How to Craft Real Stories with Great Interviews: Featuring the Kaléo 2015 Film

https://vimeo.com/127073088 This week I got asked a question from Alyssa, "Levi, I am just starting out with filmmaking and I wanted to learn how to conduct interviews, could you share some of your tips?"

I just created a film that was heavily driven by interviews (as seen above).  I thought it would be an excellent opportunity use this piece as a case study of sorts as I talk about my interview process. My goal in this post is to teach you how to go about creating better interviews for your next film! First I will share my approach to interviews, and then share some behind the scenes info on this Kaleo film.

How to Craft Real Life Stories with Great Interviews

This post is going to help you learn how to capture better real life stories. I am going to push into an important component of how I approach storytelling, getting great interviews with ordinary people.

Interviews as the Backbone of Story

The filmmaking style I am developing definitely relies heavily on using interviews to convey the story. In most cases I find that I am interviewing people who have sometimes never been on camera before in their entire life. But I have learned a few tricks to make the whole process a lot more natural and comfortable for everyone involved.

Once I have captured the interview I eventually end up cutting out the main best bits of their talking and using this audio drive a visual story. I don't include the audio of my questions being asked, I only use the visual and audio of the subject.

The Preparation

The nature of the interviews I normally conduct, do not allow for a whole lot of pre-production. If you are interviewing a public figure or an artist, you need to do your homework and study up on the subject. Yet most of the time you might be interviewing someone who has nothing about them on the internet. In this case there is not much that you will have prepared going into the interview. What I normally do for every interview anyhow, is sit down on my own before hand with a piece of paper and sketch down some thoughts or ideas I would like to cover. I don't use this as a formula I have to follow, rather just as an idea sheet for those moments in the interview where I feel stuck and don't know where to go. I find this small bit of prep helps a lot and makes me feel a lot less panicked about what I need to cover.

Learn About the Subject

Do you know much about subject you are going to be talking about with the person? If not you should definitely spend some time learning about the subject, are you going to talk about this persons massive Star Wars collection? Well then, you should probably know a thing or two ahead of time about Star Wars.

Chose a Location that is Distraction Free and Comfortable

Your goal as the interviewer is to get your subject into the most comfortable and natural state as possible. You want to get them talking as if  they were in a conversation with an age-old friend. This is hard to do in a location with lots of distractions or unwanted interruptions. I ask them to sit on the edge of the chair so they their body position naturally seems more interested in what they are talking about. This way they don't slouch their shoulders and lean back in the chair as well.

The Technical Gear

This could be an entire post in and of itself, but I will give a few tips that I use. When setting up your angle, try to have the camera at eye level with the subject or a little bit above. My goal with angles and lens choice, is to make it feel as if the viewer is sitting there with the subject. Use good composition and have the subject look slightly to either side of the camera. Having them look to the long side of the frame (as shown bellow) helps create a far more natural feel. You can get stylistic here if you are trying to convey a certain feeling, but this is usually my starting place with single camera interviews.

Don't Slack on the Audio

The biggest part of what will drive this interview is good clear audio. I use a wired lav connected to a Zoom H1 to  record my audio. It is strongly recommended to have two sources of audio such as a shotgun mic and Lav, but I currently have not invested in this. When setting audio levels I usually tend to get a conversation going with the subject trying to make them feel comfortable. I don't even let them know I am setting levels, I just try get them to talk about themselves or where they are from. While they are talking try set your levels and leave a little room so if they get excited it won't peak the audio

 

The Most Important Part: The Interview Itself

In order to conduct a great interview, you need to be a well-practiced conversationalist. This is by far the most important part of getting consistent results from a wide variety of people. Your goal is to get them comfortable and forget entirely that they are on camera. Most people are super nervous about the whole process and the quicker you can get them comfortable, the quicker you are going to start getting the audio bits you actually want to use. When first sitting down I tend to explain how the interview process will go, "It's going to be just like a conversation, don't worry about the camera, you can talk directly to me." I sometimes explain as well that I would like to have them include the question in their answer. For example, Q: "How do you like being interviewed?" A: "I really enjoy being interviewed."

Instead of

Q: "How do you like being interviewed?" A: "I really enjoy it."

You must be a fantastic listener

Once the interview starts and the technical components are rolling, your full-time job is being a fantastic listener. You need to make them feel as though you care immensely about what they are saying. You need to ask great questions that build off what they just said. You should ask questions that make them think, "Man i've never thought about that before."

The moment you look down at your paper for your next question, you have pretty much lost them.

This is so challenging, but you need to keep eye contact with them and avoid being distracted yourself. You can look at your questions from time-to-time, but if the interviewer starts to feel like you are following a script, you will get results as if you were following a script; forced and unnatural.

Editing Together your Interviews in Post

This step is incredibly important as well. Important enough that I decided to make an entire blog post about it next week. If you are not apart of the Leftcoast Collective already I strongly recommend getting on board so you can find out when my latest posts are released, you also get a free ebook which is pretty cool.

Some Behind the Scenes Info For the Kaléo Film

The Purpose of the film: This is a film that I created to document and share the story of an eight month leadership program on Vancouver island. This piece was driven by interviews that I conducted with ordinary people who had never been in front of a camera before. The format is a little long as it was not necessarily made to be viewed online.

The Filming Process: I gathered my footage throughout the year whenever I had the chance. My primary job was as a leader on the trips, so filming definitely was not a priority. For this reason my kit was usually really light. I rocked a top loading Tamrac bag so I could pull out a camera at any time and film. Using the Rode Video Mic Pro for Audio I shot primarily handheld or with my homemade stabilizer using mostly the Tokina 11-16 or my Rokinon 35mm f1.4

The interview shots were all done with my sigma 50mm 1.4

The Editing: I edited this piece in the few days coming up before their graduation. From the start of the editing to the time it was screened, I had just under a total of  36 hours. I cut all the interview selects, and then started to piece together a storyline. Then I went through and cut all my favourite BRoll and started adding that in over top.

The Grading: I only invested about an hour into grading as that was the only time I had. I did a basic color grade through lightroom using VSCO. I am not to happy with a few of the shots, but most of it turned out just fine.

