Two short films. Two amazing people I’d love for you to meet.
1. Soren. You know TV’s reality drama “The Deadliest Catch” about the world’s most dangerous profession. Well Soren Sorenson has lived that hardcore commercial fisherman’s life for 50 years, and he’s lived it without an ounce of bravado or showmanship, despite his record-breaking catches and the fact that 6 of his boats have ended up on the bottom of the ocean. Now at 72 years old, you can bet he’s seen a lot of change in his life.
2. Krishna. As the world “goes green” most of us are doing our part by finding recycling bins and seeking cars with better gas mileage. Krishna Nadella has taken on a bigger mission. Having emigrated from India to the US at 23 years old, and with inspiration from his grandmother’s primitive recycling efforts back home, he has set out to completely redefine what it means to recycle plastic–and it’s working. By intercepting millions of pounds of “trash” from our landfills and making plastics infinitely recyclable, he’s poised to change the world. By licensing a patent from a US University, and putting it to use for us all, he is one of the most innovative minds I’ve ever met.
Both these 4 minute documentaries are shorts in film series I’ve been commissioned to create for Russell Investments. I’m exploring topics… like Innovation and Change, as seen in these videos, but also ideas around Risk, Planning, and beyond. The rest of the films can be found here. Please check them out. My goal has been to make this series insightful and beautiful. I’d love to hear your thoughts below if any of this strikes a chord.
Chase.
Fantastic work. As someone that has been doing corporate video for over 5 years, I applaud the human element that you have brought into these videos. Something all commercial and corporate companies should use. I am curious if you will blog on the process. How much is done by you, an additional crew, rental gear and such. Also, is this HDSLR video, or Red?
Thank you again for sharing and moving the bar.
M.D.
Hey MD. we’ll likely be doing some more process vids on these, but until then, you can check out our first behind the scenes from this series here which outlines the equipment used and a few techniques.
http://blog.chasejarvis.com/blog/2010/03/chase-jarvis-raw-cameras-at-risk/
more to come…
Chase: I second the call for process vids! I also appreciate the time you put into talking with your readers about how you approach the videos, both technically and artistically. Thanks.
Chase + Team,
Well done. You guys have nailed these. I can watch these looking for cinematics, photography, audio or what have you and it looks awesome every way. Mostly though, these are nice to watch without thinking about anything and just getting the message/point of the video; which is probably the goal. It’s great work. Be proud. I know I’m jelly
David Dvir
Awesome, well done videos with interesting narrative! I like the quality of the video, the B&W option reminded me of art movies and the fact that there are no voiceovers. I will be watching these videos to learn more about your shooting technique, photography, lighting, framing, you and your crew are the best.
Visually, the videos are deep and rich, like pudding. Great use of music as well, I think. It must have been a LOT of work. Beautiful!
Chase, nice work, great mini-story, mini-documentary. Getting the point across, very cool.
You’re embedding from YouTube. What are the factors going into your decision to use YouTube, as opposed to other Video sharing sites? Will this play on an iPad, is it HTML5 based?
Thanks, great job.
The biggest factor going into our choice of YouTube, was really exposure. At the time when we had to choose it was much bigger than anything else out there. There was a time when we had to post some of the longer stuff on Vimeo, or Viddler, but eventually we became partners with YouTube, which gives us access to some longer run times, and larger file sizes.
YouTube converts all of the videos to H.264, and although the current main page does not show it [there is an HTML 5 Beta BTW] they make all of the content available to iPhone and iPad through the integrated YouTube App.
these are fantastic!
Great… !
Very stunning work. I absolutely love this series and have been stoked every time I see a new piece. Keep it up, it is work like this that will help expose the great people on this planet. Plus it motivates me to go out and do something creative. Thanks.
i only wish i had budget and time to do this for 100 more people… so many amazing stories, so little time.
chase, i was an extra in your short with soren , what an amazing man. i too wish you had the budget to do more of theese stories. i loved how you packaged his story. it was beautiful. you took me with you into his world and showed me his heart. beautiful work. you are an artist. again. i really hope to see more of your work. its really special how you tell stories.
Chase Jarvis Inc.
