Wasatch Mountain Film Festival

Tag: Interview

  • Q&A: Aaron Peterson

    Q&A: Aaron Peterson

    Aaron Peterson directed 2021 WMFF feature “24 Leeches”, a short film in which his son narrates a family trip to the Islands of Ontario, Canada. We asked him a few questions, see our Q&A conversation below:

    What is in your gear bag/kit?

    I’m on Sony full frame and Sony glass. We are a hybrid photo/video studio so need to cover all our basis and Sony gets that done for us. 24 leeches was filmed with the A9 mirrorless, which is not considered a serious video camera. Use the tools you have. Keep it simple.

    What item can you not live without?

     

    A headlamp. If you’re in that sweet spot of filmmaking you’ll either start or end in the dark.

    Most necessary character-quality for a director?

    Patience.

    Who has been most influential in your directing career?

     

    My early regional travel clients in Marquette, Michigan took a risk and bet on authentic storytelling. It launched us both. Then David Holbrooke formerly of MountainFilm gave me a space in the festival conversation.

    Favorite on-set memory?

    What’s a set? I love the chaos of the process of my projects. Pulling beautiful moments out of pandemonium is always memorable.

    More About Aaron Peterson

     

    Aaron Peterson burst onto the adventure filmmaking scene in 2014 with the seminal winter cycling film Cold Rolled (20 min). In 2016 he followed up with an unlikely story of Midwestern ice climbing, The Michigan Ice Film (71 min) and its festival version Fallen Feather (10 min). Peterson’s film and photography career has been at the center of shaping the outdoor identity and culture of the Great Lakes region and his work has found a cult status within the region. His work has been featured at MountainFilm, Kendall, New Zealand Mountain Film Festival and more. In 2016 he launched the Fresh Coast Film Festival to help foster a culture of outdoor, adventure and environmental film in the Great Lakes region.

  • Q&A: Neil Losin & Nathan Dappen

    Q&A: Neil Losin & Nathan Dappen

    Neil Losin & Nathan Dappen directed 2021 WMFF features “Hidden Wild,” “Protecting Nature for Good,” “Records of Change” and “Feathers in Flight: The Bird Genoscape Project.” You read that correctly… we accepted four films from these two powerful storytellers. We asked them a few questions, see our Q&A conversation below:

    What is in your gear bag/kit?

    Everything! We are gear junkies, which means that we have a lot of gear and enjoy using it. Every shoot is different, and we always try to bring the tools we need to bring each story to life. Sometimes that means carrying a bunch of bags with a RED Helium and an arsenal of lenses. Other times that means carrying a small mirrorless camera and just 1-2 lenses.

    What item can you not live without?

     

    Lens cleaner and clean cotton cloths. It’s amazing how often I find myself wearing modern synthetic outdoor gear, with literally nothing on my body that I can use to clean a dirty lens! A few ziploc bags with clean, dry cotton cloths, strategically scattered throughout your camera bags, can make a huge difference!

    How do you choose music for your films?

    We’ve been lucky to have original scores written for many of our recent projects — like Hidden Wild, Feathers In Flight, and Protecting Nature for Good. It’s always fun to work with a great composer and get a score that really captures the essence of your story. But even with a custom score, the process still starts with finding great “temp” music. We use a variety of libraries to find temp tracks, and even borrow temp music from well-known film scores when needed. Anything goes when it’s temp! The key is just providing our composer with the right inspiration to nail the mood when they begin composing our original score.

    Most necessary character-quality for a director?

     

    I think you need to be a good listener. We go into shoots with an idea about what the story is, but often we’re halfway through a shoot when one of our characters reveals something totally unexpected. It’s important to be able to see past your preconceived story and see the potential in these serendipitous developments. But only to a point — if you go chasing every new wrinkle in your story, you can quickly lose track of the central thread. That’s where a good producer can help in reining in an over-excited director!

    Craziest on-set/en route to set adventure?

