Hi out there !!

Hope you missed me. You might be asking: Whats been up Pirmin, haven't heard from you in awhile !? Been too busy workin your way to Hollywood, hu !? Well, that's because I was in fact in Hollywood !!

No kidding, I got sent to Los Angeles, California, the place were dreams come true to check on our movies progress and get a taste of the mecca of showbiz. I tell you, it was one heck of a ride. But let's take things from the start.

Remember the producers petty cash report that I was tryin to sneak out of ? Well, I kinda forgot the fact that producers and other people from the company also subscribed to my lovely newsletter and that way I reminded them personally to ship me to Stuttgart to dig through loads of paperwork. The cool thing about it is of course that I got an update on whats happening around the production: While the CGI-guys in Ludwigsburg are still busy assembling the airbattles and set-extensions and our director and his editing fairy are putting final touches on the editing of the movie in LA, the people in the production offices in Stuttgart are preparing the release and are also developing all kinds of future projects. And, to add another location on our very own world domination map, Niama-Film opened another office in Berlin, Germany's beautiful capital.

So much for the facts, now .. one day my cell rang and I got word from high up that I would be sent to LA to check out how the editing process is coming along and feed you with the intel – this message will self destroy in 3 … 2 … 1 … -  Now there's some news !! I've got a secret mission !!

So I grabbed the Camera, my laptop and my favourite Snoopy pillow,

jumped on a plane and went straight to LA. Not exactly straight, the intermission in London-Heathrow would become my fate on the way back, but I'm forestalling again ..

I met up with director Müllerschön and he showed me how the whole editing deal works and what he thinks of the outcome of the footage.

I learned the editors golden rules, like "Never underestimate your audience" – sounds kinda obvious, but it's essential to keep in mind that the people watching the movie for the first time generally anticipate a whole lot more than you think. So never state the obvious, you don't wanna give the audience the impression you take them for a bunch of popcorn munching airheads.

Since Niki Müllerschön is the writer and the director of "The Red Baron" and is also supervising the editing now, it was especially interresting to hear about his initial reaction to what he himself had put together in Prague - "You look at the first rough cut of the movie and you're ready to kill yourself - but that's just part of the process !"

In fact: Fear not, I got to watch the entire movie in its current state, three months into postproduction – now, I had to promise not to tell you too much. Let me just assure you that the guys are still flying airplanes, Richthofen and Brown have not been converted into a gay couple and Germany still won't win the war (there's some news).

No, seriously, I was blown away (and no, I was not bribed, I swear), even though the picture and especially the sound are still in a rough state and there's a whole lot of green mud were soon will be state-of-the-art computer images. Meaning: I would pay admission for what we have so far, let alone the movie when it has reached its full potential (ok, now I gotta pace myself or else you will never believe I wasn't bribed).

Still, there's a whole lot of issues that are yet up to discussion. The ending is just one example: When Richthofen gets into his plane to take off to the airbattle and his brother Lothar and the other pilots ... I'm sorry, the page is full, gotta tell you the rest next time.

2 B Continued

Yours truly,

Director Niki Müllerschön picked me up and took me around town in his '74 Mustang Convertible, what a way to explore the city of angels.

Editing 'Fairy' Emily busy cutting a key scene of the Red Baron called 'Operation Michael'

The Red Baron - I found him in Hollywood, in a place I would have never expected to run into him: the frozen pizza isle - Yummie !

Hello dear fans of filmmaking, entertainment and internships,

Since all of you guys visit the Red Baron Website and my Video Blog on a regular basis, I'm sure you've noticed the new videos that have been uploaded. If you haven't – be sure to check it out! There's plenty of cool new stuff for you up ahead.

For example the "The Bold and the Beautiful"- episode were our Make Up Artist explaines the importance of his job and makes me look like some granade exploded right in front of my face to showcase his skills. It's incredible how authentic he can make it look with some simple tricks and a little paint job (plus years of experience, of course).

Or the Media Episode (I realize my duty as a journalist) featuring the biggest german movie star Til Schweiger himself - I tell you, I was soo nervous while doing the interview with him! That guy has been a film star before I even knew how to switch on the TV by myself. He was really cool about all the crazy questions I asked him and even gave me some advice about how to be successful in showbusiness.

