A conversation with Carl Amadeus Hiller
Carl Amadeus Hiller knows what “live” means. As a drummer and co-founder of Munich band Einshoch6, he spent years finding the precise moment to drop in and out. Since 2023 he has brought that instinct entirely into immersive cinema, co-directing some of the first German productions in the Apple Immersive Video format.
As we release Resonance — his new short following master luthier Niklaus Weber from raw wood to a stirring violin solo inside a 19th-century church — we asked Carl how he thinks about presence and timing.
What is the most important moment you hope to capture when you’re recording?
For me it’s always the moment when the viewer forgets that they are watching something recorded and instead feel like they are simply there. In immersive video that usually happens in very small, human moments: a musician taking a breath before the first note, someone looking directly at you, a quiet pause between actions. Those moments are incredibly powerful in a headset because the viewer is not observing from outside. They are sharing the same space.
Do you have a preference for live performances, or is that just where your work has taken you? And do you think immersive does something for performance that no other format can?
I do love live performance, but it’s not just a preference. It’s something immersive video is uniquely good at. When you stand next to a musician or an actor in immersive, you feel the presence, the scale of the room, the energy between people. Traditional film is always framing and guiding the viewer. Immersive instead allows the viewer to exist inside the performance. For music especially, that is incredibly powerful.
Do you ever feel pressure to make content for the kind of person who already owns a headset, or do you just make what you want to make?
Honestly, I try not to think about the device owner at all. The moment you start designing for the technology instead of the experience, the result usually becomes less interesting. I try to focus on experiences that feel meaningful and human. If the story or the situation works emotionally, it will work in immersive.
If immersive devices were already mainstream, what formats or genres would you love to see more of?
I would love to see more quiet observational storytelling. Small documentaries where you simply spend time with people — craftsmen, artists, communities. Immersive is incredible for presence, and presence works best when the viewer has time to explore and exist in a space rather than being pushed through a fast narrative. Music, theatre and documentary are very natural formats for immersive.
You’re also a drummer. Does that change how you feel a scene, knowing when something is about to happen before it does?
Yes, very much. As a drummer you are constantly reading the room and anticipating the next moment. You feel timing, tension and release. That translates a lot into how I shoot immersive scenes. Often I’m waiting for a rhythm in the space: a pause, a movement, a moment where attention shifts. When that happens you know something meaningful is about to occur.
What’s a mistake you see people make in immersive video that you think most filmmakers don’t even realize they’re making?
A very common mistake is trying to film immersive like traditional cinema. In immersive the viewer is not watching a framed image, they are sharing the space. So camera placement, distance to people and the rhythm of a scene become much more important than editing or camera movement. If you treat immersive like a normal film with a wider frame, it usually doesn’t work. The key is thinking about presence, not framing.
Inside the luthier's workshop.
Selecting tonewoods.
Recording inside the 19th-century church.