Weekly Recap #12: "Teamwork & owning your role"
These "weekly" recaps aren't happening as frequently lately, but I'm still committed to making them when I have a moment. I've had a rather intense past month of music video production planning, casting, scouting and shooting with a few more weeks of it ahead, but it's been some of the best projects I've been a part of in years. It's made me pause & reflect on what Pete & I have been putting together for the past year, and what we've both been working toward for over a decade.
So many super hero/super group movies are being made right now from the Avengers to Justice league, but even the most recent Thor movie puts together a team jokingly referred to in the film as "The Revengers". But the keywords here are "team" and "group". What I'm noticing more and more as I get older is how rarely anything great happens by doing it on your own. It's the people that you surround yourself with and team up together with that allow you to achieve things far greater than you could doing it solo.
I've noticed this pattern along the way with being in a band, and how it takes a very unique group of people to be able to both make music and perform it on stage, and also be able to not kill each other on tour. I've noticed it as a cyclist and how a solid team can work together to help another team mate win a race or race series. Ive seen it as a teacher & how you can work with other teachers to change the way a student with a bad work ethic learns or communicates their ideas, and guide them to learning how to become more efficient and self motivated. And I've noticed it in my greatest accomplishments as a husband and a father and being part of that family unit. It's been such a blessing to have a wife that understands me & allows me and all my crazy creativity to grow in my career while managing so much at home when I'm away. It's truly is an amazing thing to be a part of a team.
In my career I've done a large majority of my work solo, or in small 2-3 person groups. I'm still working in that realm today and probably will a lot in the future, but as I'm digging more and more into the film making industry it's crazy to realize what all the roles listed on the credits of a film actually mean. This past week Pete & I took on a music video production that simply could not be pulled off with only a 2 man team. We still managed to do it with smaller numbers, but the bigger our projects get, the more you realize how vital it is that everyone owns their roles & carries their weight. It was a HUGE help to be able to call on one of my best friends from high school, Ben Peters, & to my buddy Noah Johansen, who is quickly becoming one of my most dependable assistants. Without those two guys on set this week the video doesn't happen. We definitely will have more to share about our most recent production soon, but I don't want to spoil it.
I want to give a special shout-out to my buddy Daniel Tyack and his amazing talents. Working with him to create sets this week and planning with him the past month has been something that I've dreamed of doing for a while. Daniel is such a versatile creative and an amazing dad & I really appreciate time spent with him and hope he can become a more frequent part of the creative team we are building at Epik Films. This man can be a carpenter, electrician, leather maker, painter, idea guy, whatever you wish really... he's basically like a Swiss Army knife with a beard. Definitely need to get Daniel scheduled for a Creative Dad interview too!
It's been fun developing my current role at Epik Films as "Creative Director". One thing my wife had to learn really quick in our marriage was how to filter my ideas. My brain is constantly turning and coming up with new ideas and she knows now that sometimes I just need to talk about them so I can work through the good ones and the bad ones. I was never diagnosed as a kid, but I most likely have some form of ADD, and I'm already seeing that my kids definitely have some of that same energy, and creativity I had when I was younger and still operate on today.
As a father it's going to be my job to know my children, their likes and dislikes and help guide them as they try to develop their interests into careers. I feel that all my life my crazy creativity and energy has been leading me toward this role of being a creative director. Having the opportunity to come up with ideas for music videos basically encapsulates everything that I love in one job role. I absolutely LOVE music, and I am a HUGE fan of films and coming up with ideas on how to interpret songs and tell a story with them is a marriage of creativity that I could only dream of. The planning process of what locations we'll use, casting, costuming, set building, lighting & special effects is something that my creative mind thrives on. Hopefully by next week I'll be able to share the beginnings of what those sort of productions are going to start looking like more often. I can tell you that I've had a taste of what that's like with this last production and I'm definitely hungry for more. If you're an artist and want a team to work with you on your own crazy ideas, we just might be the team you're looking for.
Speaking of our team, this is the current line-up at Epik films:
You can keep up with all that we're doing & check out our music video specific site at www.radmusicvideos.com
