Ever since our wedding in July 2011, I’ve been looking for a way to work with Jeff and Cat, our photographers, again. They took beautiful shots at our wedding and we loved their easy-going personalities and their warm, inviting aesthetic. I was delighted and inspired when I heard that Jeff and Cat were collaborating with designers and filmmakers to build a new business for themselves, called The Apartment Creative.
In May 2012, we sat down with Jeff and Cat to start brainstorming about how we could collaborate with The Apartment. Out of these conversations came the realization that we needed a refreshed design for our website, as well as to bring my ailing eight-year old blog into the fold and combine the two into one. With 535 blog posts and nearly 14,000 comments, my blog had become this monster that was chewing up half-written thoughts and spitting out broken links. Something had to be done.
Motivated by the indefatigable duo and their new friends, we decided to re-design the website AND produce a short video about SweetGeorgia. It’s like a mini-documentary about how and why we make hand-dyed yarns. You can find the video on YouTube and Vimeo now. Here’s a behind the scenes look at the filming of that video:
We prepared for the filming during July, had a pre-production meeting with the videographer, Steve Tan, in August, filmed at our studio in September, and the film editing took place through October. Anna Sobieniak, graphic designer for The Apartment, created some fresh and clean ideas for our website, and based on her design ideas, I rebuilt the entire website and blog in November and December, bringing us to today, Launch Day!
On the morning of the shoot, the team arrived at exactly 8 am, unloading cases upon cases of camera and lighting gear. Cat, the producer, is unbelievably organized and always on the ball. She prepared the production schedule with a timeline and complete shot lists and everyone followed it perfectly. It took us three hours to set up and film just the interview portion of the video (where I’m sitting in front of the pink wall). Chris handled the expensive sound equipment and kept everyone laughing. Jeff, the director, and Steve worked together to determine the best angle to shoot at, arranged the huge softbox lights, and set up the fancy “dead cat” microphone above my head. Every so often, Jeff would exclaim, “Great Felicia! Now do it again, with more energy!”
They spent the afternoon taking still photographs and motion shots of the studio and our yarns in progress. They filmed David, Teresa and myself at work, dyeing and packaging yarns. And the day ended around 4 or 5 pm… so all in all, it was about 8 hours of set up and filming to get a tiny 4-minute video! And that’s not even including editing time!
The production team couldn’t have done it without you guys! — with Chris Aitken, Jeff Chang, Felicia Lo, Cat McDowell, Steve Tan and The Apartment Photography.
I thank Jeff Chang, Cat McDowell, Steve Tan, Chris Aitken, Anna Sobieniak, and The Apartment Creative for all their amazing effort and vision in putting this video together for us! I’m already looking forward to the next opportunity to work with these talented people.
So cool. Loved the video. Congratulations!
So cool. Loved the video. Congratulations!
Amazing….how can i buy your products…
Amazing….how can i buy your products…
Fantastic story telling of a fantastic story.
Fantastic story telling of a fantastic story.
Wonderful short film. It really captures your beauty, your beautiful vision and the beauty you share with others. When you said the yarn goes out into the world- it comes to my stash.
Wonderful short film. It really captures your beauty, your beautiful vision and the beauty you share with others. When you said the yarn goes out into the world- it comes to my stash.
Felicia…..an amazing video. They did a GREAT job of capturing you and the passion you have for your work……and the shots of the yarn weren’t bad either…Ha!
Congratulations.
Felicia…..an amazing video. They did a GREAT job of capturing you and the passion you have for your work……and the shots of the yarn weren’t bad either…Ha!
Congratulations.
So beautiful! I still have my special skein of “Slayer” from the first weekend when you were inspired to make that colorway – probably at your dining room table – and even though I haven’t used it yet, I can NOT bear to part with it! I keep asking myself “why not destash this if you haven’t used it?” The answer is always “Because I love it and its a treasure and can’t be replaced ever!” LOVE this video and seeing your pretty face and hearing your voice. Thanks so much!! (SugarBunnyBlvd)
Oh I remember those days! :) Thanks so much for the trip down memory lane, Laura!
So beautiful! I still have my special skein of “Slayer” from the first weekend when you were inspired to make that colorway – probably at your dining room table – and even though I haven’t used it yet, I can NOT bear to part with it! I keep asking myself “why not destash this if you haven’t used it?” The answer is always “Because I love it and its a treasure and can’t be replaced ever!” LOVE this video and seeing your pretty face and hearing your voice. Thanks so much!! (SugarBunnyBlvd)
Oh I remember those days! :) Thanks so much for the trip down memory lane, Laura!
