Draft:Thomas Janze

Thomas Janze (* 1965 in Weimar in Thuringia) is a German multicam live director and producer of documentaries. As a former Steadicam operator he developed the remote-controlled Blackcam dolly system. Janze lives and works in Berlin.

Life and work
Thomas Janze studied at the Babelsberg Academy of Film and Television (now Babelsberg Film University) from 1988, where he received his diploma in 1994. In the same year he founded ‘’Totho Film’’ with Tom Werner. He worked as a freelance light-setting cinematographer and Steadicam operator for numerous German television stations. In 2000, Janze founded ‘’Totho cmp GmbH’’ and produced the ‘’Late-Net Show’’, the first web-based and interactive German late-night show in the Web 1.0. Starting in 2004, he worked as a producer and cinematographer on his feature documentary Der rote Elvis, which translates to The Red Elvis. It tells the rise and fall of the American singer Dean Reed who emigrated to East Berlin and drowned there under mysterious circumstances in 1986. The documentary premiered in the Panorama program at the 57. Berlin International Film Festival in 2007. Janze was image director for numerous live concerts and events. At the Volkswagen Sound Foundation, a promotion of young artists, he acted as director from 2006 to 2012.. In 2011, he created Blackcam Robotics (then Blackcam System), which developed a small, very quiet camera rail system that was patented in the U.S. in 2015. The aim of Blackcam Robotics' versatile designs is to enable producers to use its technology to create an experience for the audience that allows the camera to get as close as possible to the action without being noticed by the audience and without disturbing the performer. Its ARRO Robotic Arm is “a highly mobile compact system that can spin through a 360º sphere”. The arm was used directly on stage to film ‘’U2’’'s performance during their residency that opened ‘’The Sphere’’ venue in Las Vegas in 2023/24.

Cinematographer

 * 2007: The Red Elvis
 * 2008: Science of Horror
 * 2008: Wir sind Karat – eine Bandgeschichte
 * 2015: Lee Scratch Perry's Vision of Paradise

Producer

 * 2007: The Red Elvis
 * 2008: Science of Horror
 * 2016/2017: Queercore – How to Punk a Revolution

Director

 * 2008: MTV All Eyes On: Milow
 * 2009: MTV All Eyes On: Betty Blitzkrieg
 * 2010: Reamonn Eleven Live & Acoustic at the Casino
 * 2010: MTV All Eyes On: Aloe Blacc
 * 2011: Sunrise Avenue – Columbia Halle, Berlin
 * 2011: Incubus – Huxleys Neue Welt, Berlin
 * 2019: 10 Years ARTE Concert (ARTE)
 * 2019: AFRICOURAGE – Music Festival from Gambia
 * 2020: Jazzfest Berlin New York (ARTE)