Stillmotion EVO Workshop

I attended the June 2013 EVO and it literally was a game-changer for me. Before attending I had a photography business but had always been obsessed with films, documentaries, etc.  I called and talked to the Stillmotion staff extensively beforehand to make sure EVO would be a good fit for me since I was not a filmmaker. It’s such an expensive investment I wanted to make sure. When I got there and met the other 11 workshop attendees, I soon realized I was the only non-filmmaker and one of three women. Very imtimidating to say the least but I was up for a challenge.

Most of us flew in the night before and got together for dinner/drinks and a meet-and-greet.  By the end of the evening all the Stillmotion staff were there and we got to know them. After dinner we took a tour of their new studio space which was under construction.

DAY 1 – CLASSROOM – We learned the basics of storytelling and about Stillmotion’s storytelling methods. We learned all the technical stuff behind how they handle audio, lighting and create treatments, etc.

DAY 2 – CHALLENGES – This day was completely hands-on learning.  We were broken up into 3 teams, each team with 5 of us and two leaders (Stillmotion staff), our group was sooooo lucky, our leaders were Patrick (the creator of Stillmotion) and Jeremy (the audio expert). Patrick and Jeremy were with us 24/7 for the rest of the workshop. The challenges were broken up into three stations, audio, treatment and lighting.  Each team had an hour for each station and had to complete a challenge. In the end whoever got the most points received “money” to buy the equipment we were to use to film a promotional film for a local non-profit the next day. This entire day felt like we were on the show “Apprentice”, there was no stopping, not resting.

During the lighting challenge we had a “client” who was acting like a famous person (acted out by a Stillmotion staff) and we had to treat her like she was a real client, so as we were fumbling around to set up our interview lights, she was impatiently waiting in the other room and I had to calm her down and let her know we would be ready in a few moments.

During the treatment challenge, we had to meet with our “client” (a Stillmotion staff) and ask all the pertinent questions to figure out his vision for his film. So while me and one of my team members were meeting with him, the others were googling him and his fake company. All 3 teams submitted their treatment to him and he later chose the winning team based on who got his vision and created the best treatment.

After the challenge we found out who our real clients were going to be for the promo film we would shoot the next day. We literally had 30 minutes to research our client before they showed up at the studio for their meeting with us. We had to have our questions ready and have a legitimate meeting with them to find out their vision for their promo.  These were real non-profits that we would film their promo the next day. During this meeting and while shooitng the next day the non-profit had no idea that we were apprentices and assumed we were Stillmotion staff.  LOL

After our meeting with them we went to their place of business to scout the location and the rest of the day we created the treatment, the concept, the characters, called and met with potentenital  characters to be in the film, researched some more, we were literally on the phone and meeting with people associated with the company/film all day trying to create the story that would eventually be their film. During this time we literally did not stop to eat or even breathe, it was crazy, non-stop. We brainstomred and created a storyboard. By the end of the night (early morning) we finished our treatment and shot list and call sheet and were ready for the next day which was shooting the promo.

It was then I learned I would assume the Producer role. Others were assigned to Director, DP, grip, etc.

DAY 3 – FILMING DAY. We were up at the crack of down and headed to the locations. I was the Producer so I was in charge of all the logistics, keeping tabs on our characters, the timing, what the interviewees were wearing, making sure the director and dp and audio person had what they needed, etc. when lunch would arrive (they teased me later because I legitimately told them we don’t have time for lunch, we have to keep filming), filming wrapped around dinner time and headed back to the studio to start editing. We did this late in to the night, we were delirious around 1am and the Stillmotion teams forced us all into cars and vans and took us to play basketball, it was a total blast, they said we all needed a mental break and I couldn’t believe that we sitting there drinking beer at 2am at a random basketball court on a weeknight in Portland. Lol Back at the studio we took turns sleeping and editing because we knew the next day around noon the film needed to be finished.

DAY 4 – PRESENT FILM TO EVO, STILLMOTION AND CLIENT  We were up at the crack of dawn again after about 3 hours of sleep, we had the morning to finish editing, choose our song(s), and do all the finishing touches. We submitted our final product to the team and had 30 minutes to come with a proposal to basically “sell” our film to the other teams and explain to them the concept behind how and why we made the film.

Then we watched each of the teams finished films and we all literally cried and laughed with joy and as it felt like we literally just gave birth to a film. They handed our beers and cupcakes and Stillmotion staff voted on the best film and that team got first dibs on the door prizes. Our team won and I won a Manfratto monopod. Here is the film me and my team created from start to finish in less than 72 hours.

That evening we all headed to a catered dinner at a local bowling alley and ate, drank, played pool, bowled and just had a serious sigh of relief from the last few days that we endured. We invited our client to the festivities and we had the laptop with us so we showed them the film and we all cried again because she LOVED it and we were just so happy to give her an awesome film in literally 48 hours. The festivities continued to a local pub where we hung out late into the night. There were 8 of us in a small car (sitting on laps and one person was even in the truck part of the hatchback) cruising around town like crazy teenagers (mind you are all in our 30’s/40’s).The next day most of us flew home. As I drove from the hotel to the airport I made my friend stop at the studio so I could say goodbye one last time to my new friends/teammates and to thank the Sillmotion peeps for the craziest, longest, most amazing week of my life.

I walked away from the workshop learning soooo much, but these two things stood out of the most…

Story first – This was drilled into our heads all week, to this day, 2 years later, it’s the FIRST thing I think of when I am starting a new film…what’s the story?

Collaboration is key…Two or more heads is ALWAYS better than one. I LOVED collaborating and working with my team, and we were so lucky to have Patrick, the very mastermind behind Stillmotion as our leader.

This was hands down one of the coolest experiences of my life. I went into the workshop as a photographer thinking maybe video could enhance my photography business and walked away knowing without a shadow of a doubt that I wanted to pursue filmmaking.

To apply to be an attendeed for EVO, we had to submit a link our vimeo page and any videos we had made. I didnt have ANY…like I had literally NEVER made a film before attendign. So I literally filmed and edited a video that very day, it was a complete hot mess.  I will not ever shot that film to anyone, LOL.

I walked away from EVO with the confidence and knowledge I needed to pursue film. Since I came back home to Hawaii, I have made over 25 films, I have completely revamped my website to showcase video (no photography whatsoever) and have turned down all my photography clients and solely focused on film. I am totally starting from scratch again, but its all good because I know its what I am supposed to be doing.Basically to sum it all up….
$3500 for EVO + $1000 plane ticket + $1800 MacBook Pro (only had iMac and neeedd laptop for workshop) + 5 days of INSANITY = walking away with a newfound passion and the knowledge to pursue filmmaking….PRICELESS

I highly recommend you contact Stillmotion at Discovery@stillmotion.com and convince them to bring EVO to Hawaii.