Interview with Stefan Mentil
In our ongoing ‘in-house’ interview series, we caught up with cinematographer Stefan Mentil of “The Christian Lassen Project” a documentary that examines the artist Christian Lassen’s process of developing the ultimate piece of art. Mr. Lassen is known around the world as the premier marine artist of our time.
Q: Tells us about your latest project?
The idea was to follow Christian Lassen traveling around the world in his search to develop his ultimate piece of art.
(from left) Christian Lassen, Stefan Mentil, Sonny Miller
Q: How did you get involved in the project?
I got involved in the project through Sonny Miller the director. He and I have known each other for over ten years. We met on a Mercedes commercial. We like a lot of the same things and share a passion for shooting action sports. We started going out on surf adventures – traveling to other countries – wild trips. It grew into a friendship.
Q: What was the most interesting aspect of the project?
The most interesting aspect has been the travel – traveling to different countries – Bora Bora French Polynesia. I love seeing how people live – many people travel to this beautiful place for their honeymoon just to experience the beach but miss out on the natural beauty – amazing art, architecture and landscapes.
It is an amazing place. We woke up early to climb up a mountain to look down onto Captain Cook’s Bay – the sun rising over the bay, small boats in the bay – it was an amazing experience.
The other interesting aspect was the story – following Christian Lassen – discovering his inspiration through his travels. He is seeing different places all over the world. He lives out of his suitcase 90% of the time. He is out there – finding new things that inspire him to make these great paintings.
Q: What camera did you choose?
Stefan Mentil
We are shooting various formats from Super 16mm to RED to HD and a little Super 35mm for the opening of the film. We chose to use different formats in various locations to stylize the film and give it an overall feel. We used different formats to move the story – give the story movement.
Certain formats mean different things like the film Traffic – when we filmed in El Salvador we wanted to add some grain to the film – we added a filter to add a lot of yellow – making it feel hot – like the heat of the hot sun.
Q: When is the premiere?
We are expecting an early 2010 premiere. Keep you posted.
If you would like to learn more about Stefan Mentil. Check out his bio or give us a call (858) 271-1592 to book him on your next video project.
