Subsidence

As the voters of the UK have shaken grounds in Europe, I see how abandoned, the once thriving Chateau appears in the light blue hues of Southern France's dusk. 

The Interview by Multicoolty about #DasApartment

http://multicoolty.com/it-has-been-a-great-year/

Das Apartment - the Webseries from Berlin

So to give people an Idea what we've been doing with the webisode of Das Apartment, I thought of putting down a couple of lines to share them with you. 

Mathieu and Edvard in Episode 2 - Heideggers Cat

Das Apartment started when I approached Nicole Ratjen,Edvard Lammervo and Mathieu Pelletier in order to see if they would be interested in being part of a fictional flat share. And, yes they were. So I wrote a first sketch which ended up being a considerable part of the episode. But before we got to shoot it we used improv just to get a feeling on how they could possibly behave. For me it was a priviledge just to sit out and see them work with each other because that gives you a hell lot of fodder to think and write. The suggestions for the first improv were Cake and the second one was Yogurt. We played a couple of different sessions with each suggestion and they led to different results. Sometimes the interaction was great sometime there was a line or an idea that made it into the script but regardless of what ended up being used, and what was discarded, it was fun seeing them deal with a script and improvising on top of that. Edvard, who plays Lenni, used the cake suggestion to make up a fact that went straight into the script. The cake was Zu Verschenken. The tough part though when writing after an improv session is figuring out how to build ideas into scenes that are connected, because often ideas are great, sometimes even brilliant. However they very often have that stand-alone characteristic. Basically many improv ideas are short-lived albeit imensly intense.  And that's where writing, structuring/plotting and rewriting comes in. Getting a stucture in which the dialogue
allows everyone to know what is supposed to happen, yet giving the actors more freedom to deal with lines. Sometimes adding some words, a thought, sometimes just using the idea that was found in the script. 
Now, I had written down the masturbation part, the DHL guy, or the story of a woman named Kerstin arriving in the apartment. But some aspects remained open. For instance what will Lenni say while masturbating? During the Shoot  I just gave Edvard some pointers: Obedience, Punctuallity and learining German. What Edvard made out of it is just funny improvised acting. But then fitting Teresa's Dominatrix role, to say some lines that would somehow fit, was again scripted work. Some lines need to be written, otherwise they never really pan out (to Paraphrase the Schoppenhauer moment in Episode 1, which was scripted. Other moments of dialogue can just occur, as long as we all know where we want to go with it. In the follwing episodes we worked closer to the script. And we worked more outside of Das Apartment. The idea behind it is to show some other sides of this multifaceted city. And also concentrating on one character. In episode 2. we follow Rachel. In Episodes 3&4 we wrote and shot with a similar approach. Shedding some more light onto Chris and Lenni.

guest actor Mala Ghedia as Prya in Episode 2

Currently we're busy working on the rest of the first season. after we won the first prize of the Yourturn Competition, which handed out by Elmar Gingliger and Youtube Star @Lefloid who were representing the jury. It wasn't just a trophy but 25.000 and taking the responsiblity to shoot more episodes. That sounds like a bulk of money, and it is a great place to be in. However we're still very much in the low-to-no-Budget area.But if weren't for the prize we probably would be shooting in a completely different manner. So here is our opportunity to say Thank you! We are in a great position to do things. and that's exactly what we are doing, feeling blessed and lucky!

Here is the first Episode1 "Cake&PlasticBags" and our Pilot.

And here is Episode 2 "Heideggers Cat". 

Currently I am busy plotting Ep. 5 with Kyra Jungck and we are also editing Episode 3. "La Deutsche Vita" with a German/Italian guest and Dude named Marcello, and Davide Brizzi in real life. What do you know about the poliamorous nature of bees? And how does it affect us? Stay connected for Episode 3!
 

Wait. How can you know more? By Subsribing to our channel on youtube. Or by
following us on twitter and liking our page on facebook. And of course all of the options mentioned above combined in a explosive social-media cocktail.  And, naturally, by leaving your personal feedback on one of the many platforms!

S U B S C R I B E  Das Apartment's channel 
 

Follow @webisodeberlin

Follow @reigrainofsalt

Cast
Nicole Ratjen
Edvard Lammervo
Mathieu Pelletier
(and guests)

Crew

Creator/Writer/Director
Reinaldo Pinto Almeida

Producer
Urs Kind

Cinematographer
Johannes Greisle

Main Editor
Jannis Greff

Set Decorator
Bruno Eritt

Music
Monster Mouse

and many more!


 

On - The Old Man & The Country - Music Video

So this is what happened recently video-wise. I was lucky enough to work with Apples in Space, who are currently touring Germany, on their song the Old Man and The Country. Why is that such a great thing? Because working with music for a video clip is a zillion times more enjoyable and creative when you're already a fan of the song. 