    When we were in Brazil to film Protecting Nature for Good, Nate Dappen and I were really hoping to see a tapir, or “anta” in Portuguese. Our guide had seen several sets of tapir tracks, but since they are quite secretive creatures, we weren’t holding out much hope of seeing one. One morning we got started before sunrise. A boat dropped us off on the riverbank to film shorebirds, and we waited, long lenses ready. Suddenly, a strange shape surfaced in the middle of the river channel, headed straight for us. I could see that Nate was looking at it, too. It only took us a few seconds to realize what we were looking at. Our eyes met. “Anta!” we both mouthed silently. Moving as little as we could, we followed the tapir with our cameras as it emerged from the river, shook water off its back, and proceeded to walk past within a few yards of each of us, then calmly wander into the woods. It was an unforgettable wildlife encounter… and some great footage too!

    More About Neil Losin & Nathan Dappen

     

    Nate Dappen & Neil Losin are biologists, photographers & award-winning filmmakers. They met in 2008 during a tropical biology course in Costa Rica and both got their PhDs studying lizards. Over the last 12 years, they’ve become collaborators, business partners, best friends and have traveled the globe making films about science and wildlife.

  • Q&A: Richard Seehausen

    Q&A: Richard Seehausen

    Richard Seehausen directed 2021 WMFF feature “waveforms”. We asked him a few questions, see our Q&A conversation below:

    What is in your gear bag/kit?

    For Waveforms, we shot the film on a Sony FS7 with Contax Zeiss vintage glass. The FS7 is a bit big and heavy, but it proved to be a durable workhorse for working outside in cold, snowy conditions. Some of it was shot on a Fujifilm X-T3, DJI Mavic Pro 2, and a GoPro Hero 8. We also used the the Fuji to shoot sequences which were compiled into clips.

    What item can you not live without?

     

    Variable ND filters or on-camera ND. Can’t shoot in the snow without it.

    How do you choose music for your films?

    I listen to songs and I know it’s a keeper if I’m able to start visualizing the scene and the edit in my head. If the song works, I can visualize and almost pre-edit an entire segment in my head.

    Most necessary character-quality for a director?

    Confidence. Even if it’s faked, you need confidence to see the vision through and get people on board and with the program.

    Who has been most influential in your directing career?

     

    I’m just starting! Hoping to find mentors and people to work with to help show me the way. I definitely get inspired by a great snowboard videographer by the name of Jake Price.

    Favorite on-set memory?

    The first day we visited Tomo at his surf workshop in Niseko was a special one. We just filmed him and our friends Aaron and Jay, a shaper from Hawaii, talk surfboards and eventually carve out the initial shape for a new surfboard project.

    Craziest on-set/en route to set adventure?

    Honestly flying out to Japan on New Years Day after a NYE celebration with friends where I did not sleep at all before my flight. I had to haul 2 snowboard bags, a Pelican case, and a camera pack all by myself. All told it was 300+ lbs of gear that I had to haul from the car through the airport by myself and I was drenched in sweat by the end of it. Luckily the airline worker was having a good day and did not charge me anything for oversize, overweight bags.

    More About Richard Seehausen

    began filmmaking at age 14 in North Carolina, and after graduating from Duke University, I moved to Bend, Oregon to pursue my outdoor goals through snowboarding, mountaineering, and filmmaking. For the past 3 years I have worked as an engineer full-time while building my filmmaking skillset and saving money to fund my own projects. I have now reached a point where I am ready to start transitioning towards being documentary filmmaker, something I have dreamed of for a long time.

    Currently I am in production on my first documentary film, “Waveforms”, which documents snowsurfing’s roots and evolution between the U.S. and Japan while investigating connections to Shintoism along the way. As of March 2020, I began developing my 2nd documentary film, a video diary collection about the COVID-19 pandemic, for which I recently secured fiscal sponsorship from the International Documentary Association.

    I am excited to keep pursuing filmmaking further and to ultimately tell stories that inspire change for the greater good of humanity.

     

     
  • Q&A: Palmer Morse

    Q&A: Palmer Morse

    Palmer Morse directed 2020 WMFF features “Venture Out,” “Constant Thought” and “Detroit Hives.” Palmer stays busy in this industry and produces epic content year after year. We asked him a few questions, see our Q&A conversation below:

    What is in your gear bag/kit?

    Our main camera is a Panasonic EVA-1 with various cine lenses. For Venture Out we decided to test out the new Panasonic S1H and were incredibly impressed, I think it’ll be in our camera bag in the near future.

