Johannes Schlörb – Freelance Content Creator

THE SWISS ARMY KNIFE OF

CONTENT CREATION

This is the blurb in which a film production company usually writes down what „they“ do. But I’m just one guy. Videographer, 3D artist, VFX veteran, photographer, writer and editor. A „content creation generalist“, if you will. So if you absolutely want it, you are welcome to address me in the majestic plural, too. Here’s why:

FILMMAKING

I turned every notepad into a flipbook movie when I was little, moved on to computer animation when I was a teenager and eventually started filming on my DSLR when I got fed up with long render times.

My weapon of choice is the handheld camera to be as flexible as possible and to get closer to my protagonists without being obtrusive or ruining the mood. I call this a “minimal invasive” method of filmmaking and it usually allows for much more authenticity.

EDITING

I'd refer to myself modestly as a „cutter“, but since I'm regularily asked to edit other filmmakers' work for pay, I'm probably entitled to call myself an „editor“ too. I'm not with the union, though...

I’ve got 25 years of experience in Adobe Premiere under my belt, own some powerful editing hardware with plenty of RAID storage plus a mobile workstaton for working “in the field” as well. Yes, you can also book me as an editor only, either working remotely or locally with your team.

PHOTOGRAPHY

I've been a wannabe photographer for quite a long time, but when they implemented a video function into photo cameras, I probably got spoiled forever. Nevertheless I am still very fascinated by photography.

The inventory I collected over the years range from professional DSLRs and mirrorless cameras with prime and zoom lenses over tripods and mounts to a mobile studio-grade flash unit. So it’s not really a lack of equipment that prevented me from doing more megapixels lately. It’s a lack of time and opportunity.

POST PRODUCTION

For almost two decades I have been working as a freelance 3D artist and visual effects supervisor in the advertising film and television industry. So, yes, I can still „fix it in the post“ if necessary.

I started off with Autodesk 3D Studio in 1992 (3ds max), accidently became a professional 3D artist in 1998 and since have been working as freelance senior 3D generalist, head of a 3D department and visual effects supervisor on numerous films and commercials. I’m also well versed in Adobe After Effects and a variety of other tools and plugins.

41000000

total views

2400000

hours of video streamed per month

145000

avg. views per video

PHOTOGRAPHY

It all started with a cheap old digital camera. And it stopped, when I discovered that there was a movie function built into one of my newer and more expensive ones.

For the few years in between I have been shooting for fun, for my blog, for weddings, for car collectors, for social media and eventually for a variety of print outlets, including magazines (mostly car-related).

I hope to be doing some stills again in the future. Here’s more from the glorious past: blende.fuenfkommasechs.de

57000

subscribers on youtube

21000

followers on facebook

7000

followers on instagram

POST PRODUCTION

I have a background in computer animation, and have worked in this field for almost 20 years. As a “senior 3D generalist” you deal with such melodious topics as “non-uniform rational b-splines”, “sub surface scattering” or “computational fluid dynamics”. If you think that sounds like rocket science: in fact it is rocket science! And a “senior generalist” usually also does all the “compositing” too. That means the assembly of the final image layers in such a way that they look real. So yes, we 3d guys are beyond human! 😉

Therefore it’s almost like a little vacation when you have to “rescue” some actual footage for a change. Here, for example, I have been asked to adapt the C-class to the current model year, or to remove a certain equipment feature from the S-Class convertible.

FILMMAKING

My interest in videography is closely linked to my work in the film and advertising industry. These jobs consisted mostly of staring at progress bars, though. Filming yourself is much more enjoyable: not least you get some fresh air and travel a lot! And editing is like magic: suddenly everyday situations can be condensed into exciting stories.

Meanwhile I have been doing numerous commercial productions as a videographer, too. Whenever there is a tight schedule, a requirement to have the smallest crew possible at a certain location for more flexibility, but also a desire for maximum production value inlcuding editing and post production, I come into play.

A friend and I started filming our classic car related adventures in 2012, which until then we had only written about. The name fünfkommasechs (five-point-six) refers to the engine displacement of my own Mercedes 560 SEL. Over the years it has become one of the most beloved YouTube channels for German-speaking petrolheads with more than 125,000 views per video on average.

But I have to confess: I’m not that much interested into cars as it might seem. What fascinates me most are people and their stories. The spontaneous behind-the-scenes video of Mercedes’ farewell from DTM named “Das letzte Rennen” is a good example for this. Because it was completely spontaneous and I did not know what to expect when they invited me to Hockenheim just a few days in advance. So I went there and just kept filming without knowing if and how I would use it.

I’ve also just recently learned that our documentary on the development of the S-Class is being shown at vocational schools. This is much more valuable to me than even millions of mostly anonymous viewers on YouTube.

Some of our content has inevitably made it on the official Mercedes-Benz YouTube channel, as well. In fact, their most successful YouTube video of all time (15 million views) is just a cutdown of one of our adventures.

250

gigabytes of raw footage per video (approx.)

countries visited for filming

GoPros killed in action

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