This year for my career day I went to explore one of my greatest passions, filmmaking. I have been interested in filmmaking for many many years. I went to shadow someone who owns a small production company that makes short films, and educational shows. The company is EverWitt Productions LLC which is runned by Rick DeWitt. Some of their recent projects include Gizby’s Garage, where someone named Gizby builds new creative ideas in his garage. Another project where I got to help work on is Wilderness. Wilderness is a civil war story that takes place in North Carolina.
The whole process was very interesting to me, I was expecting a whole film studio with lights and cameras but that's not what I found. It had a little room in the back of his house, or his office with some props and camera sitting in the corner. This was surprising to me because at his level of success I expected a lot more complexity behind the scenes. I asked him about this and he that the leadup to a film and planning can take a lot longer that the average person might see it. From writing to production it can sometime take years, especially with, when it comes down to it a one man team. He told me that 95% of the time he is planning, financing, and writing and not being behind the camera. He told me that filmmaking is way more than just being behind the camera. I expected this but I did not expect it to be that drastic.
One thing I was curious about was how he got his start in filmmaking and his success. As I see it and what he told me was film making is extremely competitive. He started out around my age filming surf videos on a small old super 8 camera. At the time he said he was the only one doing it so he was extremely successful. As surfing became more popular he said surf photographers were everywhere and it was getting harder for him to get noticed and make money. This is when you could say he came up with his plan for how to continue filmmaking. He noticed the pattern that he was most successful when he was filling a gap in the film market. It was not easy he said. This is when he started Everwitt Productions. He noticed that there were few educational programs for young children on TV. He started making films in that area and that is where he found his success.
Overall, this was a great experience and it really helped me answer some questions about the field I was interested in. I am still very interested in this path in life. I found out many new things about this career that would not of have predicted before and some skills and tips to help me along the way. It also might lead to a great internship!
The whole process was very interesting to me, I was expecting a whole film studio with lights and cameras but that's not what I found. It had a little room in the back of his house, or his office with some props and camera sitting in the corner. This was surprising to me because at his level of success I expected a lot more complexity behind the scenes. I asked him about this and he that the leadup to a film and planning can take a lot longer that the average person might see it. From writing to production it can sometime take years, especially with, when it comes down to it a one man team. He told me that 95% of the time he is planning, financing, and writing and not being behind the camera. He told me that filmmaking is way more than just being behind the camera. I expected this but I did not expect it to be that drastic.
One thing I was curious about was how he got his start in filmmaking and his success. As I see it and what he told me was film making is extremely competitive. He started out around my age filming surf videos on a small old super 8 camera. At the time he said he was the only one doing it so he was extremely successful. As surfing became more popular he said surf photographers were everywhere and it was getting harder for him to get noticed and make money. This is when you could say he came up with his plan for how to continue filmmaking. He noticed the pattern that he was most successful when he was filling a gap in the film market. It was not easy he said. This is when he started Everwitt Productions. He noticed that there were few educational programs for young children on TV. He started making films in that area and that is where he found his success.
Overall, this was a great experience and it really helped me answer some questions about the field I was interested in. I am still very interested in this path in life. I found out many new things about this career that would not of have predicted before and some skills and tips to help me along the way. It also might lead to a great internship!