All in all the project was heaps of fun. I always wish I had more time to edit, but It was literally right down to the deadline on this one. I literal just finished encoding the project 5 minutes before the grad ceremony started.

Woah, this ended up being a bit of a wordy post. I hope you got some value from it. As always if you have any questions connect with my on social media, or join the Leftcoast Collective and send me an email directly!

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Written by: Levi Allen

Levi Allen

Behind the Scenes Video of Mountain Bike Film: Freedom 🎬

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https://youtu.be/FswOFko8cx4 Three weeks ago I released a biking film that I was super excited about. Turns out, a lot of others ended up being excited about it as well. It's been great to see it gather over 20 thousand views across Vimeo and Pinkbike.com in the past two weeks.

If you have not seen it yet you can view it here: http://Left.ly/freedom

As more and more people watched it, more and more questions poured in about the process of making it. Instead of just replying in the emails, I thought it would be great to create a behind the scenes video that showed some footage of making it, and also answer some questions.

In this Video I cover several things:

  • I talk about the equipment used
  • Sharing about the shooting process
  • Giving a look at what it's like to shoot outdoors
  • The editing process
  • How I use Warp Stabalizer
  • The flow of my editing

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I love getting questions in from you guys about what you want to learn. Seriously anything. Join the Leftcoast Collective and you can send me an email, I will get every single question that I get. If you have time, I would love if you shared this article with a friend, help spread the Leftcoast Love!

I hope you enjoyed this Behind the Scenes Video! I share new content every Thursday.

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I have made this guide available to all current and future subscribers of the Leftcoast Collective. If you would like to receive a copy of it directly join the Leftcoast Collective bellow. I will continue to send free great content every Thursday and you can unsubscribe at any time. [yks-mailchimp-list id="e34efe9754" submit_text="SEND ME THE FREE EBOOK!"]

 

Written by: Levi Allen

Levi Allen

New Free Guide: Levi Allen's Tool Box

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LeviAllensToolBox_social  

I Love the Productive Edge

I am a huge fan of tools that help me gain a productive edge and work more efficiently at what I love to do. For me I find the right tools can help me spend more time on the right things, and focus more energy on actually creating.

Sharing the Tools that Others Share With Me

I get asked often which software I use for certain things, and which plugins are my favorite. I love answering this questions, but I don't want that information to be limited to just the email replies I send, so I decided to create and entire guide. This week I am launching for the first time a guide on all the tools I use daily on my computer. These are the tools that I simply cannot do without. I am a Mac user, and so this is primarily a guide for other Mac users as well.

Get a Free Ebook

Download the Free Guide

I have made this guide available to all current and future subscribers of the Leftcoast Collective. If you would like to receive a copy of it directly join the Leftcoast Collective bellow. I will continue to send free great content every Thursday and you can unsubscribe at any time.

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What Tools are Your Favorite?

I love meeting other Mac Power Users because they always have some awesome tips that I knew nothing about. What are some of your favorite tools? Connect with me on facebook or twitter, I would love to hear from you!

 

Video: Finding Two Wheeled Freedom in the Cowichan Valley

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https://vimeo.com/124455320

The piece was shot with my trusty Canon 60d. The lenses were 35mm, 50mm, 85mm, and 11-16mm.

 UPDATE:

I made a behind the scenes video about the making of for this project, you can find it at the bottom of this post.

Where the Project Started

I have been living in one of the most beautiful places in BC for the past three years. That’s right, i’m claiming it as an absolute gem on Vancouver island. It’s called the Cowichan Valley and it is an amazing place of rolling hills, mountain peaks and ocean views. I've been inspired by the landscape ever since first stepping foot here.

I am moving off the island in just under a month and really wanted to create a short biking film as a tribute of sorts to my home of the past three years. Not knowing many riders in the area I sent out a text or two and eventually got in in touch with two racers in the area, Trevor Thew and Nic Rodgers.

Better Camera Movement

Strong camera direction and excellent framing is something I wanted to be very prevalent in this piece. Focusing on framing some really beautiful shots and having the whole edit move with a cinematic feel. I came into the project hoping to grow in my composition and also sharpen my eye for lens choice.

I wanted to chose every lens and angle for a reason, not just because it was the lens I already had on.

The choice was made to stay away from shooting everything on my homemade steadicam as I usually do in action sports sequences. Instead relying heavily on my Tripod and my Kessler Crane Pocket Dolly. I also avoided slo-mo for the entire piece, I wanted it to feel and look fast.

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Locations Picked and it Was Time to Shoot

After some text’s back and forth we decided to try film during two mornings at the end of the week. We wanted great soft light, so we shot as early as we could in the day and ended both days when the light got too blown out.

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The riders had a big say in the trails they wanted to shoot on, we tried our best not to re-shoot sections that have been heavily filmed before. When we begun the shooting the first day I definitely had to dig deep for all the hiking. Yeah yeah, embarrassing to say, but I definitely sill had my out of shape winter legs, and each step that first day was hard earned. All in all I was carrying around 50lbs of awkward gear in between shots. I definitely learned that a carbon fibre tripod is something worth investing in soon. I also decided not to cary as much gear in my backpack next time, only the stuff I knew was needed or helpful.

Why did I think I needed my chargers along?

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Shooting on the first day went really well, initially being super excited with the results, I knew we would have a decent video on our hands. That’s always a good feeling to have.

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The piece was shot with my trust Canon 60d. The lenses were 35mm, 50mm, 85mm, and 11-16mm.

Recently I purchased the 3 foot Pocket Dolly from a friend, and it really does not work very well just centre mounted on one tripod. I brought two tripods with me to keep the slider steady.

Second Day of Shooting

A great friend of mine Jeremy came along with me the second day helping take pictures, shooting behind the scenes video, and carrying gear where he could. It was a huge help having someone else along to assist with carrying things in between shots and I was really thankful for getting some behind the scenes footage.

