Robert Schumann Hochschule Düsseldorf

MALL

In April 2021, Maximilian Sattler, a student in the Audio and Video bachelor’s program, won the prize for Best Sound Design at SoundTrack_Cologne’s European Talent Competition. His reimagined soundtrack for the short film Mall was created as a student project in the Media Composition concentration at the Institute for Music and Media at the Robert Schumann Hochschule Düsseldorf under the supervision of Andreas Grimm and Tobias Fleig.

The European Talent Competition is held every year as part of Soundtrack_Cologne, a leading conference for music and sound in film, games, and media. Participants are charged with creating a new musical interpretation for an existing short film, which they receive without a soundtrack, either by composing a score, producing the sound design, or both. Maximilian won the prize for Best Sound Design with his interplay of hybrid electronic film music and detailed sound design focused on the interior world of the movie’s protagonist.

“The sound design gave us unexpected moments that made us laugh out loud,” reads the jury statement. “The excellent integration with the high-quality, accomplished score showed also how effective the sound design was. It grounded us clearly in the story’s reality and transitioned effectively into the inner-world of the characters.