“Life of Fishing” – Working with a Team

Building and working with a strong team is an essential part of filmmaking. It not only makes the process easier, it also (in most cases) results in a better final product. Seth Schaeffer, director of “Life of Fishing” understands this and was able to find a team to produce the video above. We had a chance to talk to him about the process.

Kessler University (KU): Tell me a little about yourself/team.

Seth Schaeffer (SS): I surround myself with passionate, hard-working people who have the skills and humility to work well in a creative environment. Every person working with me is better than me at what they were hired to do (if not everything!). I love my job and aspire to always get better at directing and leading creative teams to bring my storytelling to each next level. James is an excellent DP that has been in the industry for around six years, he has an amazing eye and is very knowable and respected. Wade is a timelapse shooter and cinematographer, we’ve been working together for two years now and he is very talented and passionate person.

KU: Would love to know a little more about the project.

SS: Pepper Custom Baits approached me to direct a creative piece that encompassed the beauty of fishing in a way the fishing industry has not yet seen. They had the professionals, boats, places to stay, and provided the wonderful food. They provided everything we needed and gave us the creative room and trust to get what we needed.

KU: What was your story/concept and how did you decide to approach it?

SS: Our goal was to creatively showcase the beauty of being on the water while tastefully featuring their specific baits. The story and visual style was ready to be catered to the weather we had. Pepper Custom Baits’ tagline is “Aquatic Warfare” so we were fully prepared to make the scenes have more of a warfare edge if the storms rolled in.

KU: Loved the visual style and how you used it to tell the story. How did you decide to approach the style of the piece?

SS: The style of the piece was dependent on the weather. If it stormed both days of production we were going to move in the direction of a war scene. The weather was beautiful, so we got to highlight the peace and beauty of Lake Powell. The final direction was absolutely inspired by the genius visuals of Brain Farm & Red Bull Media’s ART OF FLIGHT.

KU: What was it like using the Kessler gear? How did you use it to help tell your story?

SS: For me it was like, “Hey Wade, that looks ridiculously cool. Those Kessler guys make some seriously cool stuff and I’m sure glad you know what you’re doing.”

Wade Yamaguchi: I love using Kessler gear because it’s dependable. I don’t ever have to worry about Kessler gear falling apart on a set. Using movement to help tell the story adds so much to the projects I work on. It creates depth and you can focus the viewers eye on something specific as well as create emotion.

KU: What can we expect next from both you and your team?

SS: Hoptocopter™ Films has shot another piece for Loki® Gear that’s set to launch in the next few weeks. Their morphing jackets are truly brilliant (shameless yet honest plug).

There’s talk of some more stuff in the fishing arena, but can’t confirm or deny any details until everything is officially set. We’ll keep you in the loop! With the ski season approaching (not to mention our newly acquired remote helicopter setup), I think we’ll have some cool new projects on the way to share with the world.

If you would like to see more from this team, make sure to check out their websites:

Seth Schaeffer: http://hoptocopter.com/.
James Drake: http://www.jdfnet.com/.
Wade Yamaguchi: yamofilms.com.