A three-part documentary series
I approached this series not as an observer from the outside, but from within — close to the people who are trying to define what it means to make music today.
Across three films, I followed very different protagonists: an industry veteran rewriting his own rules, a young artist shaping her identity between digital worlds and reality, and a broader system that demands constant reinvention. What connects them is a shared tension — between independence and visibility, authenticity and market logic.
In Gramps Writes His Own Rules, I worked in an intimate, almost tactile visual language. The camera stays close, observing a figure who resists the conventions of an industry that has changed around him. His story is about persistence — about carving out space on your own terms, even when the system no longer seems built for you.
With Beyza aka Robogirl, the perspective shifts. Here, the camera becomes more fluid, navigating between online and offline identities. Beyza moves naturally through digital spaces, performance, and self-staging — part of a generation for whom visibility is not optional, but essential. I was interested in capturing that constant state of becoming: the construction of an artist in real time.
The third part expands the frame. In With Teeth Through the Music Industry, I stepped back to observe the structures surrounding these individual stories. The industry reveals itself as a place shaped by algorithms, metrics, and relentless exposure — a system where success is quantified and creativity must constantly justify itself.
Visually, the series moves between closeness and distance — between portrait and system. I wanted the camera to reflect this duality: to be present with the protagonists, while also revealing the mechanisms that surround them.
A portrait of people navigating uncertainty, driven by the need to create — and to be seen.
Main credits:
Text & direction: Constanze Ehrhardt
Camera, editing & grading: Steven Lüdtke
Photography: Franz Grünewald
Camera, editing & grading: Steven Lüdtke
Photography: Franz Grünewald