The Black and White conversion is splendid! Such beautiful footage, also the sound scoring is awesome. Really well done from the ground up. How long does it take you to find these great people? Not only do they have great stories to tell, they know how to tell them! These videos suggest to me that you acted more as “conduits” rather than “extractors”. Will there ever be a post on interaction tips? You’ve nailed it.
Best,
Will
The slowmo from the RED looks absolutely killer. There is just a clarity to it that isnt matched by the DSLR. Everything still looks super killer though thats for sure.
nice work the videos are killer.
great stories here, great editing, beautiful images.
Am I going to be the dissenting jerk by saying I dont care for the lighting or black/shadow compression on the 2nd video of the recycling?
The composition, audio, edit and flow are gorgeous, but the black compression and the lighting during his interviews I dont favor.
Nice work as always tho Chase and team.
naw man. all good. for sake of discussion, the interviews aren’t actually “lit”. they’re intentionally just as is. subject in the world and we’re chasing them around. i could see this stands out against our other “beauty” shots… and ya, youtube can really hammer the blacks.
I was curious if youtube compressed the piss out of the blacks, because they didnt look anything like your other videos toning.
Sweet job and thanks for sharing. Incredibly inspired and have a long weekend to do something with it!
very inspiring! keep up the good work…cheers:)
Absolutely beautiful, Chase.
I found the second one ver inspiring, and the black and white composition is beautiful.
Hi Chase,
great clips, I especially love the first, as it hits home with me personally.
I’m a Norwegian graphic designer living in London, my grandfather on my father’s side was a fisherman (as is my father and as was his father before him etc.) from the age of 14 until he was forced to retire in 1994 due to a heart condition, at the age of 65.
I have just finished writing and designing a short biography (98 pages) on him as my final project for my BA. During the course of my project, me and my grandfather spoke a lot about change and the differences between modern life (like my own) and his experiences. His story in many ways echo the words of Søren, especially on feeling the urge to go back to sea (even at his age of 81) and the change of having to adapt to a life on land. This was especially tough for him, since my grandfather did not himself choose to retire when he did.
For anyone interested, a short clip of the prototype of my book can be seen here: http://vimeo.com/11741924
-Kim A. Bøe
Great work! I absolutely love how you combine great thoughtful content and good-looking videos into one.
proving once again that there is always a different perspective on every project. you’ve taken what seems to have been done already and made it incredibly fresh, emotive and visually rich and stimulating. Love these.
real game changer here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=421jDx4ROZg
I loved the two videos, the people you choose were fascinating, I love the style as well, great job guys!
thanks for backing my picks! they truly are great peeps…
Chase,
I totally missed all the technical stuff and was into the stories, the lives of these people.
In hindsight I appreciate the b&w treatment and the natural light as a means to place the emphasis on the stories being told.
Cheers.
A fan of the whole series, been following these for a while, glad to see two more. I especially love this style of documentary, it shows the dedication of the interviewer, film crew and especially the editor to make a story flow by only using the subject as the narrator…I am not a fan of a narrator, a faceless voice, detached from the story interrupting the piece to connect the dots when the subject is far more qualified to do so. It does take commitment, though, to make it work without a narrator…that’s I think why I prefer it.
Question, I’ve seen a few videos like this other than yours, do you think this style of corporate vid will become (if it hasn’t already), the convention, and thus need a new boost of video production innovation? What do you think the new wave might be?
it will only require a new “convention” if people decide to decide to sink the resources and dig deeper than the surface. like within the context of a ‘brand” few companies are willing to take these long views that build brand…most are to focused on the next sale. my gut tells me the trend will continue to follow this. few people rising, many hovering, some falling….
uhh I love camera work in fisherman’s story
Soren is my neighbor and friend. I was impressed with the work you did in
getting him to reveal parts of his life and his feelings about the huge change
in walking away from what was an essential part of his life. I have a ninety
year old aunt whom I would like to memorialize with a DVD. She has a very
good memory would make a terrific subject in a project as you carried out.
Do you have suggestions as to how I can get you or someone else to produce
such a recording? Or at least something close to it?
Awesome films:) Love the black and white.
And where in Norway did you shoot the first video?
I am not very fantastic with English but I come up this real easy to translate.