The Idea
A week before I moved to New York I sold my Super 8 camera to a friend-of-a-friend, Maya. During this exchange, I was able to learn about her craft as a makeup artist. Of course, I have friends who do makeup, but the effort Maya put into creating content around her work was skillfully impressive. Considering my shift in focus onto more “fashion” related videos, I knew I had to work with her eventually.
Pitching the Idea/Planning
Fast forward a few weeks and I’m officially living in New York and staying updated with Maya’s inspiring work. I pitched to her the idea of possibly doing a video together and she was down. I had no idea when I was going to be back in California so I guess my goal of the pitch was to make the initial “speaking into existence” phase. Over long periods of time, we would revisit the conversation to discuss our ideas on how I wanted the video to look and how she wanted her makeup to look. Once we had a solid idea, I was able to finally start looking for the best time to fly out to Cali. Although months had passed, the passion still remained and I got a ticket. This boosted my morale for following through with the project as I was slowly becoming doubtful due to the distance and lack of time/money. Knowing I was going to be in CA within a month, we hit the drawing boards once again to revise our ideas.
Preparing for the Shoot
Prior to my flight back home, I picked up a Pro-mist filter from B&H to create a soft dreamy effect that I’ve been wanting to achieve. At the same time, I grabbed a cross-screen filter that produces a cool cross flare that I knew would look awesome on the face-piece that Maya had created for the video. Three other essentials were a box of matches that would eventually tie into the “conceptual” part of the video, a slider for one particular smooth shot that I had in mind (provided by Tommy Bui of Daily’s Workshop), and a white cloth to use as a backdrop (provided by my grandpa). Lastly, I wanted Maya to bring her personal camcorder to the shoot for B-roll as I wanted to give a nod to her personal style. Aside from gear, I also created a rough shot list on my plane ride to San Diego up until the hour before shooting.
The Shoot / Editing
On the day of the shoot, I hung the backdrop on a wall in my front yard, laid out my equipment on a table, and revised my shot list. Surprisingly, the shoot went extremely smooth. I went through my shot list and directed Maya and within 2 hours we were done. It was also pleasing to see the new gear I got being put to good use.
I was too excited to wait on editing so the same night I got to work. By the time the sun began to peak from the horizon, I was finished.
The Takeaway
It’s funny. The hardest part of the entire project was planning. It took months, but the shoot only lasted 2 hours. This was largely due to the fact that I was on the other side of the country. If I had still lived in San Diego then this project could have been done within a week. I guess this is proof of what can be done with an idea and communication. I’m proud that we were able to make this vision a reality. It’s rare that a shoot goes this smooth. Find the ‘MAYA’ video here and follow her Instagram here.