Through the school's hands-on approach my appreciation of the craft deepened, most notably in the field of cinematography. All of the productions at school were shot on film, which meant you never had enough stock to just endlessly roll the camera or do many retakes. Of all the cinematography I did at school, the film that got the most recognition was "Sleep Tight My Baby", an intense and gritty one-take-one-scene short film directed by Pansu Kim. The film won the "Best Student Shorts" Award at the Bristol International Student Film Festival in the UK and the "2nd Prize" Award at the Lodz International Film & TV School Festival in Poland, both in 2002.

"Sleep Tight My Baby"

After graduation I co-founded Shadowsnake Films UK and co-wrote, co-produced and co-directed "The Mindscape Of Alan Moore", a feature-length documentary on the life and the mind of England's most renowned writer of graphic novels, such as "Watchmen", "V For Vendetta", "League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" and "From Hell". The documentary won the "Special Recognition Award for Creative Achievement" at the San Francisco World Film Festival in 2003.

"Making a Mindscape" - Behind-The-Scenes (1m32s)

I moved back to Vienna in 2003 and started producing and directing commercials for numerous clients like Danone, Obi, ATV, Telekom Austria, Drei, Red Cross, Pago, AMA, BMWA, Merkur, etc

In commercials every frame counts and each project comes with a new set of requirements. So you have to remain creative. The first ad I got an award for was a commercial for Red Cross. It was awarded the "Saturn in Gold" in 2003.

Red Cross - "Bath Room"

Then in 2005 I went to India for half a year to shoot a feature film as camera operator. The film, directed by Vishnu Ram, did not feature any of the typical songs but rather aimed to deliver a tight script about a farmer, his wife and a stranger. The farmer's well had run dry due to a drought just before the harvest. Now the farmer needs the stranger's help to dig a deeper well, but the plot thickens when the stranger starts an affair with the farmer's wife. Director of photography was the hugely talented Pietro Zuercher and we shot on Super 35mm stock on an ARRI 435 camera with anamorphic Hawk prime lenses. Unfortunately, the finished film never got released.

"The Tamil Nadu Experience" - Behind-The-Scenes (2m54s)

After my return from India I got back into producing and directing commercials, some for the reel and some for the meal. It was a great opportunity not only to work on my own storytelling but also to collaborate with many international directors and to see how they handle the job. 

It was in 2008 when I picked up producing and directing music videos as well. Since then I shot for many different artists such as Ward 21, Nazar, Raf Camora / RAF 3.0, Joyce Muniz, Madita, Black Dillinger, Lil Baliil, KingCK, Gianna Charles, Jade Davies, I Jahson, Miracle 66, etc.

Also in 2008 I co-founded Richvibes Records, a Vienna-based record label and publishing company, which at first specialised in producing original music and soundtracks for commercials, web content and television, but eventually branched out to release singles and full albums of various international artists as well. Enjoy a small selection of our releases below.

Another real highlight came in 2019, when I was hired by Creative Creatures to work on the Indian feature film SAAHO directed by Sujeeth. We shot two of the songs and a couple of smaller scenes including the very last sequence of the film on various locations in Austria.

And that is pretty much it, for now. Feel free to contact me, if you have any inquiries. I look forward to hearing from you. Cheers.