He undertook his film education in 1969 by experimenting with Super-8 puppet animation. In 1978, he became the youngest student ever to be admitted to Britain's National Film School. In his two years at the NFS, he trained on various productions in different capacities. In 1981, he won First Prize in the Fiction category at the First European Student Film Competition in Munich for his short film "When The Rain Stops." That same year, he was chosen by John Schlesinger to receive the annual Shakespeare Scholarship, for a year of film studies in Germany. There, Mr. Waller studied at The Munich Film and TV School (HFF).
For German television, Mr. Waller worked as a vision mixer for the pop-music show "Formel Eins;" and as an editor on Frank Ripploh's "Show Paradox." In addition, he edited Wolfgang Gremm's feature film "Behind The Door;" and was commissioned by Filmverlag der Autoren to write a feature-length comedy script. From 1984 to 1986, he worked as an assistant director, director, and editor on different pop-music promos, video clips, and trailers for feature films.
Since 1986, Mr. Waller has directed, edited, and produced more than 100 commercials for cinemas and for television. Among the products: IBM International, Camel, Odol, Kellogg's Muselix, and Super Nintendo. In 1989, for producer Richard Claus (executive producer of "Mute Witness"), he created the feature-length compilation "When Love Learned To Walk -- Part II," which was a big success in German cinemas.
In 1991, he was awarded a Gold Medal at the New York Advertising Film Festival. In 1992, he founded the film production company Cobblestone Pictures Filmproduction GmbH, with partners Pieter Lony and Norbert Soentgen. "Mute Witness" marks his feature film debut, as well as the first production for the Hamburg-based Cobblestone.
