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

• 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

• Producer, Developer, Editor, Compositor at headraft, Hamburg (2017 - 2020)

  • VR/AR/Web: Editing, Compositing, Producing, Development and Testing

• VR Compositor and Consultant at WDR, Westdeutscher Rundfunk (2018)

  • Virtual Animated Documentary PARIS TERROR - Die Geiseln vom Hyper Cacher

• 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

• VFX/Post Producer, VR Supervisor at OMSTUDIOS, Berlin (2015 - 2017)

  • Automotive projects, events/fairs; image films; several VR films

• VR/VFX Artist, Producer at Recom Film, Stuttgart (2015 - 2017)

  • Various Automotive projects for Porsche, Mercedes (VR Supervision, Matchmove, Comp)

• Streaming and Recordings Postproduction Supervisor at FMX Conference, Stuttgart (2015 - 2019)

Certificates, Workshops & Masterclasses

Publications & Talks

University & Schools

Specific Skills & Software Experience

• 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

• Film Shoots

  • VR/360° & VFX Set-Supervision for several commercials
  • DIT Data Management
  • Production Sound Mixer / Recordist for many short films and documentaries

• 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)

• 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

• 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

• Misc

  • Languages: German (native), English (fluent), French (Basics)