Regarding the process, and focusing on the content, it was a redo from a former version with footage form fellow visual artist Jannis Greff who built the in-TV comps and created an analog xerox effect. He also found and selected a great deal of found footage which builds a whole layer of content itself. We ended up using less of the original clip and it turned into what you see above. Even if the process and the reshoot changed look of the performers and the clip alltogether, It was based on the first concept. It is not only safe to say that the first version gave the clip enough fodder (footage) to work with in the final edit, But also it gave me ideas on what to shoot for this version. Some of my favourite shots didn't make it into the final edit, like some scenic references to the Renaissance image in the middle of the clip. However after having shown it to various people I believe that it actually helped the music video in hindsight. - Kill your darlings and shoot with good musicians.

Welcome To Non-Catholic India

2003 was the first time I traveled by myself, without family, to India. I was 20 years old and working in Lisbon as an editor, and hadn't taken a vacation for a very long time. Having arrived in Mumbai and staying with my uncle and grandfather I planned my trip with their help.  Amit, being a good friend of my Mamaji, received me with exemplary hospitality.
I had travelled by train and arrived early that morning in Delhi, where, prior to 2003, I had never been. "Welcome to Non-Catholic India" Amit said at the Delhi Railwaystation.  Amit joked about me coming to a new country given the fact that I had always and only travelled to Bombay and Goa. And knowing my uncle, Mumbai and Goa, he must have deemed my vision of India as being profoundly Catholic. 

There is some truth in this of course. As one might imagine, the aesthetic influence of religion on its surroundings can be quite strong. And this is specially true  when it comes to Goa.  

Delhi is quite a different mix of south-asianess altogether. The people, the atmosphere, the look.  Its overly present and extremely long history, which becomes evident through the plethora of old monuments: Delhi Hut, Kitub Minar, Huyumans Tomb, and plenty of other Mausoleums. And of Course the Red Fort and Chandi Chowk. This old Delhi with its Jama Masjid, a number of ancient hindu temples, a Syrian church, and a rather dense market. A constant hustle and bustle in its streets, the tasty King Kebabs at Karims, if that is the name of the place.  

My memory of that time fades as I write these lines. Or should I rather say that by writing these lines I notice how scarce my recollection of that place actually is. These pictures which I took back in 2003 with my old Minolta guide me through my mind. And I have to accept that my reading of these images combined with fading memories that lie in some lost synaptic alley of my mind, produce my past experience. Whatever I believe to know is like a match of pingpong between fact and fiction. These pictures show me  what I saw back then. Like a framed mosaic they also tell me at what I looked at, rather than telling me what was there. An old cart pulled by what? A donkey, a bull, a cow perhaps?

I recognise the shadow of a man carrying his bags down the road. Me standing in the middle of the road, unnoticed, taking pictures of the traffic, if one can call it traffic. A salesman in the dark selling long pieces of cloth along with other garment. The place where I ate Gulab Jamun, at night, after taking some snaps. The boy in front of one of the oldest temples, I think I tool some pictures of him. The kids in front of Jama Masjid. The Red Fort in Black and White. How far is it from Chandi Chowk again? Did I walk there? Another gap that needs to be filled. But as I jump from picture to picture other small incidents fill the void: The boys telling me that my bag is open and that I should watch out. The beedie salesmen saying "you are Indian" after I had told him the place of my birth and where I also grew up. The Christian Bus driver who was thrilled to learn that I was Goan, which in his mind meant I was a Christian too. As he was driving the bus with a radiant smile, he rolled up his sleeve to show the big cross tattooed on his right forearm.

But as these small fragments of episodes start to form clusters in my brain I wonder what exactly did I have in mind as I was taking these pictures. And I can only assume, that it probably was, as so often happens, the simple joy of taking pictures. The thrill of finding something through that viewer. Something that corresponds with your view on things. Blocking out those sides of reality that don't concern you in that instant. Something that you think shouldn't be in the frame. Or is it a moment that I wanted to frame? Now I feel like these pictures are telling me that there was more to be seen. Much more than I captured. A hint given to me by my former self. The twenty year old me, 11 years ago. These snaps are giving me a reason to go back to see the change of Incredible India's Capital. 11 years after the great growth of its economy; the boom.  Perhaps it is time to revisit.

Goa Glitch Gone

According to Wikipedia the definition of glitch goes as follows:

A glitch is a short-lived fault in a system. It is often used to describe a transient fault that corrects itself, and is therefore difficult to troubleshoot.

I would like to add, that not only is it hard to troubleshoot, it is hard to control as a form of creative expression. A Glitch is a digital coincidence that in this particular case, created an interesting, yet short-lived result, which I luckily managed to export as a jpeg. 

Time, Vinegar and Film

Sometime in the end of 2012 I put a piece of 16mm film into a jar filled with water vinegar and some salt. I left it in the editing room and then brought it to my own place where it was gaining dust for a while. I took it out of the jar sometime in the winter of 2013 and this is how it looks like now.

I recently found it gaining more dust and decided to scan a bit of it.