    What item can you not live without?

     

    Honestly a granola bar! It sounds funny but it’s seriously hard to focus and get the job done when your stomach is growling and your mind is going awry with hunger. Drinking enough water and eating enough food on set is so important.

    How do you choose music for your films?

    A few years ago we decided we really preferred to work with composers. Since then, we’ve been working with a select few composers for our films. Searching for stock music online took way too much time and often we didn’t like the result.

    Most necessary character-quality for a director?

    Flexibility and collaboration. As important it is to lead a team as a Director, I think it’s as important to realize when someone else might have a good idea or know when to realize you may be wrong. It’s very difficult to get a crew motivated if the Director is being hostile or difficult to work with. Every set I’ve been on where the Director is approachable creates a much more enjoyable experience for all.

    Who has been most influential in your directing career?

     

    When Vimeo launched back in 2004 it opened a whole new world of filmmaking I wasn’t really exposed to previously. Until then I had really only seen what films were playing in the cinema or later on, taught in film school. Looking through Vimeo when I have down time is a constant source of inspiration and a great way to see work for a variety of different filmmakers and creators.

    Favorite on-set memory?

    When producing our short doc, Venture Out, we attempted to summit Mount Ida in Rocky Mountain National Park with thirteen hikers. We started at 4:30am hiking with headlamps in complete darkness. Just as the sun was coming up we rounded a corner and came across four huge bull elk about 50 feet from the trail. It was just the end of rutting season and they didn’t look too happy to see us. We waited for about twenty minutes to see if they would move, but they wouldn’t. Eventually we just decided to all stick together and make as much noise as possible in hiking by. Next thing I new we were hiking by the elk singing “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” in unison and laughing. We made it through in one piece, it was definitely pretty scary but also so funny.

    Craziest on-set/en route to set adventure?

    Driving down to the U.S.-Mexico border to drop Brandon, the main character in Constant Thought, off at the PCT Southern Terminus was a surreal experience. I had never been to the border and it felt like such a strange, alien place to me.

    More About Brian Lewis

    Palmer is an award-winning filmmaker rooted in activism who focuses on using the devices at hand in our visual and media culture that can drive our society to make change. His short films have been show around the world, winning both awards and high praise. A Swiss Army knife of knowledge and skills, you’ll often hear him planning his next shoot as often as you’ll find him on set holding a camera or sitting in the editing room. Interested in stories of humans, our planet, and the interactions of the two, Palmer often works with organizations, non-profits, and brands in honing in on their mission in a visual format. He currently lives in Oakland, California, and is the co-founder of Spruce Tone Films.

     

    Check out more of his work here: palmermorse.com.

  • Q&A: Brian Lewis

    Q&A: Brian Lewis

    Brian Lewis directed 2020 WMFF feature “Wild Toddler Chronicles: Legacy,” a short film on exploring wilderness with toddlers. We asked him a few questions, see our Q&A conversation below:

    What is in your gear bag/kit?

    For this film, I tried to keep things really light and portable since it was a constant dance between shooting and parenting. I shot handheld on a Panasonic GH5 with Canon L lenses.

    What item can you not live without?

     

    Fruit snacks. They’re absolutely essential for bribing your 2-year-old daughter to stand on the rim of a canyon in a snowstorm while you get your shot.

    How do you choose music for your films?

    It’s a time consuming process that involves combing through different online sources, listening to samples and making playlists of potential tracks. It helps to be drinking while doing this.

    Most necessary character-quality for a director?

    Patience and flexibility…especially when working with toddler talent. There’s no way you’re going to force a two-year-old to do something she doesn’t want to do – so you have to either be willing to wait it out, or pivot to something else on the fly.

    Who has been most influential in your directing career?

     

    Gnarly Bay for making beautifully moving travel films that inspired me to pick up a camera in the first place. Ben Knight for showing that adventure films could make you feel something more than just adrenaline.

    Favorite on-set memory?

    Watching my daughter control her trailside meltdown on a hike in Zion and ask to get out of the backpack carrier and finish the climb to the top by herself.

    Craziest on-set/en route to set adventure?

