DI Lukas Schwarzkogler, BA
In the interview Lukas Schwarzkogler tells us more about his career and his job as a creative director.
Jobtitle: Creative Director Social URLs:
You were one of the first students to study information design - where did you do your internship?
I was in New York for my internship together with a UAS colleague - the agency I worked for was a design agency - Firstborne Multimedia, which is now part of Dentsu Creative. Although the agency wasn't really my cup of tea, I found working there interesting because the agency already had really cool clients, such as Nike, Adobe, Fila, and HBO. I negotiated a thesis with Firstborne Multimedia and was able to create an image video with match moving technology (The Table), which was technically quite a big deal at the time. After that, the agency wanted me to stay, but then I received a call from a former fellow student who wanted to start his own business with me in Carinthia as there were good innovation support programmes there at the time.
What was your business idea?
Patrick had the idea of developing helicopters with cameras, and because I knew a lot about motion tracking and match moving, he wanted to team up with me to be able to incorporate CGI (Computer Generated Imaginary) elements into drone footage. To set up something of my own was then the decisive point for me to leave New York - New York always sounds very cool, but it's also a big city where everyday life can be very exhausting.
How did you feel in your new home in Carinthia as a Styrian?
To be honest, I hated it at first. Compared to New York, there was nothing going on, there was no usable internet back then and the helicopter drones didn't work properly, or our kerosene-powered flying machines with 2.5-metre wingspans at the time would sometimes fly around our ears on fire. Fortunately, there were no clearly defined regulations for drones in 2008... We somehow managed to get a showreel out and suddenly companies all over Europe wanted to book us - but we got more and more orders for post-production and retouching and slowly slipped into animation. When we won the State Prize for Business Film 2008 for the video about the Reininghaus properties of the company Asset One in Graz, business really started to take off. My business partner continued to work on the drones, which unfortunately continued to crash and we almost only earned money with post-production and animation. The company grew to about 12 people at that time, and after eight years, I told my company partner that the drones should be working perfectly soon now! After all, the idea of camera helicopters was a good one, and companies like DJI were not yet on the market.
How did the story turn out?
We then found investors from Switzerland and Germany so that we could outsource the drone developments to another company. I then only did more film and my partner only the drones, and at some point I realised that it didn't work that way anymore, and I sold my shares in the company. I was co-owner and managing director of Airborne Motion Picture for a total of 10 years and then founded my current company, Monte Nero Productions GmbH, together with my wife Katrin - small and fine as a team of five.
What do you offer in your company?
We are an independent film production company in the field of advertising, TV commercials, and image films for mainly corporate clients, i.e. large companies with their own marketing department. We offer everything from the concept to the final realisation, including the concept, the filming, the integration of visual effects, and the post-production. We also like to work for cinema and TV productions (projects at imdb.com). Also the productions of the music videos for Die Toten Hosen and Moby, together with director Antonin Pevny, were cool. I think the size of our company is great - flexible, agile and with flat hierarchies. Everyone still knows what the others are doing.
What do you enjoy most about your work?
At the moment, working on cinema films, even though it's very stressful. But also TV commercials, it always depends on the clients you work with. I love trying out new techniques, 3D, moving images with CGI - that's what I enjoy most. My years of experience help me, you think differently. I design more than I used to, and I also like to work with "old school tricks" - it's the result that counts, not the way to get there...
When you look back - what did you get out of studying information design?
I would say, first and foremost, good contacts. The UAS is the place to meet the right people. You also learn about all the different fields in the design sector. Once you've found out what you're passionate about, it's up to you to go deeper.