There is also a great game on the website now. You can be a pilot on your own and fly missions to collect points. To aquire your license as a pilot you first have to fly three unarmed missions and will then be notified and briefed about new assignments via eMail. I enlisted too, so you guys will have some competition! After all, you can win lots of cool prizes if you manage to keep your score up throughout the upcoming months. For example tickets to the premiere of The Red Baron, where you get to walk the red carpet along with the stars of our movie and me (I guess – dunno if I'm invited - would only be fair since I can't win any of the stuff from our sweepstakes).

As a first price they give out a Pour le Merite medal - If you're wondering what in the world a "Pour le Merite" is, well, you can look it up on the internet or in a good old dusty encyclopedia .. just kidding – being just such a nice kid, I did the research for you:

The Pour le Merite was the highest Prussian bravery award, given only to the finest soldiers and pilots. If you think that a WWI military decoration might only be interesting to old people with no teeth and strange hobbies - your wrong ! It looks really cool, the blue and gold go with pretty much every outfit and women love that kinda stuff by nature. Manfred v. Richthofen and his fellows were ladiesmen for a reason ;)  (plus it was one of the most important props in the movie).

While I'm busy improving my highscore in the Red Baron Game and the people in the production office work their way through loads of paperwork preparing the release of the movie, director Niki Müllerschön is in sunny California working on the editing. The Producers also left cloudy and rainy Stuttgart and flew to LA to present a trailer (and I mean the kind with no wheels) of The Red Baron at the American Film Market to get the future audience and distributors psyched about our movie. (My bet is they hung out at least half of the time on the beach or the pool enjoying the california sunshine and drinking margharitas .. but what do I know !?)

Anyways, if your hungry for more inside-information, feel free to write me your questions.

Yours truly,

Hey guys, welcome to my very first postproduction blog entry. It's been a couple of weeks now since  we had to kiss Prague goodbye. Right after the last shot of our movie was done we headed to the wrap party which left  absolutely no dry eye (in a good way) and gave a lot of people  (including me) headaches for days. Still, it was hard to  separate from Prague. After pretty much half a year I had  grown very used to the city and its inhabitants, not to  mention the cheap but oh so delicious beer. Anyhow, we're far  from being done with this thing. Director Niki Muellerschoen  himself said: "We still got half of the way ahead of  us".

Now we're going into, yes, postproduction, which means  high tension for the editing and the CGI people. We also still lack most of the music not to mention all the marketing  that will go down as soon as we hit the homestretch.  

As  for me: It looks like I'll stick around the production office in Stuttgart, Germany, babysitting the fax and the copy machine. The assistant to producer already threatened me with doing the producer's petty cash reports with countless vouchers. As tempting as it is to find out, what exactly the producers spent the productions money on, I much rather stay at home with my family for another couple  of days, enjoying mom's delicious cooking and battling my brother in basketball (Damn, how he's improved while I was gone).

Still, the useless days will soon be over. I too will make my way to the swabian capital and will keep you guys  up to date on what's happening in this production. I'll go pay  the computer freaks at Pixomondo a visit, harass the people around the  production office, wiretap the producers' phones - anything it  takes to get you a good story ;)

The Visual Effects guys will most likely be an interresting crowd to hang out with, they're the ones who make the magic happen these days:  They're building and animating all the digital models, like airplanes, clouds and stuff like that. I guess, they're gonna be busy for quite a while, after all, you people should not be able to tell whats fake and whats real when the movie is done. When I think about all the green- and bluescreen stuff we shot in Prague, plus all the sets that are gonna get artificially extended, I really get dizzy - they have to retouch each of these scenes frame by frame ..

What else .. !? Word on the street that our Line Producer has a new dog. We called the one he had before "The Beast", even though it was a Chihuahua, much more in reference to him as to the dog. I have a feeling his new fellow will inherit its predecessors nickname, no matter if Dachshund or Pittbull. You think that's not really exciting !? I agree but it's kind of hard to get to the core of things just with  remote diagnosis.

So long, take care out there,

yours truly

Hi, my name is Pirmin and I'm currently doing an internship at the movie
production "The Red Baron". The producers asked me to film a video
journal about the making of this film. So here you go. If you have any
questions about what's going on behind the scenes feel free to write me
a message. Hope you enjoy it.

Red Baron - The Movie Video Diary Introduction



Red Baron - The Movie Video Diary Episode I



Red Baron - The Movie Video Diary Episode II



Red Baron - The Movie Video Diary Episode III



Red Baron - The Movie Video Diary Episode IV



Red Baron - The Movie - On The Road I