The Black Heart Gang interview
The Black Heart Gang - Jannes, Ree, Markus/the sea Orchestra" Commercial Film of United Airlines
Q. Can you tell us a bit about who you are, your background…
Before we started Ringo (2004, our first project) we didn’t know each other that well. Except for Markus and Jannes as they are cousins. We wanted to make something special and a type of creative chemistry just developed among us. At the time, none of us had any real experience; we just threw ourselves into it.
Ringo started as a weekend project but we ended up working on it for another nine months. We didn’t plan it, things just developed. This was the basis of our working dynamic and how The Blackheart Gang began. We learnt as we went along with it. We then proceeded to create our next project “The Tale of How”.
"The Tale of How" Copylight The Black Heart Gang
Again this turned out to be a 9mth part time project on which we worked every evening and every week-end.The “Tale of How” is the second part of The Dodo Triology which is a documentation on the Piranha birds, how they came to be, and what the presently keep themselves busy with. In turn the Dodo Triology is a part of a much bigger tale which we call The Household. After the success of The Tale of How Jannes and Ree were approached by Passion pictures in Europe and Duck Studio’s in the States to sign up with them as commercial directors. We wanted to keep our personal film work and commercial work separate from each other and so along with producer Nina Pfieffer, began a commercial company called Shy the Sun.
Our first commercial was the Sea Orchestara spot that we did for united Airlines after BD’M stumbled upon our short film The Tale of How and awarded us the job based on that specific style.
"the sea Orchestra" Commercial Film of United Airlines
Currently Shy the Sun is busy with a new commercial in which they are exploring a new style and direction. The Blackheart Gang on the other hand are in pre-production for ‘he Tale of Then” which they plan to begin next year.
Q. Is there a japanese artist That you really like ?
Hayao Miyazaki / Audrei Kawasaki / Yoko Dholbachie / Takashi Murakami
Q. What are your references, your inspirations (book, painter, music …) when you create animations ?
what kind of animations or movies do you like ?
Inspirational painters: Patrick Woodroffe / Jim Woodring / Mark Ryden / Joep Hommerstom / Ancient eastern art / Medieval Art
Inspirational music: Murcof / Autechre / Xela / Monolake / The Shins / Kings of Leon / Nancy Sinatra
Inspirational movies: Dark Crystal / Wild at Heart / Tekkon Kinkreet / Spirited Away / Hero
Q. You are working in Cape Town. have you special inspiration from the place where you live ?
Living on the edge of the world, on the tip of a continent that allow you to look over vast oceans, envisioning endless worlds and ideas….
"the sea Orchestra" Commercial Film of United Airlines
Q. Are you interesting to come to Japan to present your works or making conference ?
Of course!. Its a country we’ve always been inspired by and wished to visit. We often do presentations, showing our work and the processes involved, so when you’re ready… on top of that we are very interested to see whether the taxis in japan are really rental helicopter backpacks, if you truly do walk around on hover shoes and how close our sushi comes to the real thing.