Mischa Rozema (38) is director of commercials and short films. He grew up near Amsterdam and studied Graphic Design in Eindhoven and subsequently Media and Technology at the School of Arts Utrecht (HKU). Twelve years ago he co-founded PostPanic, the hybrid production company he still works for. Though Mischa has a background in graphic design, he has an all time love affair with classic film, which explains his taste for combining graphic elements in his films with live action. By also using ‘whatever technique available’ he creates fantasy worlds beyond the imagination. Mischa has become most famous for his ‘The Lost Ring’ trailers – part of an online game created by AKQA San Francisco for McDonald’s. The films were submitted to the archives of the MoMA and last year they won him the prestigious AICP Next award. His most recent project is a series of international idents for MTV Rocks.
As a kid, what were your most creative moments?
I used to spend a lot of time making music. I remember days of practicing my guitar skills for more than 8 hours straight. Day in, day out. I drove my parents nuts cause I was pretty fanatical about it. The stuff I played was kinda complicated, so it took a while to get under control. I’ve always been over-ambitious in the things I choose to do. I actually think I’ve transferred that same energy into what I’m doing right now. Still raising the bar at sometimes ridiculous heights. I also remember an excessive amount of drawing/painting when I was young, but my hormones distracted me back onto my ambitions for rock domination.
Which creative effort has given you the most satisfaction?
Whatever it is I’m working on at the moment, I still very naively believe that my current project is going to change the world in an epic way.
What fascinates you?
Weird stuff.
Who is your favourite creator?
[Stanley] Kubrick, [Francis] Bacon, [Johan] Cruijff.
When did you decide, I want to work in advertising?
I think advertising decided it wanted to work with me to be honest. I never set out to work in advertising. We’ve always kinda did what we felt like doing. In the beginning mostly music videos and stuff like that. Soon agencies came knocking at our door. But I never consciously changed my approach to projects. To me there’s not much difference between our commercial projects or our own productions. I still feel I’m not ‘in’ advertising because it’s only a part of what I do. I think the origin of truly creative ideas is found outside of advertising. That’s why I think it’s important to always be involved in non commercial endeavors, even if it’s just to fuel the commercial ones.
What’s your most important lesson in advertising?
Never take an Uzi to your job.
What’s the most exciting ad project you ever worked on?
That would probably be the Nike shoot we did in Madrid, Barcelona and Blackburn in 2005 [two retail films, the 'Power of 3' and 'Federation Colours', part of a Nike World Cup 2006 in-store campaign, AAB]. A traveling circus, insane production and just working with Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, Henry, Rooney, van Nistelrooy, Cristiano Ronaldo and many others. It was an ultimate crash course in improv-directing. I’m a proper football nutter, so I felt like a kid in a candy store. I found myself trying to teach Ronaldinho how to do a proper step-over, pretty surreal.
What’s your favourite place in Amsterdam?
Friday summer evenings in the Vondelpark. Playing football and later on enjoying that very first ice cold beer while discussing how crap we were. sweet.
What would you like to change in Amsterdam?
Amsterdam was a better place 15 to 20 years ago in many ways. So it’s either turning back time or just facing I’m turning into a grumpy old man.
