There may be unmistakable signs as to why a film may be successful with audiences, critics and juries. Actually, it’s always a stroke of luck that can hardly be explained why some films are successful and others not at all. Of course, this also applies to the German Netflix production “Nothing new in the West”. Certainly the war film, the third adaptation of Erich Maria Remarque’s literary world bestseller, had the tragic zeitgeist on its side, so to speak. But when the first pages of the script were written, Russia had not yet attacked Ukraine. And recently there were quite a few films that dealt with gun violence and acts of war. Four Oscars and nine nominations, including in the top category “Best Film”, speak a language of their own. Seven BAFTAs maybe even more.
Such successes are no coincidence, Karim Sebastian Elias is convinced of that. The composer has recorded almost uncountable soundtracks for film and television and trains young people at the Film University Babelsberg how to hit the right notes to make a film more atmospheric.
Many artists have to work together to create a film
But Professor Elias also has another mission that he fulfills with passion: he wants to show how great films are made. To this end, he set up a so-called master class with the help of his film school and in cooperation with the German Film Academy, the GEMA Foundation and ZDF Kultur. To do this, he interviews numerous protagonists of larger film and series projects (recently also for the ZDF series “Der Schwarm”), talks to them about flashes of inspiration on the set or in post-production, and shares anger with them about problems that fall to almost the entire project could have brought and elicits some of the secrets of success from them.
Originally planned primarily for the students at the Film University in Babelsberg to get illustrative material, the audience has since grown. It’s not just about creative people seeing how creative people tick. It’s about the deep proximity to the film, about the awareness of how that actually comes about, which ultimately flickers on a big screen or a 4K television for a few hours.
In the case of “Nothing New in the West”, the composer, who likes to follow through on passionate conversations and sometimes comes across as a curious little child who wants to have every little magic trick explained to him, spoke to director Edward Berger, cameraman James Friend, sound designer Frank Kruse, Costume designer Lisy Christl, effects professional Frank Petzold, composer Volker Bertelmann and many more. There have been extensive dialogues with nine different masters of their class, which go into great detail. A total of 12 hours of material.
Some videos that HERE can be seen on ZDF Kultur, go almost two hours. There are always scenes from the film to be examined, along with comments on how they came about. However, this is not a kind of classic making-of, as is the case with Netflix, which is also known from this extraordinarily complex production by German standards (the streaming portal, however, diligently provided pictures), but rather a highly concentrated approach to this pretty much all the trades involved in the film.
It is important to understand what is important for mask, sound, editing, set design and also for the producers, how they had to be creative for “Nothing New in the West”, what it means to react from one day to the next when suddenly the artificial snow runs out (but the winter sequence is not yet in the can) or a certain costume is missing, without which a scene cannot be authentically depicted.
In film, decisions often have to be made quickly
Everyone, it becomes immediately clear when you just watch one of the videos, has their tricks ready in the course of their career and with the experience of many successfully completed film productions, which can sometimes be stubborn. But they are also necessary because shooting a film is sometimes like a suicide mission and nobody really knows on the first day of shooting where you will be on the last day. Or whether there will be more because something didn’t fit or the result could simply be better with reshoots or post-productions (e.g. with sound and image). Then sometimes decisions have to be made overnight, money has to be taken that may not have been planned at all.
As the masterclass clips show, these are not the greatest challenges, at least from a human point of view. Because with such a large film production, many striking artist egos meet, who first have to find a way together. That’s another reason why filmmakers often work with fixed teams, because they know how to deal with each other. It’s not always respectful, it’s often rushed. In some of Elias’ interviews in this master class, it becomes clear: Communicating is quite a hurdle, but it worked particularly well with “Nothing New in the West”.
Of course, film composer Elias initially focused on the soundtrack production. Quite quickly, however, the curiosity arose to become more fundamental. That’s also important, because it’s the only way to make it clear how much the “team spirit” shaped the production of the film. You inspire and help each other. Elias is certain that this is basically the ultimate formula for success in his work, but also in film in general. In his master class interviews, but also in conversations about his successful and, above all, insightful format, the professor comes across as a real didactic figure for whom communication is important and who is so committed to ensuring that the offspring who have already been sparked by such master class moments is secretly working on a project that once again overshadows the success of “Nothing New in the West”.