About me

Hello! I’m Martin, a Producer / Project Manager, Technical Artist and Post-Production Supervisor for Audiovisual Productions, focusing on Media Exhibitions, Virtual Reality/360°, Visual Effects and Animation. Currently, I’m based in Berlin as a Freelancer.
I worked for Clients and Brands like Lavazza, KTM, Mercedes Benz, Hyundai, Porsche, Volkswagen, Mitsubishi and Bayer together with companies that include Headraft, Tamschick Media+Space, Recom Film, WDR, Omstudios, studioNICE creative and Congaz.
I have a multi-disciplinary background of film and media production from idea and story to final delivery since 2004. Combining project management with deep technology and creative producing knowledge as an expert-generalist, I also regularly work in the roles of On-Set VR / VFX Supervision, Technical Directing, Compositing, Online-Editorial / Finish / QC, VR Stitching, 3D CGI, Matchmoving, DIT Data Management, Editing and Previs.
A speciality case I developed is a workflow to use Resolve and Nuke for 40K+ multi-screen live-action footage installations. And I recently did the entire post-production of a 3min 8K VR film in a “smart” or “lean” setup on just 2 workstations (in my Covid19 homeoffice). As I have experience with Production Sound Recording I can shoot VR video and Ambisonics audio with a very small unit.
Currently at the top of my never-ending Learn, Research & Development list: Houdini, Unreal, WebXR, “Neural Networks from Scratch in Python”, “Pipeline DevOps TD tricks from Bare-Metal into the Cloud” and Computer Graphics in general.
LinkedIn Profile: www.linkedin.com/in/martinbackhaus
Recent Freelance Work
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Project Manager and Postproduction-Supervisor at TAMSCHICK MEDIA+SPACE, Berlin (2016 - 2020)
- Immersive multi-screen media exhibitions, integrating video, audio, light, scenography and architecture
- Client-facing cross-functional role of Senior Project Management and Technical Directing, including Compositing, Online Edit & Finish, VR Previs, Quality Assurance of several projects, among those:
- KTM Motohall Racing Heroes, 10x screens, 18x projectors, 40Kx2K - Mattighofen, Austria (2019)
- Lavazza Museum “Universo”, 8x projectors 360° - Turin, Italy (2018)
- Hyundai Motorstudio Goyang Design Exhibition, 56x HD screens, 108K x 2K - Goyang, South Korea (2017)
- VR 360° aerial/drone 8K film post: prep, shoot, edit, stitch, stabilise, retouch/comp, grading, encoding
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Producer, Developer, Editor, Compositor at headraft, Hamburg (2017 - 2020)
- VR/AR/Web: Editing, Compositing, Producing, Development and Testing
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VR Compositor and Consultant at WDR, Westdeutscher Rundfunk (2018)
- Virtual Animated Documentary PARIS TERROR - Die Geiseln vom Hyper Cacher
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Creative Producer at studioNICE creative, Berlin (2014-2019)
- Producer and Concept/UI/UX for Realtime Mobile VR Experience “Drive Safer” for Samsung Deutschland
- Several animated commercials, short films, social spots
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VFX/Post Producer, VR Supervisor at OMSTUDIOS, Berlin (2015 - 2017)
- Automotive projects, events/fairs; image films; several VR films
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VR/VFX Artist, Producer at Recom Film, Stuttgart (2015 - 2017)
- Various Automotive projects for Porsche, Mercedes (VR Supervision, Matchmove, Comp)
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Streaming and Recordings Postproduction Supervisor at FMX Conference, Stuttgart (2015 - 2019)
Certificates, Workshops & Masterclasses
January 2020 | PH526x: Using Python for Research - a course of study offered by HarvardX, an online learning initiative of Harvard University |
June 2014 | High Value for your Budget - The Creative Use of Virtual Production EFA Masterclass 2014 with Marc Weigert |
Oct 2010 - Mar 2011 | Animation Sans Frontières - The Animation Production Workshop www.animationsansfrontieres.eu |
Publications & Talks
2014 | Co-Author of the SIGGRAPH 2014 Talk “Dark Matter - A Tale of Virtual Production” |
University & Schools
Oct 2008 - Apr 2013 | Baden-Württemberg Film Academy, Ludwigsburg Institute of Animation, Visual Effects and Digital Postproduction since 2008, 2 years: Film Production since 2010, 2 years: Animation & VFX Producing Graduation (Diploma): April 2013 www.filmakademie.de /www.animationsinstitut.de |
Aug 1996 - Jun 2005 | Grammar School / Secondary School: Hardtberg-Gymnasium Bonn Degree: Abitur (German A-Levels / German Baccalauréat) |
Specific Skills & Software Experience
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Producing / Project Management
- including Story Development, Project Breakdowns, Biddings, Scheduling, Budgeting, Financing and Monitoring/Controlling of several Fiction, Documentary, Commercial, Animation, VFX, Post-Production, Virtual-Production and Virtual-Reality projects since 2004
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Film Shoots
- VR/360° & VFX Set-Supervision for several commercials
- DIT Data Management
- Production Sound Mixer / Recordist for many short films and documentaries
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Post Production
- Postproduction-Supervision, including VR 360°, Stereoscopic 3D,
Virtual Production; Arri Alexa, Blackmagic, RED, Sony Cameras from Preproduction to Delivery since 2004 - Multi screen / projection and very high resolution media installations (one installation with 56x HD screens and 107.520 x 1.080 px resolution)
- (Online-) Editing, Conforming and Finishing with DaVinci Resolve, Assimilate Scratch, DVS Clipster, Nuke Studio, Premiere Pro, Avid (Symphony), Final Cut Pro
- DCP Mastering with DVS Clipster, easyDCP+ and OpenDCP
- 360° VR Stitching and Stabilisation using Nuke Cara VR and Mistika VR
- TV Broadcast, Bluray, DVD, H.264 Mastering / Encodings, including FFmpeg, x264
- Data & Storage Management
- Sound Editing/Mixing Basics with ProTools (Stereo Sound Mixes for several projects)
- Postproduction-Supervision, including VR 360°, Stereoscopic 3D,
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Visual Effects & Animation
- VFX and VR/360° On-Set Supervision for several projects (commercials and short films)
- Shotgun, ftrack & TACTIC Asset / Shot / Project-management
- Advanced Spreadsheet Calculations (Excel, LibreOffice, Google Sheets)
- Compositing with Nuke (including Stereoscopic CARA VR) and After Effects
- Timeline/Shot Management & Review with Nuke Studio, Hiero, RV, Pdplayer
- Matchmoving (Intermediate) with Syntheyes
- SideFX Houdini and Redshift General 3D Knowledge
- 3D with Modo: Spatial 3D Previsualisation, Projection Mapping
- Renderfarms: Thinkbox Deadline, Royalrender
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Software Development & IT Operations
- Intermediate Python 2 & 3: Batch Encode Scripts, AWS Thinkbox Deadline Scripts, Nuke Scripting
- Version Control with Git
- Elementary Studio SysAdmin knowledge (Windows, macOS, Linux)
- Core Knowledge about DevOps IT automation, implementing a setup with Git, Vagrant and Ansible (on CentOS 7) to deploy Windows 10 DCC workstations
- Webdesign, Site-Building (Hugo, W3.CSS, HTML5, CSS3, PHP, MySQL, Drupal, Wordpress)
- Linux User since 2007
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Misc
- Languages: German (native), English (fluent), French (Basics)