up-to-date, because everyone has their individual tasks that need to be coordinated."
More supervision during filmmaking
To this end, Froschmayer developed a project-related network, which is accessible to all parties involved and which can be used to carry out their work. Everyone can see how far his or her planning is and whether any already accepted ideas have changed. "The fact that not everyone has their own separate lists makes the work much clearer, and the time you gain can be put into the creative part of the shoot."
Colleagues have already expressed their interest in the software, which has just been released.
Florian Froschmayer, it seems, has a talent for taking unusual paths. He doesn't feel he lost anything by not being accepted at the film academy twenty years ago. "In my opinion, education isn't the most important thing in the industry. Novices can also make it, and good contacts are of course helpful. Relentless willpower and a great passion for what one does are, however, indispensable." Florian Froschmayer has both.
orignal text by: Marie-Charlotte Maas
Paper: KRESS NEWS (Germany)
Date: November 19th, 2015
Circulation: online platform (trade specific, like Variety / The Hollywood Reporter)
Available online: https://kress.de/news/detail/beitrag/133402-ausnahmeregisseur-und-...didakt-florian-froschmayer- entwirft-nun-filmemacher-software.html
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