Hi!
My name
is Melissa Rothmann, born 1989 in Germany, daughter of an actress and light
board operator. I've got a half-sister, Judith, and a wonderful twin sister,
Olivia, who accompanies me my whole life
- we don't just have the same interests, we also studied the same. But
since she started one year later than me, she is going to finish her BA degree
this year.
My sister
and I started at the early age of 7 to play the piano, I learned later on at
the age of 11 a second instrument - the saxophone - and sang with my sister in
choirs and played in Big Bands during our school time and later during our
studies. Music is always an important part of our life.
So is
writing. I started to write before I could spell words and because it took me
too long to finish one story (I always had to ask how to write the words) I
decided to first draw them. Later, as I've learned how to write, I wrote in my
free time after school some short stories and even started several books -
which are all unpublished until now. Just the short stories were published in
school and one won a prize at a writing contest.
Before a
friend of my mom showed us the V8-Camera of his father, I never thought about
making movies myself. I loved to watch series and movies and fell in love with
the animation art of Walt Disney, but never thought I myself could start
working in the media - until I held that camera in my hands. And so I fell in
love with filmmaking - not just camera, but everything. The first holiday video
was edited on an old editing control desk that connected the camera (playing
the scenes from tape), the TV, the VHS-Video player (that was recording while
we edited the movie) and the CD player for the soundtrack. In this way we
recorded the whole film on VHS-tape without the help of a PC -- directly...
That was my first experience I had with editing movies and I loved it. The
following videos however were edited on the PC, trying out several different
programs. I loved experimenting with the camera and editing and after we moved
to Bautzen I had the chance to learn more about that in the SAEK, where I visited some courses in TV, radio
broadcasting and animation. I had a great time there and learned a lot. And
since my passion for film and TV began to grow I decided to study media and
found at the University of Applied Sciences
in Salzburg the degree MultiMediaArt - a BA
degree, that connects audio, video, design and animation. So in the first year
we were taught in all departments and in the second year we could choose in
which one we would like to deepen our knowledge. Already in the first semester
I met some students from the degree "Digital TV" and could work with
them on their TV show "Bonzai", that was broadcasted on Salzburg TV.
I had the opportunity to learn from these students as much as I could about the
equipment of the TV Studio, Cameras and Audio equipment. So in the second
semester I was able to work as a marginal employee at the University of Applied
Sciences, helping other fellow students in the TV Studio and giving them
advices and assistance while working with the cameras and light equipment and
were also asked to teach them how to work in the Studio and how to use the equipment.
Later, in 2010, I started to work as a tutor in addition to that.
2010 I
started an internship at Vogt Film GmbH & Co. KG (near Cologne), were I had
the great chance to work in all departments: camera, editing, lights,
assistance (editing, set etc.), sound design, postproduction, 2D-Animation, DVD
Mastering and even composition. There was always a lot to do and I was so
grateful for their trust and that they let me do all these jobs.
2011 I
finished my studies and got the BA degree Bachelor of Arts in Arts and Design.
From that moment on I travelled a lot and worked here and there.
In the
following Posts I'd like to share with you some of the work I did during my
studies and after that. I hope you'll like it. Thank you for reading and
watching.
Love,
Mel
My sister Olivia and me on movie set.