That Stereo Audio

Audio often gets neglected when I am in the rush of shooting outdoor pieces. This time I knew for sure that getting some stereo sound of the bikers riding by the camera was a high priority. I wanted to use the audio to help tie the edit together and bring a more immersive feel to the edit.

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Using a Zoom h1 and wired directly into the camera, I ran Magic Lantern on my 60d to help monitor and adjust the audio. I used this shock mount I had bought off amazon a few years ago to try minimize the amount of sound that would enter into the mic from camera movement; it worked really really well. In the future I want to spend more time EQ’ing the audio in post, but for this piece I just boosted the gain for most of the shots and then left them as is.

You Should Edit Your Footage as Soon as Possible

The piece was cut in premiere-pro right after shooting it. It is a joy cutting the material fresh after shooting it, I find it saves a lot of time as I am really familiar with what was shot and can usually remember which takes were good, and which ones are bad. I then sat on it for a day or two.

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When I came back I began to cut even more aggressively. I wanted to cut anything that wasn't well shot. Deciding not to include any shot just for coverage sake. In this second pass I got the edit down from 6 minutes to 2:30! I also spent a half hour or so 3d compositing my tree logo into one of my slider shots. I wanted a simple intro with no text. The desire was to communicate my brand, but not in an obtrusive and in your face type of way.

Screenshot 2015-04-08 20.27.01

The next couple days when there was time I continued to fine tune the edit and focus in on the details. In this piece I added Warp Stabilizer to about 80% of the shots. Setting it at about 12–22% and let it just do micro adjustments. This really helped make my smooth slider movements even smoother. Lots of my slider shots had focus pulls during the slider moves. This worked well, but I would occasionally wiggle or bump a little, warp stabilizer helped get rid of all of this.

Grading the Film in Lightroom

In this video I tried something I had never done before. After the edit was done, I imported all of my footage into Lightroom and applied a preset I had made based on one of the VSCO presets I bought. I love the look of these presets and I wanted to try it out on this piece. I made small white balance and exposure adjustments and then exported all the clips to a new folder. After I exported all the clips I re-linked the media in premiere to this new folder and now all my footage had the grade I had made in Lightroom.

Screenshot 2015-04-08 20.56.45

Some of the other finishing touches I added was film grain, and a 1920x808 aspect ratio. I shot the piece framing for cinescope and so I felt that this aspect ratio really helped give the piece a solid feel.

All in all I was pretty stoked with how the piece turned out. It definitely has the best camera movement for any biking piece I have shot. I grew from making this piece and I am really excited for what I am going to make next! If you have any questions feel free to get in touch with me through the contact form and I would love to answer them! Join the Leftcoast Collective and gain exclusive access to all of the content I create.

UPDATE: Full Behind the Scenes Video Released

https://youtu.be/FswOFko8cx4

If you want to follow more BTS content, join the Leftcoast Collective or subscribe on YouTube

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MENTIONS: Huge shout out and thank you to Jeremy Fehr for taking all the BTS photos. You can find his instagram here.

The Best Thing You Can Do When Starting Out: Work for Someone Else

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Working With Others Three years ago I sent out over 50 emails in the span of two weeks trying to find opportunities for filmmaking. I got only a few replies, but that was all I needed. One month later I was on a flight across the country to film at a biking festival in Colorado. I only got paid for food and travel, but I wouldn't trade that experience for anything. For that week I got to shadow and work alongside a professional filmmaker. It was an awesome week because I learned so much.

Even though that was three years ago, I am once again choosing to work for someone else because I see it as the next best step forward. I have made this choice because for me I believe it’s the best one, even though it doesn’t have the best short term financial pay off. I am convinced this is going to be the wisest choice in the long run.

How Do I Make Better Videos Levi?

I get asked this question a lot. I often feel as though I don’t know all the answers, but one thing I know one thing for sure, working with other people helps you grow in immeasurable ways.

What are your goals? What stage of the game are you in? Are you struggling to find opportunities to get paid making what you love? How about trying to start your own production company? Are you having a hard time getting connected with others in the industry? You may have the skills to pull something off, yet you are struggling to have everything align to make it work. I am in some of these positions too, and that is why I am going to talk about five important reasons why working with others is a great idea.

What do you mean work for someone else?

What I mean is the large variety of ways you can find yourself working for, or with other people. This can be as an employee, as a friend, as an intern, or as a collaborator on a project.

My big push is that you need to find other people in your industry to learn from. You need to surround yourself with people that are better than you.

I am going to tell you why this should empower you to reach your goals and not make you feel insecure about your abilities.

Working with others is great because…

1. There Are Many Things the Internet Cannot Teach You

Yes, I am calling us out as the generation that has been taught by YouTube. I love learning from the internet, but there are many things the internet is missing. Hands on experience is a must for actually growing your skills. Working with others gives you an opportunity to learn directly from them and see first hand how they work. You have an opportunity to get real time feedback from those right around you. Having someone right there to meet you where you're at and guide your improvement is so crucial.

shooting with Transposition
That is myself on the left shooting with Josh Knepper from Transposition Films on the set of a music video for Trope

 You also get the amazing opportunity to learn how to use equipment you don't have yet. This is huge for someone starting out. It's not about going fan girl over the equipment of your dreams, it's about actually getting experience with the tools of professionals. You can often get distracted with all the things you want to buy and not spend enough time making stuff. Working with others helps you make more stuff.

Freelancing and starting your own business does not exist in a vacuum. You need to interact and work with real people if you are going to make films. You cannot just relate on the internet. Extravert or Introvert, if you want to make it in an industry, you better start working on your interactions with real life people.

2. Other Perspectives Have Immense Value

Even if you feel that you know quite a bit about your field, there is so much you can learn from another person's perspective and process. I love how each individual has there own way of seeing and going about things. The way you experience and think about life might sometimes seem like the only way, and the best way. Working around others helps to show you that the perspectives that others can add are really valuable. Sometimes you might observe things that you disagree with; this is okay and it will help shape the way you operate on your values.

3. You Don’t Have to Be a Leech

Learning from experts in your field is one of the best ways to grow quickly at what you do. Yet how many times do you think so and so expert in you area gets the question,

“Hey can we meet for coffee? I would love to learn from you.”

