Interview: Peter Böving - Writer, Director, Producer of The Heaviest Order (Part 4)

ROFFEKE: In part 3 of the interview, you said: " In my first "life," I was a musician – 25 years on live stage..." How has being a musician helped you in your work as an animator/filmmaker?

PETER Böving: I can highly recommend this sequence :) As a musician, you learn and practice not only the instrument and theory but also something extremely helpful in filmmaking: a sense of timing! One aspect of my cinematic work focuses on poetry films, with an emphasis on sound poetry and music. I have tested the texts of the poetry films created so far live on stage in various programs over many years. Audience reactions are, of course, an incredible gift: from one performance to another, you can fine-tune your performance, music, and intensity. How many filmmakers have the opportunity to collect so much feedback in the pre-production phase? However, it would be dishonest of me to claim that 25 years ago, I already knew I wanted to incorporate all these experiences into film productions later on. Sometimes, one is also lucky, and things just come together that seemingly belong together.

 

ROFFEKE: Your profile on crew-united.com says that in 2010 you "founded the animation studio "Kloetzchenkino"; from 2006 to 2011 you "held various commissions in the advertising film and music film industry"; in 1999, you "founded the audiobook label "Shower Records"...published numerous CDs in the field of literary dubbing, funk and jazz in the distribution of EICHBORN"; from 1993 to 2003 you "made extensive tours with your own literary program, visited the Goethe-Instituts in Germany, Switzerland, France, Scandinavia, the Baltic States and Russia"; since 1983, you have worked as a musician and since 1990, you have worked as "a composer in the field of theater music, mainly in North Rhine-Westphalia." How do you maintain work-life balance? How do you take care of your mental health?

 

PETER: This may initially seem like a lot to read. However, I've been around for quite a few years, and all these activities are already a bit scattered. It might sound strange when I say that, for my taste, I'm doing far too little. That's exactly what I've been thinking since I became aware that I might have been born into one of the most significant turning points in human history: the digital revolution! There aren't many generations here in Germany that have held printing plates, hand-cut Super 8 films, or learned their craft in an analog studio and later adapted to the digital world. As I mentioned before, it's crucial for me that in a semi-digital animated film, you can almost "smell" the analog production moments. However, this can only be achieved if you feel at home in both worlds. It's the grace of the timing of my birth: a privilege and responsibility at the same time! In just a few years, as AI sets out to conquer the last remaining spaces in cultural creation, people might envy us and possibly wonder why, in this unique time, we produced so much mainstream and had so little courage to develop something exciting.