Living for the Moment: the film maker with a light touch

A determination to explore alternative approaches and develop new ways of working has taken Peter Leckelt on a journey from his days as a young photography student, to a position as one of Hamburg’s new generation of independent film makers. A committed Avid user, he has developed a reputation for creativity and inventive film making. His work is an inspiration to anyone in the industry striving to produce broadcast quality material on limited budgets.

Leckelt has combined an innovative approach to his subject matter with a clear understanding of the potential of the technology he uses. Although many of his films were made with minimal budgets, he was able to make maximum use of Avid Xpress Pro to give his work the look and feel of high budget film. In particular, his experiments with light painting and digital photography combined with moving footage have been used to create exciting and original pop videos. The innovative work he and his colleagues are producing is gaining a growing reputation within the world of film and television.

In the beginning

Predictable is not a word that could be applied to Peter Leckelt. In just one meeting you can sense that there is a strong driving force behind this man, a dedication to his work and a restless spirit which is constantly seeking new challenges. As a young photographer’s assistant he was given just one month to teach himself how to edit, using an Avid system. For many people that might prove to be a daunting prospect, but for Peter it was a challenge .

 

I had four weeks to deliver my first commercial. It was a combination of my strong desire to learn and the fact that Avid proved to be so intuitive, that made it possible in the timescale

Peter Leckelt

The move from photographer’s assistant to editor turned out to be a natural progression and after working for a couple of years as a freelance editor in Hamburg, Peter founded his own company, eachfilm, with fellow film-maker Michael Koch.

Features and freedom

For their first commission, a commercial for a cigar company, they needed an editing system which would give them speed and flexibility on a limited budget. Having worked on many different systems Leckelt knew that only Avid would give him the features and freedom he needed, so they invested in their first Avid Xpress Pro system. “We bought it in 2001, it was the first PC system I had used, but I found it straightforward because the Avid interface was so familiar.”

Their next project was something completely different. A friend who was passionate about surfing decided he wanted to film the largest wave in the world. He returned from Hawaii with over 150 hours of dramatic footage shot on DV, which needed to be edited down to a one-hour documentary. With no clear script, no real storyline and a very limited budget, the small team at eachfilm had a real challenge ahead of them.

It took three months to distil the essence of the story and edit it into Ultimate Surf, a film which captures the tension, fear, apprehension and sheer exhilaration of the world’s biggest wave. Leckelt credits Avid Xpress Pro for giving him the turn of speed he needed in order to produce high quality material from vast amounts of footage. When the programme was eventually screened in Germany, it created an immediate impact. After winning a best film award at the Adrenaline and Adventure Film Festival in Prague and gaining a nomination for Best Sports Program at the Banff Rocky Awards in Canada, the response gained even more momentum and the experience set the pace for a certain style of working at Each Film.

Stunning photographs, great images

The next challenge was presented by another friend, this time a member of a local band called Montag, who needed a video but had no budget. Peter decided he would use the opportunity to explore a photography technique which had always fascinated him, and see how it could be applied to film. ‘Light painting’ involves painting part of a still picture to add light. The experimenting was done in his spare time and the highly original result combined edited together still shots interspersed with video footage.

It wasn’t long before Peter was approached to create a video for another, more mainstream band, called Wunder. This time the band had the financial backing of Warner Music, so a bigger budget was available. Peter explored the same techniques, taking over 15,000 digital still pictures of the band from which he chose around 6,000 images and added light-painting effects. These stunning images were then edited together using Xpress Pro and combined with video footage of the band.

It was a far more complex project,” Leckelt says. “We had 24 separate video layers to work with. Using Xpress Pro gave us control of the sequence and allowed us to experiment until we achieved the look and feel we needed.

 

The finished product, with its high quality look and creative energy, confirmed the reputation of Peter Leckelt and eachfilm as a truly dynamic and creative force.

Since the early days, Each Film has relied on Xpress Pro for a range of different creative challenges and it has always delivered the required results. Leckelt sees Avid as the ideal experimental tool, which has grown alongside him, always capable of responding to his demands.

I’m always trying to find new ways to work, new ways to do things. For me, Avid is the way forward.

Peter Leckelt

For more information visit www.eachfilm.de