I admit, I have done this often as well. However I now know there is a way more effective way to do this. Seek an opportunity to work with or under them on a project. They are not just going to ask for your help because they think you are special. You need to seek it out, make your face known to them, give them a reason to remember you, and then fight for an opportunity to work with them on a project.

At this point, who cares how much you are making. It is about the learning opportunity. When you are working with them, it creates a far better space for asking them questions about how they do what they do. It creates more of a give and take. You don’t have to be a leech.

4. You Can Develop Real Connections, Not Just a Network Tool

So many people are just trying to use others as a pawn in their game of winning success. When you work for and with someone else, it gives you the time to actually build a real relationship with them. It doesn’t have to be about using others for your gain. It can then be about growing together and enjoying community, something far more fulfilling than monetary success.

Working with people in real life helps create connections and not just a network. The other people in your industry do not have to be seen as competition.

You don’t have to despise those who do the same things as you. Why not work together and help each other along so you can both succeed? Having others around that you can lend a hand to, and who are willing to lend a hand to you when times get tough, are crucial to staying afloat while building your own business.

5. Getting to the Finish Line on Your Own is No Fun

Reaching your life goals on your own is no fun. Putting in all of that hard work, all of those long nights and weeks, pushing through all those struggles while seeking a victory, only to get to the finish line by yourself. It is far better to have people to celebrate with when you achieve things in your life. You don’t have to be a Lone Ranger. I sometimes think we prioritize monetary gains far above relationships with people. I think when we do this we are missing the point. Life is better when it is lived alongside others.

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So There are Five Reasons, But You Need a Plan

Okay, maybe I have been able to convince you that working with others is a great idea, but here is the catch–you need to be smart about it.

This isn’t about jumping at the first opportunity that opens up. You really want to look for a good fit, hopefully with a leader in your industry. You need to have a plan. Everyone is at a different stage of growth: some are just learning how to hit record, while others can pull off full productions no sweat.

Be intentional about who you work with. Find great people that are actually good at doing their craft. Find people whose values line up with yours who you can build strong relationships with.

Don’t just work for anyone.

If you are working with others for a day, or for a few months, you should have a plan. How long are you going to work with them? When are you going to re-evaluate? Making a plan helps you utilize your time well. Be open and honest about your intentions, rather than vague and elusive. Tell others that you are hoping to learn and get to know people.

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The Story Behind My Film, Adventures Sailing Tall Ships

The Story Behind Sailing Video
I love it when the creative process flows naturally out of human experience and community with others. Three years ago I shot a short film about a sailing trip I went on.

I had no plan right from the start, no agenda, simply living adventure and going from there.

The trip was this crazy opportunity to sail for 5 days with some of my closest friends aboard the Pacific Grace, a 138’ gaff rigged schooner run by a sail training organization called SALTS. My inspiration to capture our experience first came from walking down the dock towards the boat, I was walking with my buddy at the time and I knew this was one of those trips that I should start filming. I stopped on the dock while pulling out my camera and just started filming what was happening. “Where are we and what are we doing?” I asked my friend with excitement. Everything just unfolded from there.

You can view more of my films on Vimeo

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I Fell in Love With Sailing

I love this film. Not because it is perfect, not because the story is fantastic, but purely because of the memories that go alone with the adventure. I am so thankful to have moments of it captured and now I can experience it again and again. In this post I wanted to share a bit of the story behind the piece and maybe shed a little more light on the project.

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Working Within Limitations

I initially thought I had a lot of limitations with this project. It was challenging get any angles showing the larger perspective of the boat as it sailed through the water. Yet even though there were challenges, like breaking one of my main lenses on the trip, I have learned to love limitations because it forces you to adapt and overcome—initially what is seemingly a disadvantage, under the right light can work out to be your greatest advantage.

As our trip progressed I loved the movement of everyone working as a team to operate this whole boat. Every person on board working in unison under the guidance of the skipper to raise and handle sails. The collision of human hands working the skillfully crafted rigging of the ship was fascinating. Every nook of the boat, every rope, every sail, every time we hauled and lowered, all a fascinating movement of hands and boat.

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 You Grow By Doing

This is another one of my films that once I was done, I wished there was many things I had done better. This can be frustrating at times, you create something you care about, only to wish the results could have been better. However I never would have found out those things I wish I had done better if I had not attempted to make something at all. If I want to keep improving I am going to have to keep making things and that is that.

My level of production is reaching a point that I am becoming satisfied with, but I know I have a long way to go with storytelling. I want to make videos that captivate people, and I know I have a lot yet to learn.

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Something Much More Beautiful Than a Boat

At the beginning what I had thought most fascinating was the boat we were sailing on, yet when it came time for our trip to disembark I knew something much greater had been happening through the community aboard. The beautiful unison and harmony of a team of people working together, working for a common goal on this journey together.

Shared experience are a powerful thing and there is something priceless about memories you shared with others that you will take with you for a life time.

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Should I be filming or living in the moment?

One of the challenges I faced was the balance between capturing and just living in the moment. Should I capture this or just experience it. There were many moments that we experienced together when no camera was rolling, and no pictures were taken. The moment came and went, and is now just for us to experience in our memories.

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The Beauty When Something Connects

When I was finished the project I wasn’t even sure what I was going to do with it. I ended up releasing it online and sharing with some who i knew loved sailing. So many others who had fallen in love with sailing were moved by the piece and messages of poured in. Sharing of the times they went sailing, and the many days they had spent at sea with friends.

A story about a bunch of friends going sailing brought some to tears.

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How is a response like this possible I wondered? I didn’t do a very good job telling an inspiring story, yet somehow it connected with people. The response to the film moved me greatly as an aspiring filmmaker. As a teenager I realized maybe there is value in sharing my voice. Drawing others into the world in the way that I see it, sharing stories that I love and desire to capture. This film and especially the response to it, has impacted the rest of my life as a creative, as someone who makes things. 7828_Kaleo2015_SALTS

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You won't want to miss it, it is a packed full guide of my favourite computer tools, apps and plugins. Join the Leftcoast Collective and I will send it straight to you. I will also send free great content directly to you every Thursday, big things are coming that you don't want to miss. [yks-mailchimp-list id="e34efe9754" submit_text="SEND ME THE FREE EBOOK!"]