    Our daughter had a massive diaper blowout about 15 miles down Hole-In-The-Rock Road outside Escalante. My wife and I cleaned her up, threw away her last pair of clean underwear and tried to find a campsite. With the light fading and the kid screaming, the wind nearly blew away our tent and bent one of the poles. We both cried. Then we took a breath, drove back to town and found a tiny house on AirBnb, which ended up being one of most memorable places we’ve ever slept on a family adventure.

    More About Brian Lewis

    Brian is a commercial and documentary filmmaker, adventurer junkie, unapologetic coffee snob, and happy dad based in Colorado Springs. He specializes in telling compelling stories and capturing beautiful images from the wilds of his Colorado backyard to the far corners of the globe.

     

    Check out more of his work here: bjlmedia.com.

  • Q&A: Amanda Bluglass

    Q&A: Amanda Bluglass

    Amanda Bluglass directed 2020 WMFF feature “Chasing the Sublime,” a short film on cold water swimming in the UK. We asked her a few questions, see our Q&A conversation below:

    What is in your gear bag/kit?

    Wetsuit, shotlist, release forms, nuts. As a director/producer it’s my crew who carry the technical gear.

    What item can you not live without?

     

    My super light-weight Wolf varifocal glasses with an extra-large magnification area. I need to be able to see on a monitor if the focus is soft or pinpoint sharp.

    How do you choose music for your films?

    Music is key and I listen to a lot of tracks to establish the mood, very early on in the editing process. The speed of the shots and the pace of the edit is a combination of the music choice and its rhythm/mood. I have once worked with a composer and he did an incredible job but often budgets do not allow for commissioned music.

    Most necessary character-quality for a director?

    From observing other directors directly, I’m most impressed by their ability to keep calm. They never seem to make a drama out of a situation but rather problem-solve in a collaborative way. It’s always about listening and harnessing the team’s expertise. Having a clear idea of shots, story and visual ideas is a given, but the cinematographer is there to bring creative vision as much as the director. Cultivating great communication is vital.

    Who has been most influential in your directing career?

     

    I really love the writer and director Jill Soloway. She makes intimate, funny, challenging, feminist fiction films and TV… Nothing at all like my documentary-style work, but she understands how to write for and capture emotion. I am in awe and slightly obsessed.

    Favorite on-set memory?

    In a recent film (‘Bob & Marion’, about two marathon runners in their eighties) shot in my back ‘yard’, Dartmoor, whilst filming at golden hour, a herd of wild ponies took flight and stampeded in perfect choreography. We were rolling with two cameras and a drone, and the scene became the end credit sequence. It was just one of those incredibly lucky moments.

    Craziest on-set/en route to set adventure?

    I once made a film about an artist trying to install columns of ice on top of a Norwegian mountain to represent Scott’s Antarctic team. The wind would play the ice like flutes and create an ‘air harp’. However climate change meant there was no snow. We all ended up around a fire on top of the mountain drinking champagne out of vintage glasses. I’m not sure where that came from. The whole venture was insane.

    More About Amanda Bluglass

     

    Amanda’s films and commercial work have featured on the BBC, Oprah Winfrey Network, Channel 4, Huffington Post and The Atlantic, with commissions from clients as varied as NASA, London Olympics, Samsung, Etsy, the National Trust and Photobox. She’s also an Associate Lecturer in Media Arts at Plymouth University, UK. Her first career, spanning 12 years in BBC radio/TV news saw her working with national correspondents for the Six, One and Ten o’clock News. Since embarking on freelance directing in 2006, she’s won numerous festival selections and awards for her documentary portraits and experimental films. Check out more of her work here: amandabluglass.co.uk.

  • Q&A With Mathieu Le Lay

    Q&A With Mathieu Le Lay

    What first inspired you to go into filmmaking?

