For one of our clients, we were tasked with filming a series of interviews with a wide range of subjects all over the world. The goal was to keep the focus on the subject and their story. Guided by this goal, our visual approach was to film stripped down, simple close up interviews with as abstract a background as possible. We aimed for shooting locations that were simple and modern, sometimes even just a white wall or corner. This runs counter to the type of setting we usually request for interview shoots – something with character, natural light, architecture and a setting that provides visual context for the character or story.
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Farewell 2011, it’s been a fantastic year
Yesterday we sat down with a notebook, a pen and a profit & loss comparison statement print-out from Quickbooks. With these tools, we evaluated our last year in business and in life, since they inevitably converge in the creative field. We first sat down and wrote down all the things that went well and why. The exercise served as both a pat on the back and an evaluation into what to continue to do in 2012. But the past year has been exhilarating.
Thinking differently about holiday gifts for clients
In our years of employment, we’ve seen our fair share of gifts sent by vendors to clients during the holiday season. One web design company sent branded Nalgenes filled with candy to every member of the communications team as a thank you for their contract. Another vendor sent hand-crafted chocolates in branded wood-burned boxes. Beautiful presents indeed.
But when it came time for us to think about sending a holiday “thank you” to our clients and the subjects in our independent films, we decided to go in a different direction: homemade. Eidolon Films is a small two-person company and our appeal to large clients is not our size and brand, but rather our quality of work, attention to detail, personalized service and passion for the mission more than the bill.
Colorado National Monument Side Trip
Sometimes traveling for work has its perks. In this case, we had to head out to Grand Junction, CO for an interview shoot. We had a few hours free after the shoot so we headed over to Colorado National Monument. It was a great side trip – totally empty, stunning scenery and a close encounter with long horn sheep. Enjoy the snaps.
Airline Travel Tips for Filmmakers
We’ve flown on nearly every major US airline in the last year, close to 100,000 miles. Not all of it has been for filmmaking, but we have done enough trips with all of our gear to get a solid lay of the land when it comes to flying with film equipment. Oversize baggage fees, media rates, waived fees, damaged equipment, delays, cranky agents, nice agents– we’ve seen it all. In the process we’ve learned a few tips that can greatly help you on your next flight with your gear. Which airline is far and away the best for flying with film-making gear? Read to the end to find out!
(Not) taking too much stock in every shoot.
Sometimes I feel like I have amnesia about how indie shoots have gone in the past. Through rose-colored glasses, I believe that every shoot was a successful endeavor and had gone exactly to plan, when that was not the case at all. This glorified hindsight leads me to crave perfection on my current shoots, causing me anxiety before and after. I wonder frantically: Does this content add to the story? Will it appear random? Does it connect to the characters? Was it shot creatively and was the approach thoughtful enough? Is this the best use of my time? Perhaps T.S. Eliot was really onto something when he said,” anxiety is the hand maven of creativity.”
Deciding which medium to tell a story
Our recent travels through Southeast Asia were a sensory overload of colors, sounds, smells, people, and nature we’d never seen before. The compulsion was to immediately turn the camera to every single sight, an urge that slowed as the trip progressed. In fact, our best photos and video were taken towards the end of the trip because our eye for the unique became more discerning. Our growth as storytellers has taken a similar trajectory; we’ve developed better eyes and ears for what is interesting and worth telling and more importantly, which medium is best to tell it. There’s the written word, sound, video images and still images, all mediums we employ as storytellers. Some stories call for all while others may only call for one or two mediums. But how to decide whether a story is worth making into a film or if it’s better as an article or a photo? Below are a few questions I ask myself before I decide to start making a film.
Fall Leaves
Went for a nice walk through DC today. All the leaves are pretty much at their peak. Enjoy the photos! [custom_frame_center] [/custom_frame_center] [custom_frame_center] [/custom_frame_center] [custom_frame_center] [/custom_frame_center] [custom_frame_center] [/custom_frame_center]
Sa Pa: Rice Paddies & Happy Water
It was eight weeks into our trip and we’d seen rice paddies up and down mainland Indochina. Rice paddies in flat squares and those that climbed up mountains. Paddies with little budding plants and those full to the brim. But it’s fair to say we hadn’t really seen rice paddies until we visited misty Sa Pa, a Northern Vietnamese town near the border of China. These are like lush carpeted steps leading to another world, the vast expanse of which is only revealed in the fleeting moments when the mist lifts.
Life in Hanoi
As tourists we’re drawn to the historical sites, museums, and natural wonders; all the places the guidebooks say we should go. But my favorite moments while traveling are those in which I witness the everyday played out in new and interesting ways. We arrived early in Hanoi off a night train, so we spent time wandering the city and soon found ourselves at Hoan Kiem lake where hundreds if not thousands of Vietnamese were exercising. Actions such as rubbing the belly or poking fingers in the ears derive from traditions of Chinese medicine, which many Vietnamese practice.
Floating Mountains: Halong Bay & Bai Tu Long Bay, Vietnam
The creative director of the move Avatar must have been inspired by Halong Bay in Vietnam as there are few other places in the world where mountains appear to float weightlessly. While the imaginary planet in Avatar has mountains that suspend mid-air, Halong Bay’s mountains soak in pools of blue. Sunsets soften the edges of the sharp cliffs, color the sky and offer reflections that make sky and sea indistinguishable.
Lenou’s Library
While in Laos, we spent an afternoon with Lenou Sypasurt, a young man with an extraordinary vision for his country: to increase literacy among children. With money he saved from working as a dishwasher in Australia, he rented a small house near Luang Prabang and converted it into a library and classroom. Above is a short pro bono video we produced about Lenou, his library and the kids who visit it to help raise money and attract volunteers. Enjoy, and visit his site if you’d like to help out!