Photo by Kris Inga Mewes
ABOUT
After successfully completing his Abitur, Johannes turned his passion for extraordinary images, sound and technology into a profession and studied media technology at the University of Applied Sciences in Hamburg from 2014 to 2018.
During this time, numerous works and pieces – video as well as audio – were created. This includes student projects as well as commissioned work as part of his self-employment as a filmmaker and photographer.
Further experience came from working as a student assistant at Norddeutscher Rundfunk as well as twelve months as a project engineer for broadcast systems at Studio Hamburg MCI GmbH. While working at Studio Hamburg, Johannes wrote his final thesis on the topic of uncompressed, IP-based transmission technology of video and audio signals within broadcast live production which was awarded with the first price of the annual thesis competition by the Verein Deutscher Ingenieure (VDI) in Hamburg. Johannes thus graduated in August 2018 with a final grade of 1.39 as a Bachelor of Science.
Since 2019, Johannes is enrolled in the Masters programme „Time dependant media – Sound/Vision“ (Master of Arts) at the University of Applied Sciences Hamburg (HAW). As part of the cooperation between HAW and FH St. Pölten, Johannes spent the fourth semester of his master’s studies as part of the Audiodesign Masterclass in the Digital Media Production program at FH St. Pölten. Here he has the opportunity to graduate as a Diplom-Ingenieur in addition to the Master of Arts in Hamburg.
Together with other enthusiasts, Johannes founded the media production collective STUDIO17 in 2015. In January 2021, the collective then became a real start-up with the official founding of the STUDIO17 Medienproduktion GbR. Within this community, larger projects in the field of film and documentary are realized.
FIRST SEMESTER PROJECT
VON DER STILLE ZWISCHEN DEN GLEISEN —
DIE NACHT DER LOUISE BRAUN
An immersive audio drama in Dolby Atmos.
East Berlin 1962, the Berlin Wall has just been built, the border has become almost impassable. Based on a true story, we get to know young Louise.
Growing up in a small village in Saxony, she can no longer stand it in her violent parental home and decides – together with her fiancé Fritz, a border guard with the newly established dog squad – to flee to West Berlin.
TECHNICALITIES
Duration: Approx. 15 Minutes
Technology: Dolby Atmos, 7.1.2 + 118 Audio Objects
Renderings: Atmos, 7.1 and 5.1 Surround, Stereo and Binaural
Recorded: November and December 2020
Mixed and Mastered: January & February 2021, FH St. Pölten Studio A (7.1.2 Monitoring)
Software: Avid Protools, Dolby Atmos Renderer, Cockos Reaper, Plugins: Symphony 3D / Dear VR / Ozone
In this three-dimensional radio play in Dolby Atmos, we dive deep into the world of Louise and Fritz and accompany them as they plan, rehearse and carry out their escape. At some point, we switch perspectives and – when the escape plan is finally put into action – listen entirely through Louise’s ears:
Once Louise gets over the first board fence, there’s no turning back. In the distance we hear cars, suddenly a dog barks behind us, nearby the border guards are talking. Have we been discovered? Above us – on a road bridge – a patrol marches, a freight train thunders past. We hear all this, from Louise’s perspective, and thus dive deep into this exciting and nerve-wracking night. Will she succeed in escaping?
CAST
Louise – Pia Nives Welser
Fritz – Marc Illich
Grenzer II – Leon Lembert
Grenzer III – Christian Jahnke
West-Grenzer – Bernhard Schmidt
Directed by: Johannes Schmidt
Dialogue & Script assistance: Mona Ahlheim / Christian Jahnke
Music & Sounddesign: Jonathan Wimer / Johannes Schmidt
Watch the Trailer & the Behind the Scenes in 5.1 Surround
This trailer is encoded in 5.1 and should automatically play in surround on suitable hardware. Tested in Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox
If you encounter problems with the online playback in 5.1 Surround you can download the trailer here to play it locally in VLC.
Behind the Scenes Gallery
Pia Nives Welser in the Studio 
Leon Lembert in the Studio 
Recording in Cockos Reaper 
The Dolby Atmos Mixing Studio 
Avid S6 with the Script 
Working in the Studio 
Part of the final ProTools Session