Stefan lights

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Stefan Lichter 2011

Stefan Lichter (born February 16, 1957 in Düsseldorf ) is a German television producer , author and journalist . He was best known for the puppet satire series Hurra Germany produced by his production company GUM Studios GmbH .

Life

After graduating from high school, Stefan Lichter studied human medicine at the Saarland University , the Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nürnberg and finally at the Klinikum rechts der Isar of the Technical University of Munich , where he wrote 800 Dacryocystographies in 1983 with his dissertation : Measuring X-ray images with the computer and comparison with the associated findings on Dr. med. received his doctorate .

After his license to practice medicine, however, he did not work as a doctor, but began freelance specialist journalistic activities for the medicine magazine of West German television (1984) and the Ärzte Zeitung (1985) and as a consultant in the production of medical information films (1985–1987).

In 1985 he became the sole developer and author of the games in the new ARD television show Mensch Meier , which, at the request of its presenter Alfred Biolek , should have current scientific references. For a total of 42 live broadcasts up to 1991, 200 elaborately equipped candidate games on new research results from medicine , psychology , the environment , technology and other areas of science were created. Stefan Lichter increasingly used computers for visualization .

In 1987, Lichter founded and ran the multimedia company Tevox GmbH, which initially produced computer animations , computer games and websites , and from 1995 was one of the first German companies to produce virtual characters and entire television series with digital actors. The most important of the 40 or so customers were RTL , Super RTL , SAT.1 and WDR , VW , Aventis and DKV . The stronger focus on animated characters increasingly led to the collaboration with Stefan Lichter's puppet production company GUM GmbH, which was mostly responsible for character design .

In 1988, Lichter licensed his game show concept Spiegelei to the private broadcaster RTL and wrote the books for it. 60 programs of this successful show about prejudice and knowledge of human nature were broadcast on Saturday evenings within two years. Helga Guitton and Uwe Hübner moderated and Christiane Ruff was the producer .

An appearance by the British satirical puppet production Spitting Image on the show Mensch Meier led to the idea of ​​an adaptation for German television. In the autumn of 1988 Stefan Lichter, his brother Andreas Lichter and Alfred Biolek founded the Cologne- based doll production company GUM Society for Entertainment and Modern Media mbH (GUM GmbH for short). From 1989 to 1991 she produced the much noticed - and criticized - satire series Hurra Deutschland with dolls from German celebrities for ARD. Stefan Lichter also worked as an author for this. The difficulty lay in the fact that the series was the first such puppet show on German television not only to break new artistic territory, but above all in the fact that it was designed more as a “ Muppet Show for Adults” than as a sharp political satirical program. The life-size dolls were designed by Ute Krafft , who since then, as chief sculptor, has been one of the most important creative pillars for the GUM productions. The cabaret artists Thomas Freitag and Stephan Wald acted as voice imitators .

In 1991, Stefan Lichter acquired all of the shares and, as managing director of GUM, was responsible for a further 20 TV puppet series for all major German broadcasters, as well as numerous advertising characters . The figure of the space mailman Romeo, for example, as a presenter for the children's program on the pay-TV channel Premiere, made 600 episodes from 1992 to 1994, and the sequel to Hurray Germany in sketch form made over 1,000 films. A very similar concept was based on the six-part show Spott I Oegad produced by YLE TV for the 1994 election campaign in Finland , for which GUM made the puppets and cast and trained the puppeteers. The GUM series Cocolino (1997–1998), written by Mites van Oepen , who had already been involved in Hurra Germany , received a nomination for the Prix ​​Jeunesse, commissioned by Swiss television (SF) .

For the sitcom Drachenfels ( Dragon's Rock , 2004) the then worldwide new computer technology "Chronomation", which combined puppet making and Computer Generated Imagery (CGI) , was used. For this, the creators led by Stefan Lichter received the Animago Award in 2004 . Financing problems with this co-produced 26-part 3D computer trick series, however, meant that Tevox and GUM had to file for bankruptcy on July 18, 2003 with a total of around 20 permanent employees .

The rights to almost all characters and series of GUM were then transferred to GUM Studios GmbH, which was founded in the same year and of which Stefan Lichter has been managing director since then. She designed and supervised, among other things, the new set up since 2003 Mainzelmännchen - Walkacts for the ZDF , the talking football pill for the FIFA (2005) and the DFB mascot Paule , an eagle with black plumage and yellow beak (2006). The Swiss satire series Les Bouffons de la Confederation (2009–2010, DRS ) was completely furnished with dolls by Lichters GUM.

In addition, Dr. Stefan Lichter works as a freelance comedy writer, but also devotes himself again to medical journalism and works on appropriate information platforms for the Internet .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e CV of Stefan Lichter
  2. ↑ cf. Sven Behrmann: Chapter 4.5.3 Hurray Germany (ARD) in ders .: Political satire in German and French radio . Saarbrücker Contributions to Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies (Volume 20). Königshausen & Neumann, Würzburg 2002, ISBN 3-8260-2346-3 , pp. 188-194
  3. ↑ cf. also the information in the GUM company profile
  4. ↑ List of the productions of GUM GmbH and GUM Studios GmbH
  5. ↑ List of productions by GUM GmbH and GUM Studios GmbH at Crew United
  6. ↑ GUM company profile
  7. ↑ NN: Award-winning cartoon series with the latest computer technology on Super RTL: GUM Studios present 26 episodes of "Drachenfels" , press release from TV-Looonland / Super RTL from September 5, 2004 ( online version )
  8. ↑ cf. Cologne District Court, file number: 72 IN 430/03 on the insolvency proceedings for the assets of the GUM Gesellschaft für Entertainment und für moderne Medien mbH entered in the commercial register of the Cologne District Court under HRB 18401 ( can also be found in the NRW online justice portal via the detailed search )
personal data
SURNAME Lights, Stefan
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German television producer, author and journalist
DATE OF BIRTH February 16, 1957
PLACE OF BIRTH Dusseldorf