Filmmaker Walter Stoehr just released his newest project, "Horrible Prospects." It's a timely short with all that is going on in our world; with a new president in the U.S., there is much that is unknown for the future. But what goes bump in the night is actually more scary than you might think.
"Horrible Prospects" was a film produced for Stoehr's Master's program as a spec piece. He pitched the idea to WWF, but they were unable to help with his budget, which he didn't seem to mind. He told me because it was his graduation film, the budget limitations actually opened up space for his creativity and artistic freedom, which clearly shows. He also was awarded a grant, the "Film and Mediennachwuchsförderung Rheinland-Pfalz," which is a junior development program for filmmakers granted by the administration of Rhineland-Palatinate. The bulk of the film was shot with the Arri Alexa, while the high-speed shots we capture on the Phantom v641. The majority of the film was shot handheld.
Thirty people were a part of the pre-production and production of this film. Seventeen people, including the cast, were on set in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. They shot in two different stalactite caves over four days. Stoehr edited the film with Avid Media Composer, and used Adobe Photoshop for the matte paintings. Overall, from start to finish the project took just under a year to complete.
This isn't the first time Stoehr's produced a beautifully shot, thought-provoking film. Back in 2015 I shared his film "Connectivity Lost," a short about our dependency on phones and apps. I truly believe it's our duties as filmmakers and photographers to work on projects that help shed light on issues we care about. Issues that really matter. How many movies have you seen that have brought you to tears, or made you change your mind about something? The same can be said about a series of photographs. Of course my mind jumps to Benjamin Von Wong, an activist photographer if there ever was one. I think we can expect to see much more from Stoehr in the future, and as he puts so eloquently,
How will you help shed light on other important issues? Have you done similar projects? Share them below!