Ask the Director: Rupert Höller

Where do you get your visual inspirations from and how did you find your visual language?

It's a lot of things, photography, paintings, music, other movies, Instagram, or some weird shit I see on the street. I try to always keep my eyes open. Nowadays it's also a challenge to filter all the impressions you see on a daily basis.

My own visual language was built a bit clearer with every project I did. There were some key projects that shaped it quite strongly. For example „Mynth – Smog“. We shot it with a tiny budget that all went into the location fee and a really tiny crew. But limitations can be a great fuel for creativity. With this project I learned a lot for myself about the connection of performance and it's surrounding and working with surreal images. And it definitely sparked my love for architecture.

How do you start your creative process and what tools do you use?

When it's a music video I listen to the song so many times until an idea pops up in my head. Sometimes it's after the first time, sometimes after the 50th. The song has to trigger something inside of me to begin with.

Either the song itself forms a concept / story or I look through photographs or other references that feel right, until an idea takes shape.

Stress also works well for me. I like to have deadlines and the last day before the deadline is always the most creative.

Your work seems quite authentic, how do you build this authenticity?

That's hard to define because it's really subjective. I'd say one important thing is to figure out what kind of feeling you want to create and then try your best to achieve that without any compromises. Easier said than done of course, but most of the time it just comes down to your gut feeling. When you stand in front of the monitor and watch a take, you feel if it's right or not. The next challenge is to trust that feeling, express and work with it.

5 steps to the perfect film?

• have an idea

• doubt the idea

• think again

• shoot

• cry, edit, cry, edit, smile (maybe cry again)

What makes a good collaboration?

The freedom of being totally honest with each other is key. And being able to share the same vision, which can be a long and hard process. The lesson that it can be hard to explain what is already clear in your own head can never be learnt enough.

Advice to the 20yrs old self?

Have the balls to trust your gut. Be honest to yourself. And don't drink too many energy drinks.

Tips for aspiring filmmakers?

Don't wait for the right opportunity, just do it. It doesn't matter if you have the right camera, or the right funding, or whatever. If you feel there's something inside of you that wants to make a movie, make it. That's the most crucial thing. And it applies to anything else too. If you want something, don't think too much, just do it. Of course it's way easier to write these lines than actually doing it, it's something I have to remind myself way too often as well. But it is true, that's undeniable.

Then the next most important ingredient is endurance. Give yourself the space for trial and error, and don’t let your motivation being crushed by one project that didn’t turn out how you wanted it to be. It's a long and hard way, but it's worth it.