Porsche Awards 2015 Winners: David Feuerstein

The 2015 Porsche International Student Advertising Film Awards have once again highlighted fresh new commercial directing talent, garlanding spots as varied as the personalities behind them: from hardhitting charity films to sexy car shoots via comedic choreographed capers. Take a trip with us into the creative minds of these stars of spots to come

Why did you want to become a director?

I started out making documentaries for television, that’s one of my biggest passions. To get in touch with real people with real stories is hugely rewarding from the first phone call. And to convert this reality into an absorbing tale is a big challenge. Since some parts of the commercial world are shifting towards a more down-to-earth and honest approach I am hoping to be able to bring together my two passions in the future.

Tell us about the idea for your film.

I had the idea for this commercial for a long time and when we had to do our second film at university, I took the chance of finally realising it. From the beginning it was clear that only Volkswagen would fit the bill. We had the brand and its values and characteristics in mind but to ensure the greatest amount of creative freedom we decided not to contact VW before we had a finished product. But when we approached them with the ad they really liked it.

Where did you shoot and how did you recruit the cast who featured as the car?

We shot on the roof of a car park in Munich. It was modern and had the least amount of distracting details. We had almost no budget, but the owner not only let us use it for free but also blocked parts off for shooting. Except for the main character, the cast consisted of professional actors and actresses. The cast in the last group shot was made up of friends and family of the crew.

Tell us more about the main character – what were you looking for in the actor?

He had to be handsome and charming with a twinkle in his eye, but still approachable, like somebody you could know. He had to walk in a casual but confident manner. As extensive acting skills weren’t required, he needed to act like nothing special was happening around him.

What was the biggest challenge on the production?

One was to strike the right chord with the music and the other was the huge scrim (butterfly diffuser) we used during shooting. It was kind of risky to put a 20x20ft diffuser on top of a building, even horizontally, like we did, because the wind could go under and lift it up. Our professor, a skilled sailor, told us that this ‘sail’ could pull several metric tons if the wind hit it at the right angle. Our key grip Jaromin Pfeiffer ensured safety by fixing the scrim to the building’s railings with lots of rope. There were some scary moments, but in the end everything was fine.