Hi my name is Thomas Schrempf, I’m the Co-Founder of the production company FACTORY16 based in the east of Austria, Siegendorf im Burgenland.
A lot of roads lead to film. Which one did you take?
My path started almost 15 years ago as a VJ for our local tv station. Doing camera work and post production for the news. It all started because we didn’t have enough VJs at the tv station so I had to jump in from my daily job as a graphic designer. At the same time I was studying at the SAE for Web Design, but I already noticed during this time, that I wanted to discover the moving image more. At my final project of the degree, I already worked as a runner and set designer at a short movie. Michael and I have been friends for more than 15 years, knowing each other from the local music scene. We both made our first steps with producing music videos with DSLR Cameras and one day we met on a festival, we decided, maybe with a little influence of some beers, to team up and work together. Since this day we developed with every project as a team and as a company.
Hell yeah!
Michael and I share the same passion of creating the most beautiful image possible. So we are exploring new possibilities to create a, for us, perfect look.
And every project or day offers us new ways. This is for me the most beautiful part of creating a moving image. Also working with different styles is a daily challenge and to find the best fitting equipment to tell the story makes this job so interesting.
Oh no!
I hate to say it but, when you do what you love, you don’t have to work anymore. Therefore a challenge does not have to be a negative thing in my opinion. There are things that annoy me but in the end the most things that annoy me come from humans haha. If I have to name a negative part, it will be the hectic and stressful moments on set. Also if the client wants to make big changes on set.
Great gear …
Reliability. On set you don’t have the time to deal with unreliable equipment. Equipment cult for example is a nice thing for fandom but at the end, good equipment defines itself project wise. Every tool can be a good equipment if the script or the wanted look needs it.
Are you a nerd?
I wouldn’t call myself a typical nerd. Of course one part of this business is to dive into the technical part. Which tools fit best on the need of the project, so you have to really nerd into equipment. At the end I really see that as a means to an end.
My most extraordinary / strange / crazy / weird / fascinating experience on set …
Honestly, I cannot name a specific thing. Every time we are on set, something happens which we haven’t experienced before. And you cannot see that coming. I think this is the extraordinary, crazy, weird and fascinating thing we experience on set.
One sentence about our products that we may quote:
With DwarfConnection you have the freedom to focus on the most important part of your job - crafting an image and telling a story – and don’t worry about technical setups.