 

 

21 Things I've Learned

Twenty one things, Levi VanderKwaak has Learned
Twenty one things, Levi VanderKwaak has Learned

This past year has been one of my favourite years of life so far. I feel like I say that every year, but I just can’t stop being excited for all the things I have been learning and all the ways I have been growing this year. I turned 21 last week, and I thought it would be a great exercise to write down some of the most important things that I have learned so far in my life.

Year 21 of my life is the year for writing. I am going to be fighting to write every single day this year. What better way to start off this year than by writing a huge blog post about things I’ve learned. I don’t expect many of you to read the whole post, but I hope that as you scan certain lessons that I’ve learned will grab your attention.

Levi Allen VanderKwaak Has Learned 21 Things
Levi Allen VanderKwaak Has Learned 21 Things

1. Never Let School Interfere With Your Education

This has been my banner for life for the past 12 years. The phrase is a little reckless and has just the right amount of rebellion to make me love it. It was taught to me by my first mentor in life, Jeff, who instructed me, cared for me, and treated nine-year-old Levi like an individual.

School built around a system that rewards you for following the "map" well has never really been my thing. I never got a pat on my back for doing things the same ways as others, I never got applauded for mastering the formula. I dreaded School. Sitting in those concrete classrooms made me feel like I was a failure. This was only to be echoed through every report card I have ever received, which stated how I “wasn’t reaching my potential,” and how “Levi needs to focus more in class.”

I love learning.

Despite the crushing walls of school, I found energy and joy in the world outside. Most of all, I found a passion for learning. I’ve decided never to let school or the systems of life to interfere with my education. I am committed to being a life long learner. Despite struggling with the systems surrounding formal education, I am forever indebted to the teachers through the years that really took the time to invest in me as a person. I cannot thank these adults for the impact they have had in my life enough.

2. You Don’t Need Inspiration to Start

You know those times when you are having a hard time starting and you feel like watching one more video or browsing one more gallery on instagram is going to inspire you enough to keep going on your next big project? I have found that searching for inspiration when I should be starting actually makes it harder for me to start. I end up feeling like my ideas are no good and my project will never work out.

There comes a time when you need to stop the intake of so called inspiration and simply start creating from what is already inside of yourself. I have been learning to use my own perspective, the self-generated ideas that I bring to the table, and letting that be enough.

3. Find Your Confidence in a Willingness to Find Out

I used to think that confidence was best found by becoming competent in everything. With this mindset, my failures would lead to a lack of self-confidence. Instead of embracing my weaknesses, I believed that I needed to get better at everything. I used to find my confidence in skills, talents and the ability to be good at things. I have learned now that confidence is far more healthy and successful in the long run when it is rooted in a ‘willingness to find out.’ You don’t have to know everything, but if you are committed to 'finding out' solutions when you come upon problems, if you you willing to fix things that break, now that is a confidence that can be built upon and carried with you.

4. You Can Expand the Boundaries of Your Story

There are things about myself that I used to think were set in stone that are actually far more malleable than I thought. I used to say, “Nah, I can’t get up early every morning, I’m a night owl.” I decided that staying up late was my story and I wasn’t willing to do the hard work to change that pattern. Once I realized that I was self-defining things in my life that I was actually able to change, I began to re-write parts of my story. As a result, I have been able to change certain components of myself that I thought were just part of who I am. This applies to more than just the time I go to bed. I used to think I was a terrible listener and that would never get better, yet with hard work my listening skills have been improving drastically. There are some things like your height that you have no control over and maybe some things about yourself that you are never meant to change, but I have found that you can grow a lot more than I ever would have thought when you stop enforcing boundaries on your story.

5. You Become Who You are Around

I am so independent and headstrong that I used to think that other people didn’t influence me at all. To my surprise, I have found that I slowly become like the people I surround myself with. There are people with negative mindsets and those with positive mindsets that I can be influenced by, and I have learned that this is actually a choice that I get to make.

Who do you spend your time with? You will become like them before long. I have realized now that life is far too short to spend all your time with people that you don’t want to be like. Your mindset and outlook on life is influenced far greater by those you spend time with than you might first think. Filling your life with people that have good values and a positive outlook on life is so important. People that will build you up instead of tearing you down.

6. I Hate Debt and It Took Getting It to Know That

I don’t have much debt, honestly. But I hate it.

In high school I invested almost all of my money into camera equipment and computers because I was planning on starting a business in the film industry. That’s not a big problem. The problem is that instead of starting a business right away, I ended up studying for a year and I chose to borrow money from the government to make it happen. It was so easy. Just like that I signed up. Now three years after borrowing that money, I resent it. I wish I hadn’t. I wish I had sold whatever it took to have the money or found another way to make it work.

Debt is a choice.

No one is forcing you to take on debt that you don’t want. Yet once you do it's like being a slave. I don’t want to be owned by anything except that which is worth being owned by. I have decided in my life that being owned by a bank is just one of those things that is not worth it. For me, that means no flashy cars off the lot, no new camera equipment on a credit card, not even more education at this point. I don’t think the price of dept is worth it. The burden it has placed on my mind is like a dark cloud looming over every financial decision I make: “But what about your debt?” I want to be debt free, and age 21 is the year it’s going to happen.

7. Have a Wide Range of Influences

Anyone will tell you getting all of your advice from one source is a bad idea. I have learned that getting all your inspiration from one area is bad as well. It’s not good to only consume media content from your industry and your field. Who would have known that one of the biggest influencers on my approach to business and creativity would be a Hand Letterer! What even is a hand letterer? Earlier this year, I certainly did not know.

Yet getting inspiration from this source and many others has helped me build a reservoir of good advice and inspiration that will continue to fuel me for years to come. Try tap into many different fields and industries, especially if you are a content creator. If you only listen to one or two sources, before long all of your work will be but a clone and that is certainly something you want to avoid.

