Start up into pop music heaven

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Movie
Original title Start up into pop music heaven
Country of production Germany
original language German
Publishing year 2001
length 87 minutes
Rod
Director Hannelore Conradsen
Dieter Köster
script Hannelore Conradsen
Dieter Köster
production Hannelore Conradsen
camera Hans Evert Vennegeerts , Dieter Köster
cut Matthias Remski , Dieter Köster
occupation

The 4 students: Christine, Melanie, Linda and Claudia and the business people who want to earn a lot of money on and with them, as well as Jennifer Wember and her parents.

Start up in den Popmusikhimmel is a documentary by Hannelore Conradsen and Dieter Köster from 2001. It tells of the attempt to earn a lot of money with German students (who work as models) by making them into the popular music group Fox Force and training them. At the same time, the up-and-coming singer Jennifer Wember from Gelsenkirchen is following the attempt to become a pop star with idealism and the support of her family.

The first commandment of pop

The film Start up in pop music heaven is not about telling the birth of pop stars again, how they came to be famous and rich. Nor is it shown that it could be a tough industry where, like in a “shark tank”, only those who bite others off - or sing, survive , success can mean heaven and failure can mean hell. Rather, the film makes the nuances audible, the truisms more visible.

Talent scout and producer Thomas Richter (32) works hard to be successful in the music industry. He has already had success with a pop group in Asia and now wants to conquer the music world with “Fox Force” from Germany. Equipped with start-up capital, supported by a large American record company ( Backstreet Boys , Britney Spears, etc.), he and about 40 employees from Berlin, Cologne and Munich move "the elevator from the basement to the high business floors". The film accompanies him and the students selected by a modeling agency , who have never performed as singers, through all stations of this company (casting, styling, photo session, studio recordings), through a training camp in Holland, up to the first appearance in front of a young audience in Essen .

The film asks the question of what really moves and drives the clients, talent scouts, producers and artists involved, how they cope with the self-imposed pressure to perform and what the actual goal might be, besides making money (Thomas Richter: “I always want it for my father prove again? ”) He's a child of divorce through and through. The film points beyond this scene: In the pleasant, easily consumable pop music, as it is mainly brought to customers via music channels such as VIVA or MTV , it has long ceased to be about serious “deeper” messages, as clearly illustrated here is made (we see the producers with specialists from the record company, in an otherwise strictly isolated group, selecting the tracks for their first CD and marveling at their criteria). The first commandment of pop is: "Have fun and let go of all worries".

The groups, protagonists and songs serve the customers ("the end user") as a template for dreams and identification. With this requirement of formatting intelligent women and making them commercially compatible so that they can endure each other not only professionally, but also mentally over a long period of time, carry the company “Fox Force”, the producers equip them with gag contracts, go for The attractive students spend months in the clinch with them in a training camp in Holland. The hardest thing for them seems to be here, to be able to get along in a luxury apartment permanently without quarrels. The CDs of the group "Fox Force" should hit the charts immediately. They have to look perfect in one fell swoop and be accepted abroad too. No second attempt is planned and even Thomas Richter becomes visibly more uncomfortable as the film progresses.

And so, like in an elite boarding school (where “boy groups” are also drilled), they are prepared for the demands of business. There is seldom leisure time or trips home. Through training in conversation, singing, dance and discipline, there is little time left for private matters. Accommodation and meals are free. Combined with pocket money, they do not receive any expense allowance, they only participate as a percentage of the possible income. Everyone seems not only to accept this, but to see it as a great opportunity. Claudia has a nervous breakdown and is replaced by the Dutch music professional Linda. Richter thinks that is “a real shame”: “The show must go on” and one suspects (with all the effort and great effort) that the matter cannot go as planned.

At the same time in the Ruhr area: Using the example of the up-and-coming pop singer Jennifer Wember, the film also shows how difficult it can be to get to the starting point that Christine, Melanie and Linda are just now talking about with “Fox Force ”seem to have to exist on a stage in Essen in front of a merciless young audience. Jennifer is still dreaming of this and first calculates how many inkjet cartridges she can still afford in order to be able to write the numerous "contact attempt letters". She has to reckon with the euro. Despite a new hairstyle, weight loss of 60 pounds and trained voice, Jennifer only manages the hoped-for entry (so far) into the internet charts.

It becomes clear why it doesn't work that way for her: Despite years of effort, she is not fast enough and close enough to the actual business. Too little cool, tactful and not tough enough, the old-fashioned belief stands in the way of her family; only “talent and the joy of singing”, coupled with the father's organizational desire, could make them big. But the hopeful dreamers, spared by success, in the end look like lucky ones. This feeling is not deceptive. If you go online today (under Jennifer ), the young woman from Herten seems to have made it into hit heaven (whereas “Fox Force” is no longer mentioned anywhere).

criticism

Der Spiegel wrote in a preliminary review:

... What sounds like the series world of "Popstars" is harsh reality - which is why at least the first appearance of "Fox Force" does not bring the longed-for breakthrough. Linda, Melanie, Christine and the boombastic producers are happy anyway. However, after the excellent documentary by Hannelore Conradsen and Dieter Köster, the viewer puzzles whether he should find the bizarre industry laughing or crying.

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