Enjoyed your video. Love your wools! Thank you.
Enjoyed your video. Love your wools! Thank you.
Love you video Felicia! Very inspiring!
Love you video Felicia! Very inspiring!
This is so gorgeous, Felicia!
This is so gorgeous, Felicia!
Very inspirational! You’re a very gifted dyer and loved hearing about you and your work!
Very inspirational! You’re a very gifted dyer and loved hearing about you and your work!
It is always wonderful to find out why someone loves what they do, your video was wonderful. Thank you for taking us behind the scenes and sharing your passion.
It is always wonderful to find out why someone loves what they do, your video was wonderful. Thank you for taking us behind the scenes and sharing your passion.
Love this – it captures your stunning colours & beautiful philosophy so perfectly!
Love this – it captures your stunning colours & beautiful philosophy so perfectly!
Wow! that was both beautiful and moving. Working on some socks at the moment in Tourmaline and it’s so gorgeous! Wishing you many more years of success and happiness with the business!
Thanks so much! Enjoy those Tourmaline socks :)
Wow! that was both beautiful and moving. Working on some socks at the moment in Tourmaline and it’s so gorgeous! Wishing you many more years of success and happiness with the business!
Thanks so much! Enjoy those Tourmaline socks :)
Amazing video! I stumbled upon the link to your video while trying to click on a totally different link on FB…call it serendipity/Divine intervention/whatever. We have not yet met, but after seeing this video I understand now why people love you and your yarns so much. Wishing you continued success in all your endeavors!
Thank you so much Trish! I have admired YOUR yarns from afar too! Wishing you much success in 2013 with your dyeing and weaving!
Amazing video! I stumbled upon the link to your video while trying to click on a totally different link on FB…call it serendipity/Divine intervention/whatever. We have not yet met, but after seeing this video I understand now why people love you and your yarns so much. Wishing you continued success in all your endeavors!
Thank you so much Trish! I have admired YOUR yarns from afar too! Wishing you much success in 2013 with your dyeing and weaving!
Wonderful video, you present so well and can really understand the need for a break, you have done such a great job for fiber on the west coast, and your attention to detail and documenting is incredibly inspiring…thanks so much
Thanks so much!! I think it must be a bit confusing… I had a blog post from 2007 before I went on a break, but that was five years ago :) and it keeps showing up on the blog now as a “related post”. I’ve gone and removed it now, but just to confirm… I’m not going anywhere :)
Wonderful video, you present so well and can really understand the need for a break, you have done such a great job for fiber on the west coast, and your attention to detail and documenting is incredibly inspiring…thanks so much
Thanks so much!! I think it must be a bit confusing… I had a blog post from 2007 before I went on a break, but that was five years ago :) and it keeps showing up on the blog now as a “related post”. I’ve gone and removed it now, but just to confirm… I’m not going anywhere :)
Beautiful video, Felicia and The Apartment Creative! You speak so articulately about your passion for hand-dyed yarn and your colours are beautiful. Your growth as a business is also truly inspirational for us tiny indie dyers. Congratulations again!
Beautiful video, Felicia and The Apartment Creative! You speak so articulately about your passion for hand-dyed yarn and your colours are beautiful. Your growth as a business is also truly inspirational for us tiny indie dyers. Congratulations again!
Felicia, your video touched my heart! The passion in your voice and the words you used to describe your business… it was absolutely amazing! As someone who put aside her creative callings for 28 years and has very recently decided to finally listen to her heart and follow her true “passions”… I just want to say – your words touched me deeply, to my very core! So much so, it actually brought tears to my eyes! Thank you for having the courage to go against the quote on quote norm (i.e. “conventional way of making a living”) and for sharing your amazing creative gifts with the world! You truly are an inspiration! and your yarns, the colors are absolutely breathtaking! All the best to you and your incredible team!
Felicia, your video touched my heart! The passion in your voice and the words you used to describe your business… it was absolutely amazing! As someone who put aside her creative callings for 28 years and has very recently decided to finally listen to her heart and follow her true “passions”… I just want to say – your words touched me deeply, to my very core! So much so, it actually brought tears to my eyes! Thank you for having the courage to go against the quote on quote norm (i.e. “conventional way of making a living”) and for sharing your amazing creative gifts with the world! You truly are an inspiration! and your yarns, the colors are absolutely breathtaking! All the best to you and your incredible team!