8. If the Door is Closed, Check the Window

Sometimes a door closes on an opportunity that you really wanted to pursue. I have learned that sometimes we shouldn’t give up on a good opportunity as fast as we do. Sure the door is closed, but did you check for a window?

It does us no use in life if we give up every time the path gets tough. Too often, as soon as obstacles are in our way we think it must not have been meant to happen. If there is something I am pursuing and it feels like a door has closed, I have decided to always check to see if there is another way. Might there be an open window?

9. Always Assume the Best

Sometimes people in life are malicious, they are mean, they have no care for others. I have found that these people are definitely the minority. It does us much better to assume the best from others that we meet and interact with. It shows them respect and can even catch them off guard. It can be so stressful to think that everyone who says or does something that rubs us the wrong way is just out to hurt us. So often that is not their intent at all. We can be free of so much negativity if we assume the best from those we meet in life. Sure, we will be wrong at times, but we will experience something far more satisfying the other 90% of the time.

10. Confrontation vs. Clarification

There is no hiding that I am a confrontational person. Anyone who knows me is well aware that I can engage in swift discourse on almost any matter. I am actively trying to move away from this type of mindset and interactions with those in my life.

Sometimes it feels so justified to be confrontational with people. It feels so right. Yet this is rarely the case, and it is almost always followed by regret later on.

I have been learning that seeking clarification with those around you is always the better way to solve tension. I need to continue to make this a priority, but thankfully I have come a long way within the past 4 years.

11. Actively Fight a Scarcity Mindset

It’s so easy to feel cornered, so easy to feel you have to make compromises in order to survive. The pressure to take on that client who isn’t going to pay well, but you feel you should anyways because you need the money. The feeling that you need to stay stuck in the day job you hate because building your own business is too risky. These are all things that go along with the scarcity mindset. This is something that I have been actively fighting for the past 8 months.

That day when risk is gone is never going to come.

There will never be that day when the fears and pressures of life are no longer present. Security is a mirage. It doesn’t exist. I need to stop waiting for security and the perfect situation. I need to stop compromising on my values because I feel I have to in order to survive. If I want to be free of the scarcity mindset one day, I have learned that that day needs to start now.

12. Professionals Take Responsibility

I am a growing professional. One huge area that I have been growing in is acknowledging that if I want to call myself a professional, I need to take the responsibility that goes along with it. There is no such thing as these terrible clients we all talk about. There are only terrible professionals that take on these clients. If they are a terrible client you never should have taken them on in the first place. You should have asked the right questions before hand to find out that this was not going to be a good fit. If a project goes south and has a bitter end, guess what, that’s my responsibility. What could I have done to prevent this? If I want to wear the title of 'professional' I need to be actively taking responsibility over every aspect of my projects. The blame game doesn’t work when you are professional.

13. People See What You Do, Not Your Intentions

Good intentions are great but they only go so far. Most people judge who you are by they way you act and the things you do. I do this all the time without even deciding to do it. I look at someone and I assess who they are based on what I perceive them doing. Yet how often do I get caught up in my good intentions without actually following through with my actions? I need to remember that good intentions are not enough. They need to be manifested by good actions.

14. What You Do Shows What You Love

What do you love most in your life? Are you convinced that if someone took a detailed account of your actions they would be able to recognize what you say you loved? I am not convinced the results would be what I want for myself. There are far too many things that I say I love, and yet my actions don’t reflect it.

The sad thing is that my actions reveal far more about what I actually love than I care to admit. This has been an amazing litmus test in my life.

Levi, tell me how you spend your time and I will tell you what you love. This is scary, and it reminds me that everyday I need to be spending time on things that I actually care about.

I don’t love instagram, I don’t love vimeo, and yet if you looked at how I spend my time day to day it would certainly be hard to tell.

15. Operating on Values is Far More Important

You are the only person who is going to make decisions on your values. I realized that I am the only person responsible in my own life to make sure that my decisions reflect my core values. Do I want to be a man of integrity and humility? How important is that to me? If I claim these characteristics are important then I actually need to be making the hard decisions that reflect this. When you compromise once for a quick gain, you are putting far more at stake than just one situation. I have realized that now more than ever I need to be aware of what my values are and hold them as the highest priority in my decision making.

16. Taking the Path Less Chosen is Harder for A Reason

It’s easy to complain when your are trying hard to find your own path through life. It is easy to flake out when you are trying to take the path less chosen. It is easy to feel down when you are trying to fight a scarcity mindset and think separate to the culture that surrounds you. Yet sometimes I forget that it’s that way for a reason. Acting different than the majority is harder because it is different. If it wasn’t harder everyone else would be doing it. The reward on your investment through making your own path can be far greater, but that does not mean the path to getting there is going to be easier.

17. People Put You in a Box

I used to hate the idea of people putting me in a box. I wanted to be the drummer, filmmaker, photographer, geek, mountain biker, surfer, snowboarding person. But people don’t know what to do with you when they see all these things about you. They want to simplify you to one component and remember you based off that. I used to think of this as a bad thing. I was troubled by the idea of being put into a box and was convinced that I would be an exception.

By wanting to be known for everything, people ended up not knowing me for anything.

Now this is mostly the case with interactions on the internet, but it also happens often with the people you meet and work with in real life. You don’t have to be the mysterious elusive person. When you have the courage to find your niche and actually become an expert in one specific area, it benefits your professional career immensely.

18. The Days are Long but the Years are Short

I may not be old and wise, but I am old enough to see in my own life that the days have been long and the years have been short. It gives me perspective in my young years that I need to make the most out of the present. I am a dreamer and a visionary. I spend so much of my day thinking about the future and things that are yet to come. I need to have a healthier balance on this and fight to live in the present and not let the long days slip by too fast. There are only so many opportunities you can have in one life. I am sometimes afraid that I might miss them if I live too much in the future.

19. People Don't Spend Much Time Thinking About You

I try not to spend much time thinking about the opinions of others. Sometimes when I do, it can feel like others think about my actions and decisions far more than they actually do. Sometimes I can’t help but wonder what other people feel about the choices I make in my life. The truth is, though, those around you, even those that are really really close to you, think about you a lot less than it ever seems. How often do you spend pondering the daily lives of those around you?

