Native Shoes Documentary
Project Brief
We were paired with Native Shoes for the Why I Design movement exhibit for the Museum of Vancouver, where local designers showcase their products to the general public. We were given 2 months with lead designer Gabe Lam to create a documentary showcasing his design process from start to finish, and how his designs encapsulate the company’s core values of being “beast-free”.
Overview
ROLES
Project Manager
Cinematographer
Post Production Lead
TOOLS
Adobe Premiere Pro
Adobe Illustrator
Adobe After Effects
Team
Malcolm Kutar
Charmaine Wu
Karen Fisher
Creation
Role Selection
Because of my prior experience in video production, my role became project lead, overlooking all aspects of pre-production, filming, and editing. I also liaised with our stakeholder, Gabe, to organize shoot dates and interview sessions when necessary.
Inspiration
We took inspiration from Abstract’s documentary on Tinker Hatfield Footwear and SFU’s Italia Design. Abstract’s “The Art of Design” on Tinker Hatfield gave us inspiration especially into cinematography about shoes. SFU’s Italia Design gave us insight as to how to visually communicate a designer and their process.
From these two inspirations, we decided to focus on 2 aspects:
1. A Walkthrough on Gabe’s design process
2. How Vancouver’s culture influences Native Shoe’s designs
Filming
One week prior to shooting, we visited the studio in Kitsilano to scope out viable film locations. We discussed with Gabe, and he agreed to prepare a board with designs and sketches for the interview, as well as setting up the second floor in a way that encapsulated the uniqueness of Native Shoes.
We had 3 days to shoot:
Day 1
With our prepwork in place, filming b-roll on the first day went smoothly, with most of our time focused on the interview with Gabe.
Day 2
Our second day was focused on the Vancouver area, shooting some of the more iconic locations such as Science World, the False Creek area, and Kitsilano Beach, to strengthen visually how Native shoes is influenced by Vancouver.
Day 3
We attended the Why I Design Exhibition and filmed Gabe talking to the public about Native Shoes and his career as a designer. We also took footage of the displayed product, not initially intending to use it in our final cut. However the shots paired well with the script created, and we decided to keep them in the film.
Post Production
Initial Editing
As one of the lead editors on the team, my main goal was to balance our own creative message while still in keeping with the Native Shoes branding. However one of the challenges I came across was that some of Gabe’s points and ideas couldn’t be communicated properly through footage alone.
After careful consideration, the idea of using motion graphics was suggested to show off Native Shoes’ vibe but still communicate Gabe’s ideas. I made my team’s graphics come to life using After Effects. To graphically communicate Native Shoes as sustainable and “Beast-Free”, we replicated the same logo they used for the term and added a hand with a peace sign.
After discussing with my team the best approach to our motion graphics, I used keyframes, anchor points, and rotational movements to animate the beast. Using this style and production process, we maintained consistency throughout all our motion graphics.
Reflection
Through this project, I learned what it was like to work with a client in order to tell their story. Having a team that was dynamic in it’s skillset made our film strong in all aspects such as the direction, organization, cinematography, sound and edits.
I am very proud of what my team and I created and in the end Native Shoes circulated it on their social media internally and externally. .