“Make yourself colorful, get free, get out of your shackles”: The message of the short film “Color Your Mind” is already in the title, says Axel Werner. The man from Wörthsee is the composer and director of the almost four-minute dance spectacle that was presented on Monday as part of the open-air cinema in Starnberg. The film tells the story of a factory worker in the time of industrialization. In order to free herself from her precarious work situation, she takes refuge in art and thus infects others. The whole thing is accompanied by a piano piece that Werner wrote himself.
At the premiere of “Color Your Mind” on Monday evening, everything goes very quickly. After a greeting from Werner and the producer Peter Mang, the short film starts. For almost four minutes you can see the actors dancing across the screen and Werner’s fingers flying over a piano keyboard. Then the credits are running. The main film of the evening, “Nomadland”, can start.
On the other hand, the viewers do not get to see the effort that went into the production: the team worked on “Color Your Mind” for more than half a year. It all began in December with the idea and the search for locations, and the short film was only finished last Friday. The production was unbelievably complex and exhausting, explains the Wörthseer: “It all worked pretty hard”. A total of 25 people were involved, the whole team comes from the region. Five tons of material were used in the production, 16 to 18 rehearsals were necessary before the choreography was established. At the very beginning, however, was Werner’s piano piece. He developed the script of the film especially for this, and the makers were inspired by the corona crisis. Every detail in the film was focused on the melody. That required a lot of coordination among each other, according to the director.
“Color Your Mind” was shot in Werner’s studio, in the Churfürstensaal in Fürstenfeldbruck and in Otto Erb’s locksmith’s shop in Wörthsee. A so-called steadicam was used so that cameraman Frank Meyer was able to walk with the dancers and move delicately. This is attached to the cameraman’s body, making him very flexible in terms of movement and able to capture dynamic images. The camera was able to act as the viewer’s eye and capture the dancers up close. That is also where the appeal of dance films lies for him, explains Werner. In a ballet performance, for example, it is not possible for the audience to see details. When he saw the result for the first time last week in the cinema, he got goose bumps. “It’s incredibly satisfying to see your ideas become material,” says the director. The project was mainly financed by private sponsors, he prefers not to reveal the production costs.
“Color Your Mind” should not have been the last joint project for Werner and Mang. There is already a concept for the next film and it is being planned, says Werner. Both have been working together for a long time, last year they presented a dance film called “Come Closer”. The almost three-minute film won 29 film awards, some of them international. Does Werner hope to build on this success now? “Of course,” he says without hesitation. After all, prices are an appreciation for the whole team.
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