Production affiliations: US & Canada- Palomar Pictures / Europe-Neue Sentimental Films / Switzerland-Pumpkin Films
Years Directing: 7
Shoot Days in 2001: 31; 11 in 2002
Geography: German, based in Los Angeles
Favorite Spot: Schwäbish Hall "Emotion."
"It defined my strength as a director."

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If directing is like cooking, then Walter Kehr is a master chef - he makes his job look easy, concealing the fact that he is always intensely prepared.

"I like to be spontaneous, but over the years I figured out that to be spontaneous, you have to be organized," says Kehr, stating that pre-production is of utmost importance. "If you prepare everything and you have the right things ready at the right time, then you can have great results."

With the prepping out of the way, chef Kehr says he concentrates on what he was hired to do - direct. And for him, that means setting the mood of the project and extracting real performances from his talent.

"I like to be very calm. I never scream on set; it destroys atmospheres," he says of his approach. "If you get nervous on set it spreads like wildfire and nothing gets done. What I do is create an atmosphere on set so that people forget that they are on set."

Kehr recently kept the energy up on the shoot for Mitsubishi "Popping" (Deutsch, Los Angeles). The spot shows a group of twentysomething hipsters driving around breaking it down to Dirty Vegas' "Days Go By." Kehr says that he cranked the music so loud on set that at times the cast couldn't even hear him.

Similarly, but perhaps a little more quietly, Kehr set the mood for the sentimental and tender Kodak "Leaving" (O&M, New York), which involves a man departing on a business trip. Before he goes, he gets inspired to take a digital photo of himself sleeping and places it on his pillow for his sleeping lovely to see when she wakes up. Kehr says the actress, who was required to spend the whole day in bed, ended up falling asleep - a testament to his ability to dictate the on-set mood. "We let her sleep, then we shot her waking up. It was great because when she woke up, that look in her eyes...she was genuinely tired."

Other recent projects from Kehr include US spots for Clean & Clear (DDB, NY), Macy's (in-house) and Jolly Rancher (O&M, NY).

Webfiles:
Palomar> http://www.palomarpics.com
NSF> http://www.neuesentimentalfilm.com