Now this isn’t something that is supposed to be upsetting, rather it is just a fact of life. You are the only person who lives 100% of your life. I have realized this and I want to continue to live more freely from the opinions of others.

20. I Need to Write Everyday to Reach My Biggest Goals

This is one of the hardest things for me to come to amends with. I don’t feel like a writer, and I certainly never aspired to be one. When an older and wiser filmmaker told me that if I wanted to make it in the film industry I needed to start writing, I doubted his advice but started to think more seriously about the importance of writing.

I finally decided it was worth it because I realized that writing is a stepping stone for literally every project I care about. When I think about the beginning process of anything that I want to create I realize that it all starts with this seemingly insignificant step: written communication.

Capturing your next brilliant ideas. Sharing your plans with others. Selling your skills to clients. All of these things hinge heavily on the skill of writing. I knew my writing wasn’t great and that made me not want to start, yet I know one of the only ways I can get better is if I start writing every day. That's why my commitment for 2015 is to write everyday. I still won't be calling myself a writer, but I am committed to write because I know it will take a lot of writing to reach my biggest goals.

21. I Can’t Keep Waiting for Tomorrow

Showing up and working hard, enjoying life to the full, starts today. I tend to get into a cycle of procrastination when I am faced with a challenges. I assume that the day that follows will be a better day to tackle some of the harder things in life. I do this with so many things including my laundry, my relationships, and my spiritual growth. I put things off far more often than I ought to.

I need to realize everyday that today, the present, is the best day to start showing up. You can wait forever but tomorrow isn’t going to come any faster.

Thanks for checking out 21 things that I’ve learned! This year is going to be the biggest yet. I am so excited for what’s in store and I can’t wait to keep sharing it with you as the months go on. Stoked for the journey.

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The Making of a Timelapse Film - Beautiful British Columbia

BeautifulBritishColumbia.jpg
BeautifulBritishColumbia.jpg
Beautiful British Columbia

British Columbia is my favourite place on earth. There is something about the amazing combination of beautiful snow capped mountains, unreal coastal landscapes, and acres of lush forest that leave me in awe through every adventure in the BC mountains.

IMG_1437
IMG_1437

Four years ago I started shooting a project that to this day remains one of my absolute favourites. I want to share about that film today, from beginning to end and everything in between.

This project was monumental for me as a growing filmmaker. I realized that it was okay to be an aspiring storyteller and have some of my best work come later. That was the best realization I have ever had, it gave me the freedom to create from where my skills were at, knowing that my work will continue to improve as I create lots of stuff.

Levi Allen shooting with his Canon T2i
Levi Allen shooting with his Canon T2i

I will never forget starting to take those first few timelapses.

  • “Do I set the interval to 2 seconds or 5 seconds?
  • How many pictures do I actually need to make it look good?
  • Where do I point the camera?
  • What will this look like sped up?”

These and more, were all questions I had in my head as I began the adventure of shooting my first timelapses. I had no idea what I was doing, and that was the best part. Complete permission to just have fun and create stuff in response the the place I call my home.

I will never forget that morning after taking my first timelapses of the stars. I picked up my camera from its tripod like a nervous yet excited child, hit the preview button and began to flip through some pictures. Needless to say the level of stoke was incredibly high. I stared at frame after fame of the milky way galaxy slowly climbing over the northern western mountains, I captured it completely on accident, but I completely loved it. I had taped a rock to the cameras trigger as a make shift intravelometer and had just pointed it in a direction and hoped for the best.

A random assortment of the gear I used on the shoot
A random assortment of the gear I used on the shoot

THE GEAR

My setup for shooting this film was pretty simple. I had a sketch tripod and I was off to the races.

Modified Flycam Nano ( I extended the middle column so it could hold more weight • Canon t2i (still an excellent very useable camera) • Rokinon 35mm f1.4 lens (one of my favourite lenses) • Borrowed sigma 10–20mm (I wouldn't recommend purchasing this, I've upgraded to the tokina 11-16) • Manfrotto Monopod (MVM500A) (absolute favourite tool for run and gun shooting)

My favourite tool on this piece was the manfrotto Monopod
My favourite tool on this piece was the manfrotto Monopod

MY FAVOURITE TOOL

I experimented a lot on this piece and I wanted to try create something that was visually pleasing and inspiring. The mono pod proved to be one of my greatest assets. I used it constantly on this film. I would step on it with one foot and slowly move the camera forward. This was great for getting simulated slider shots, throw a little warp stabilizer on, and you are good to go.

Manfrotto MVM500A Aluminum Fluid Monopod with 500 Head (Black)

IMG_8989_Malibu_Possible-Duplicate_Archive_2012
IMG_8989_Malibu_Possible-Duplicate_Archive_2012

WHERE IS THE STORY?

This is probably the most fundamental challenge I ran into with this project. Where is the story? I got into filmmaking because I loved those films that really tug at your heart, those films that show you a different way to look at life. I didn’t feel like what I was creating was doing either of those things. It felt like I was just putting together a really beautiful slide show, it felt like it was missing something huge.

I knew this piece wouldn’t be raved about and shared widely

Thats because it was, and still is missing something huge. Regardless I went forward with finishing the project even without a story. I was not going to be able to invent a story for it afterwards, I had missed it while making it. I toyed with the idea of doing a voice over with some inspirational monologue, but I quickly tossed out that idea. I wanted to get it out there and to the world, but I learned a valuable lesson of story and filmmaking with this project. I knew this piece wouldn’t be raved about and shared widely because it lacked that simple but powerful component of what makes something worth watching, the story.

BeautifulBritishColumbiaBehindTheScnese
BeautifulBritishColumbiaBehindTheScnese
IMG_3751_ColoradoFreeride_Archive_2012
IMG_3751_ColoradoFreeride_Archive_2012

POST PRODUCTION

During post production I learned so much. This was definitely one of the most extensive productions I had done so far and every stage of the post had complications. Though with the help of google, and lots of trial and error I managed to pull the film together. I spent over 100 hours editing this project in total and took more than 100,000 stills.

