Munich Video Production

I'm an award-winning cinematographer producing executive interviews, corporate films and conference coverage in Munich for international communications teams, working in German and English on set. Clients include The New York Times, Google, Pfizer, AWS, Huawei, Merck and Novo Nordisk.

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Video production services
in Munich

I produce corporate, brand and documentary video in Munich with a compact setup.

Typical engagements:

Executive interviews and leadership messages, single or two-camera
Documentary and branded content, on location
Corporate films and case studies for global teams
Conference and event coverage, multi-camera with stage audio feed
Testimonials filmed in offices, studios or at venues
Post-production: edit, grade, captions, deliverables for web and social

Six interview frames from a two-camera corporate interview series filmed by Theo Solnik

Who you're hiring in Munich

I'm Theo Solnik, founder of Haikai Media and the cinematographer on every Munich shoot I deliver. I trained at the German Film and Television Academy Berlin under Fred Kelemen, Béla Tarr's cinematographer on The Turin Horse, and have been shooting corporate, documentary and cinema work for 30 years.

My first feature, Anna Pavlova Lives in Berlin, won the inaugural Preis der Nationalgalerie für junge Filmkunst (Prize of the National Gallery for Young Film Art), presented by Bruno Ganz and Iris Berben, and was exhibited daily over four months at the Hamburger Bahnhof in Berlin. My work has since screened at festivals and museums in more than 25 countries. On the corporate side I've worked for Google, Pfizer, AWS, Merck, Novo Nordisk, Huawei, Barclays, Boston Consulting Group and Brain Corp, among others.

I work in German and English on set, along with Portuguese, Italian, Spanish, French and Norwegian. For a Munich shoot that means I brief participants and direct contributors in German, and keep English as the working language for the international team commissioning the job.

I hold Italian and Brazilian nationality and was granted a U.S. O-1B visa as an Artist with Extraordinary Ability.

When you book a Munich shoot, you're hiring the director of photography who personally lights, frames and delivers the work — not a booking agent passing the job on.

Full biography and credentials here.

Executive interviews in Munich

Executive interviews are the most common corporate request I get, filmed in offices, boardrooms, hotels or rented spaces that hold clean sound and a consistent look across several speakers on the same day.

My standard setup is two cameras, a wider primary and a tighter secondary, on a RED Komodo 6K with Zeiss Standard Speed primes at 16, 24, 32, 50 and 85mm. Audio runs to a Sennheiser MKH-416 shotgun or a Sanken COS-11 lavalier, with an independent 32-bit float recorder as backup.

When a speaker is more at ease in German, I run the interview in German and deliver English-subtitled versions alongside the original. For a communications team coordinating from another country, I share a question framework beforehand and send review links after filming, so people in other time zones can sign off without waiting on a shipped drive.

Corporate and brand video in Munich

Corporate work in Munich usually pairs interviews with contextual filming of the people, workplaces and processes behind an organisation, planned around real operating schedules so filming doesn't disrupt the working day.

B-roll on this kind of job covers offices, work environments, meetings and exterior establishing shots around the city, giving the edit structure and continuity. Post-production runs in staged review rounds: assembling the narrative, integrating brand elements, balancing audio and preparing delivery formats for the intended platforms.

Where a shoot needs more than one operator, I bring in vetted local crew and direct them myself, so the standard holds whether it's a single interview or a larger corporate production.

Case study: Private Division executive interviews, Munich

For Private Division, the Take-Two games label, I filmed two executive interviews at the company's Munich office. Office interviews like these come down to lighting that holds in a working space rather than a studio, clean sound in rooms built for meetings, and a look that stays consistent from one speaker to the next.

I worked with Private Division in Barcelona too, as director of photography on the Piccolo Studio episode of its fifth-anniversary documentary. That shoot is written up on my Barcelona page.

In Munich I also filmed the interview for a New York Times video on workers training robots. Read the case study.

Filming logistics and production workflow in Munich

Permits: most corporate shoots, in offices, studios and private venues, need no municipal authorisation, since they take place on private property with the owner's permission.

Public space is different. At the time of writing, Munich exempts simple filming in public space from a permit, but a shoot with more elaborate equipment, or one that obstructs people or traffic, needs a filming permit from the film office of the city's Mobilitätsreferat, which may charge a fee. Drone filming first needs clearance from the Luftamt Südbayern. I handle those applications when a public location is part of the plan, and I fly a DJI Air 2S as a TRUST-certified drone pilot.

Equipment is mine: RED Komodo 6K, Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K, Sigma fp, Zeiss Standard Speed PL primes, DJI RS 3 Pro with LiDAR and Focus Pro, Zoom 32-bit float recorders, Sennheiser and Sanken microphones and an owned lighting package. No rental surprises, no last-minute substitutions.

Deliverables and turnaround

Deliverables are prepared for the client's intended use: master files for internal distribution, compressed versions for web, shorter edits for social platforms, or documentary cutdowns where the project calls for it.

Interview-based productions deliver a first cut within 24 to 48 hours of wrap. Two revision rounds are included, and each revised cut arrives within 24 hours of your feedback. Documentary and multi-day productions follow a schedule agreed in the quote. Final exports include ProRes masters, H.264 web versions, 9:16 social cutdowns and burned-in or sidecar subtitles in German and English on request.

Colour grading, sound mix and original music composition are handled in-house.

Pricing

Every Munich project is quoted individually based on crew size, shoot days, deliverables and post-production scope. No hidden surcharges: insurance and contingency are itemised separately so you see what you're paying for. Payment terms are 50% on signing, 50% within five business days of final delivery.

FAQ

Do you work in German on set?

Yes. I work in German and English on set, and also in Portuguese, Italian, Spanish, French and Norwegian. I can run interviews in German and deliver English-subtitled versions.

What Munich work have you shot?

I filmed two executive interviews for Private Division at the company's Munich office, and the Munich interview for a New York Times video on workers training robots. Executive interviews and corporate film are the core of what I do.

Can you handle Munich filming permits?

Yes. Interior shoots on private premises need no permit. Where a shoot uses public space with more than simple equipment, I apply to the city's film office and build the lead time into the schedule.

What's included in the day rate?

The day rate covers me as DP, the RED Komodo package, Zeiss primes, standard lighting and audio kit. Additional crew, specialised lighting and permits are quoted separately.

How fast can you deliver?

First cut within 24 to 48 hours of wrap for standard interview projects. Two revision rounds are included, each revised cut within 24 hours of your feedback. Documentary and multi-day work is delivered on an agreed schedule.