by Isabelle Simmen

As a production designer and camerawoman, I see myself as a collector and reproducer of atmospheres. I wonder why these are so rarely discussed among the departments. Is it because it is difficult to talk about atmosphere? How can I be sure that the person I am talking to has the same mood in mind when I talk about a deserted neighborhood street shortly after a summer storm?

The atmosphere is created by an interplay of spaces, light, colours, surfaces, patina, actions, characters, smells and sounds. These are fleeting moments in which a tingling feeling, a kind of magic, arises.

In the film we work together to create an individual mood for the story. All creative departments are involved. Through the atmosphere we tell the part of the story that does not have to be visible at first glance and in doing so influence the emotional world of the viewer.

I search through my entire collection of images and at the same time try to think of the feeling I want to evoke. Often the atmosphere is not clearly defined in the script. However, the first spontaneous feeling when reading the text can provide an indication of how the viewer should feel while watching the film and thus what the mood of the scene might be. As Head of Department, we have the luxury of being able to add our own touch to the atmosphere. Since it's so difficult to talk about atmosphere, I often use collages to help myself.

If one of the images I have seen from the collection fits the feeling, I mark it and combine the newly created group of images into a collage.
I add smells, surfaces, small actions and sounds to the collage using keywords. This way of working works for me, whether I'm holding the camera on a project or designing the production. For me it's about being able to talk to the other departments about a certain feeling.

I was particularly inspired by the lecture by Anna Sophie Hartmann, a young director who was inspired by existing places and characters for her film “Giraffe” before making her fictional film. She spoke about how much time she spent in the locations and how diverse her field studies were.

The resulting photos and prose are evidence that the filmmaker was searching for a very specific atmosphere, which is now reflected in her finished film.

Her way of working gives me the courage to talk more often and in more depth with my colleagues from other departments in the future about the atmosphere of a scene and about how we can use the strengths of our different departments to create a complex mood in the new film.

The photos are images of places and situations collected over the years that tell me a story or evoke a special feeling in me. I captured the images with my small analogue Rollei 35S camera, which I usually carry with me.