Adventures in Producing . Part 2

/ Barcelona/

15.03.12 . Barcelona

Yeah well, weather forecasts. I just learned to give a ... We had been on location, ready to shoot since 5:45 a.m. 14 people standing in the dark, staring at the horizon, waiting for the glistening sun to rise at precisely 5:59 a.m. But nothing happened. At 7 a.m. it finally got a tiny bit lighter and we could see why there was nothing to see: the sun had risen behind a massive wall of black clouds. It was freezing cold and the beach looked awful. We decided to wait until the sky would open up. Couldn't be that long, right?

Wrong. For the next 8 hours we shared blankets, life stories and incredulous stares at weather apps. At one point we acutually tried to shoot, but once stripped off their blankets, our models' lips would turn blue and their uncontrollable shivering (unalluringly amplified by shooting in slow motion) was something the client probably didn't think he payed for.

Around 2 p.m. panic set in: there would be no sunbeams on this beach today. Location scout Xavi ventured out and reported: only 10 minutes away, he had found a bright blue sky and the sun (I put this down to a meteorological mystery). We raced over, rolled the camera and suddenly it was 4 p.m. - which is, of course, Spanish lunch time. 8 hours waiting, one hour shooting, one hour lunch.  If you don't tell, I won't :-)

Adventures in Producing . Part 1

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14.03.12 . Barcelona

Our client had accepted a film concept which featured a young couple, loveingly teasing each other, in slow-motion on a beach. To avoid weather problems, we suggested to shoot this in Barcelona. Yes, it would cost a little more, but it would also be safer. Sounded smart to us. During location inspection, the sun was blazing. Even better: the forecast predicted the same conditions for the next day - the day of our shoot. Oh, we had a really good feeling about this Barcelona-thing.

02.-03.03.12 . Oberstdorf

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Wot?!​

Nothing fancy. Just skiing, Schnaps and Dampfnudeln. And the best was saved for last. Welcome to the Gramlich family's children prison:

A place where you must finish your meals, ski without lift and wash yourselves only with a cloth and cold water. Probably a recreational highlight in the Schicklgruber days. Not so much for us kids from the 80s. Janni, Paddy, Belli, Frederik, Viktoria: They've closed it. We're safe now.

28.10.11 . San Diego

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The last evening of our trip. We did some grocery shopping at Trader Joe's (because obviously, I must take two cases of the GREATEST HUMMUS ON EARTH back home). Then we drove to Pacific Beach and looked at the sunset. It was a  proper sunset and it said: do come back some day.