Where are you based and how did you first get into this line of work?
I’m based in Copenhagen, Denmark and I always wanted to work in films. When I was a very young boy I wanted to be a stuntman, then an actor for a little while, but quite quickly that changed into wanting to be a director. So yeah, for as long as I can remember I’ve been wanting to do films and now I do, so I’m very happy about that.
Mads Hedegaard
How did you come up with the Skull Fracture project?
For some time I had known that I wanted to do something about memories and how they change with time. How reality is basically very subjective. And I knew I had all these stories from my own life and the life of my family members, so I thought that was an interesting way to go about it—mix the stories together and see what would come out of it—if it would work as we thought and hoped or if it wouldn’t work at all.
What gear/cameras did you use and why?
We shot on the Sony Fs7, I can’t remember the lenses we used, but they weren’t any fancy ones. We wanted to shoot on Cooke S4 and were supposed to do that, but a few days before we started shooting another production with a lot more money than us came in snatched them from us, so we had to use whatever was available. But we managed to create a look that we were satisfied with, because of my brilliant DP, David Bauer, and his meticulous work with the lighting and grading.
Did you plan out the story structure from the beginning or did it come out in post?
Because I knew many of the stories I wanted to talk about in the film (because they are from my own life as I mentioned) we were able to plan quite a bit. I had written a version of the voice over beforehand that we used as a sort of a map. Of course during shooting, things change and in editing some things changed quite a bit as well—and some things didn’t change at all; it worked just like we had planned it.
What do you do differently from other filmmakers?
I’m not sure I’m the right one to answer that question. But I do think I have a very structured way of thinking. And I do find it fun to come up with ideas of how things might work in the world and try to put that into a film context. And then I try to insist on being very open to the people I work with, hoping in that process, the project will become as much their project that it is mine. That tends to bring some very nice results I think. I guess I could write a lot of things here that would fit a lot of other directors, so as I’ve said I’m quite sure I’m not the right person to answer that question.
If you had to go back and do it all again, how would you get a foothold in the business?
Hmm.. I don’t know if I would do anything differently. I’m not even sure I could. I would work just as hard as I have up until now, and I would be just as persistent. I’m quite a shy person and that has definitely held me back in many situations, so maybe that would be it—try to work more on not being as shy.
What’s the one secret tip, go-to trick that you use often that takes your work to the next level?
Letting the people I work with have an insight on my thoughts, ideas, insecurities and so on—and using their thoughts, ideas, and insecurities in my work.
What has been the hardest part of doing what you do?
At times convincing myself to keep moving even though it seemed very difficult to make it.
What is currently the best part of doing what you do?
That I get to do what I love doing for a living. That is quite a dream. Working with people I like, respect and admire. Working on projects that I think are awesome! 🙂
What are some of your favorite stories or web videos that you’ve gotten inspired by?
That’s a tough question. I get inspired by a lot of things. From performance art to music videos. But mostly by other directors like Paul Thomas Anderson, (Martin) Scorsese, Wes Anderson, Nicholas Winding Refn, Lars von Trier, and so on—the usual suspects, I guess.
Where can people follow your work?
I’m afraid people can’t really follow my anywhere at the moment except for my Vimeo profile, which hasn’t got a lot on it. But I’m working on a website which will be more like a blog without being a blog at all. Something quite new I’m trying to do, but at the moment I can’t really say for sure when that one will be up and running.