I edited this film on my mid 2012 Mac Book Pro, it only has 8gb of memory, but the i7 intel chip handles things fairly well and is still my main editing machine.

  • Premiere Pro
  • Adobe After Affects
  • Lightroom
  • LrTimelapse

LRTimelapse

For the first months of editing I really struggled with getting the look I desired from my timelapses. After some research I discovered the countless timelapse artists were using a tool created to work alongside Lightroom called LRTimelapse. This was a breakthrough for me. Sure, I had to learn a new workflow and piece of software, but this tool really unlocked some editing potential that I really needed to bring my timelapses to life. It had the tools to get rid of the flicker that I so desperately hated.

From now on, all timelapses in RAW

I learned that from now on I wanted to shoot all my timelapse sequences in RAW format. I shot most of the timelapses in this film with jpeg sequences and that really caused my post production to suffer. I couldn’t rescue the shadows as much and white balance was a real challenge at times.

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IMG_1416

Growing your skills takes 100’s of hours.

I spent most of my first months shooting running around the rocks with my modified Flycam Nano, exploring through the forests and waiting patiently as my next timelapse was captured. In one tidal wave of passion, I was hooked on nature timelapsing. I continued to shoot different landscapes across the next year and a half, and eventually came to the process of actually editing these things all together into a film that I could share with others.

How do i get better?

In order to grow your timelapsing skills you need to put in the hours. I still see so often that people are wanting their skills to improve at an impractical rate. With this project I spent hundreds of hours running around in the forest with my camera trying to get good glidcam shots. I took over 100,000 stills worth of timelapses learning on how to take them better. I spent countless hours researching how to properly edit timelapses and put together a film. If there are skills you want to improve you are going to have to start deliberately practicing them like you actually mean it.

There was quite the learning curve to figure out how to get these sequences of pictures to look exactly the way I wanted them too. My first cut of the film was actually over 10 minutes! I had to learn to cut things back as much as I could so that I was communicating more with less.

IMG_5051
IMG_5051

My biggest take away

[mks_pullquote align="right" width="200" size="15" bg_color="#359848" txt_color="#ffffff"]The motivation behind your films is so important.[/mks_pullquote] My biggest take away from this entire project comes back to story. Story story story. The motivation behind your films is so important. I really wish I had put some effort forward in crafting a narrative that could have taken this film to a whole other level. As it stands it really is just an extensive show real, a nice slide show of sorts, but with a powerful story it really could have had a lot more impact.

BEAUTIFUL BRITISH COLUMBIA

What questions do you have from the making of this project?

Send me an email through my contact form, I would love to hear from you.

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Now is the Time to Share Everything You Know

I am going to be completely honest with you. I have been planning on starting a blog for over 5 years and always put it off. Finally after delaying it for the longest time, I have put in the couple hours to start one, and I am going to tell you why I think now is the best time for you to start one too.

The idea sparked when I first fell in love with filmmaking and the thriving online community that surrounded it. I wanted to be apart of this community and share my voice.

I dove head first into something I loved

I knew that I had lots to learn before I even began trying to share things, let alone trying to teach others. After buying my first camera and building a hackintosh computer, I spent every spare second I had researching filmmaking. Those were the days of countless test videos as I strove endlessly to achieve a cinematic look from my Canon DSLR.

The passion to share grew, but my desire and confidence was slowly choked out

The more and more I thought about sharing my voice, the more and more I asked myself “why is my voice worth sharing?” I looked out into the sea of the internet and saw so many other people with far greater talent than myself already contributing and writing great content. I had a fear that people wouldn’t care, that no one would respect anything I created.

I regret not sharing when I first started

Back in those beginning beginning days (i still very much feel like a beginner), I regret not having shared my journey. There were many things I was learning that would have been helpful for others, but unfortunately I never did the work to get it out there.

I had a mindset of, ‘one day when I make it I will be able to share.’

I didn’t know then that every persons perspective was valuable to others. I certainly didn’t feel as though the perspective I had could be of any benefit to others. I still don’t feel that, but I am beginning to fight those fears and start sharing always.

The truth is, there will always be people who can learn from you.

When I began thinking of sharing, I only thought about those who had ‘already made it’ in the industry. Those who already made great content. I figured they would never want to read my stuff, yet I forgot to account for the growing masses of others like myself who were hungry for knowledge about just starting out. I could have been helping countless people grow and pursue their passion over the past years. I've missed a great opportunity, yet its not to late.

I still don’t feel ready to share, but I am going to anyways.

though I have spent the last 5 years learning everything I can, I still don’t feel ready to start. I am going to fight this fear, I have decided to start sharing now. Even though I know just a year from now I will have grown so much more, that is totally okay. I realized I am okay with being wrong, I am okay with not being the best, and I have finally decided I don’t want to let those things get in the way of helping others.

I have believed for so long that there is so much value in the journey.

It’s time for my attitude of sharing with others to reflect this. I don’t want to just make it one day and then start writing. I know deep down that it wont be relatable, it will be hard to inspire others that they can do the same. People learn from watching others struggle and overcome with strength and courage.

I have seen this clearly through examples like Dave Dugdale over at learningdslrvideo.com. This guy is a self declared learner and sharer, I love that about him.

He knows that he is not the top expert in his field, but he is committed to helping others grow from what he is learning all the same. Through the archive of his blog you can see this extensively mapped out journey in his pursuit of growing as a filmmaker. He didn’t get to where he is over night and his blog is a testament to this. It is an inspiration to others by simply existing.

Now is the time to share everything you know.

What have you been waiting too long to start sharing? I am sure for you as well there are things you are incredibly passionate about. What are the things that all your close friends know you for and ask questions about? You don’t deny them and tell them to come back in 5 years when you are better, no, you share with them from where you are at. I want to encourage you to start doing the same with others on the internet. Sure it can be scary, people can be mean, but I know it will be worth it.

Put in the couple hours of work to get a blog running, start something simple and just start creating.