Creating In Spades: Adam Mast: Opening Doors for Filmmakers in St. George

I've been interested in film making since I knew what a video camera was and discovered how much fun it was to film my siblings dancing around making faces and farting noises, and watch it later. I'd like to think that the hours spent with my sisters recording our voices on a tape recorder, re-recording the parts that weren't funny enough, and then playing them back at high speeds was a precursor to my love of editing. Not to mention how many plays, variety shows, and dramatic Olympic reenactments I've produced, directed, choreographed, costumed, special-effected, and forced upon my sometimes willing/sometimes not friends and family over the years. I've come to realize that while I love acting, dancing, singing, and being a diva in general--my strengths really lie in directing and conceptualizing a creative project from start to finish.

But film making--like, serious film making--has always felt out of reach. To be taken seriously, I would need the proper equipment, editing software, willing actors, good ideas, and all the strange-sounding things like shotgun mikes and dollys (which I'm proud to report are things I know about now).

Enter Adam Mast.

I met Adam while working on a film project three years ago. Before meeting him, I knew his name from the Independent paper movie reviews and the oh-so-elite-and-interesting annual guerrilla film making competitions that he ran. During rehearsals I would feign disinterest and slip in questions about the competition and filming. I was surprised when he made it sound doable--like there were people he could get me in touch with that had the necessary equipment and knowledge. He encouraged me, more than once, to just try it.

It still took two years for me to get up enough courage to enter the competition. By that time, Kevin and I had started using the wonderful Canon 5D Mark II for our photography business, which has incredible video capabilities. Plus, my newer experience with photography helped give me the confidence to set up shots and understand how to light my subjects.

By the time I entered last October's guerrilla shorts competition, Adam was TOTALLY in my corner. Talk about a supportive guy. Any questions or problems I had he was right there, cheering me on, solving problems, and connecting me with the right people. I made my little movie and was so happy with the results. It didn't win anything, but there was some buzz about it. Adam wrote that it was "one of the most professional films in this year's competition."

Which, of course, totally stroked my ego.

Adam has also introduced me to some incredibly creative people that have been both inspirational and instructive as I head down this bright new road. In fact, just yesterday I was editing my second film (YAY!!!) with Shaun Labrecque, whose cinematography and editing skills are (in my opinion) incomparable in this town. And speaking of these guys, I assisted on Shaun's film this last weekend with Adam and want to share some photographs with you.

And I'm also posting my first film, "Second Sense," that I'm so proud of, that I would have never attempted if not for this community leader and supporter of the film making arts: Adam Mast.