    I remember watching many movies as a young teenager. While watching the movies, I was sometimes very moved by the storytelling and by the emotions. I got my first video camera DV when I was 17. I took my camera and filmed my Holidays and my time spent outdoors with my friends on the wild coast of Brittany in France. We had fun filming during the summer time. When I was 21, I traveled solo for the first to time in Australia for two months. In Australia, I took training courses about Australian Natural Parks. This was the first time I knew I had to spend my time close to nature and do something for our fragile environment. After Australia, I then decided to move to the UK to take a course in Wildlife Conservation. I was passionate about cinema and nature, so joined IFFCAM, the French Wildlife Film School. I first discovered this school in 2007 and spent a year studying there learning how to make documentary films about nature and wildlife. Filming was my favorite way to sensitize people on the importance of respecting and protecting our Natural heritage. Focusing my films on the mountain environment came naturally as I’ve always been attracted by the variety of activities you can practice there all year. Since I was six years old, I have enjoyed hiking in the mountains in the summertime or skiing during the winter. Filming humans interacting with the mountain environment has become the main theme in my films. I still have a lot of interest in filming wildlife as well. I also really enjoy the fact it’s always challenging to film in the mountain environment (strong winds, snow storms, steep ascents, heavy rains, long hike…).

    What helps you keep going when you hit obstacles in the film-making process?

    I’ve been directing films for eight years and the most difficult part is probably the financial aspect of the film-making process. Finding a proper budget for making all your filming desires possible can be a challenge. Over the last three years, I’ve realized my ambitions have naturally increased and it’s getting even more difficult to find an appropriate budget for each of my upcoming projects. I can feel that every day I am driven by a passion for creativity and film-making so as long as this passion is still alive, I will be continuing to make films. My parents and my girlfriend help keep me going and keep believing in what I am doing. I share with them all the good news, but also the most difficult new as well that comes along with my job. It’s a continuous process of ups and downs. To succeed in this kind of career, you can never give up after months, sometimes years, of work on the same project. When I started eight years ago, I remember I had the drive to film, but I never thought too much about the eventual obstacles. Now that I’m making a living out of filmmaking, I feel like I’m thinking twice before moving forward to the next step. I’m always asking myself, “Is it really worthwhile to invest my time into this? Or should I spend my time working on a different film project?” I don’t think this is doubting, but rather thinking about the process. With more experiences, we tend to become more exigent and we have new expectations emerging.

    With all of the amazing projects that could be developed, how do you decide which ones you will work on?

    I feel that the amazing projects I could work on are infinite. I’ve always kept a list of potential film projects to bear in mind. I keep updating this list and come back to it when it’s time for developing new films. The ones I’m deciding to work on and the ones I tend to prioritize are the ones where I feel I could learn and experience the most. For example, I’ve directed several film projects with other creative people, but each of them had a specific goal to achieve. Even if it was always happening in the mountain area, there were different objectives to achieve. I’ve turned down a few opportunities to work on commercial videos in the past because I felt I wanted to prioritize my personal projects, which I believe would bring much more in terms of experimenting life. Today, I open new doors in creativity and I am more willing to accept working on film projects initially created by other filmmakers, authors, or production companies. I always put my energy into the film projects where I feel the most inspired to shoot something. Sometimes I can easily see the final result. That is definitely a good feeling in filmmaking.

    What are you working on now?

    I’m currently in the development process working on five different film projects; three documentary series and two 52 minutes documentary films. All of them will occur in the mountain environment, some of them quite far away from home. I’m also working on my first fiction film; beautiful and moving story happening locally where I live in the French Alps. It might take a few years to achieve this first fiction as the budget will be much more difficult to get.

    What advice would you give to beginning filmmakers?

    Try to think deeply about which films would make you the happiest. Think about your passions, about what you enjoy doing, and about your favorite topics. Then try to shoot a short teaser to present your project to potential partners, brands and sponsors which might find a special interest in supporting you. If you don’t find a budget from partners, try to set a crowdfunding campaign to get a small budget in order to shoot the very first images of your film, and then show it to the producers who will try to find a bigger budget to make it happen. Directing films where you can involve all your passion will always help you to reach a higher level. Be creative. Don’t wait for opportunities to come to you.

    Anything else you would like to share?

     

    I’m honored to have three of my films selected in this year’s festival. All these film projects initially had a small production budget, but I’m passionate about these films. Seeing success on TV and at film festivals enables me to make a living. Thank you to all the organizers of Wasatch Mountain Film Festival. I wish a great success for this 2016 edition!