We were stoked to see our short film for Misato & Chris featured this morning on Green Wedding Shoes! Here is the link:

http://greenweddingshoes.com/virginia-handmade-wedding-misato-chris

And for those of you who haven’t seen the film here it is:

Happy Friday from Caravan.

-Jon

You may have remembered this post I wrote at the beginning of the year:

http://blog.wearecaravan.tv/post/40102066088/a-late-toast-to-2012-and-a-look-ahead-2012-was-a

Well I am thrilled to announce that this week we finally launched our new site and rolled out a new reel. Have a look. 

While I couldn’t be more excited about what Caravan is doing. I think the thing I am most excited about is community. Caravan was founded on the idea that the sum is greater than the individual parts. And for us- this site and reel is that concept coming to fruition. 

We cannot begin to express our gratitude for the friends who have helped us create great work and the clients who have given us a chance to collaborate. We are really excited about where things are headed and we know we couldn’t do it alone. 

So here is the new site: http://wearecaravan.tv

And I would specifically like to thank:

Matt Daniels- Our Designer- he is the best.

Lauren Bickerstaff- Our Copywriter- she has a way with words and is so fast!

David Stanfield- Our Copywriter and friend- he is seriously good at everything.

-Jon

Passion Projects — this is something we’ve been talking about a lot lately, here at Caravan.  While it always sounds fun and exciting, it hasn’t made sense.  ”We have mouths to feed, bills to pay,” we tell ourselves. “Who has time for that!?” 

Insert: The birth of my son, Charlie

Naturally, as a filmmaking husband and now father, I was going to film and edit a video for the birth of my first child (still working on the video for child #2… sorry Lily!).  It was non-negotiable, this is my child and I wanted to remember this day forever! It didn’t matter that I was getting little to no sleep. It didn’t matter that we were swimming in debt with those darned medical bills! This was something extremely personal to me and I had to share it with my closest friends and family (seriously Lily, we love you just as much… I’ll make a video for your 2nd birthday, how about that?). 

While I always try to be creative in what I shoot and edit, I never anticipated a video as simple as this becoming what it became.  Intended only for friends and family, I was surprised by how many inquiries I was getting from agencies and directors to license this footage for promotional use.  Dozens of views went to hundreds and thousands of views quite unexpectedly.  To this day, I consider this piece one of my most “successful” pieces. Both Colgate and Wells Fargo are currently airing National and International commercials utilizing some of the footage I captured those few moments, on October 20th 2010.

So while I have [increasing] mouths to feed and bills to pay, my understanding of how to make a living and grow a business is changing. It makes sense to take that gig, because it pays your day rate and we all can use the money.  But I’ve learned that saying “yes” to something is unilaterally saying “no” to something else.  My list of passion projects is vast, and growing everyday.  And to be fair, not everyone of those ideas is a good one… but I find it ironic that 100% of the time I do a project of passion, I don’t regret it. In fact, quite the opposite. 

So starting today, I’m re-prioritizing.  The proof is in the pudding. Passion projects are worth the time and energy. And while not all of them may pay for my son’s college tuition like this one did (jokes, ya’ll — sorta), there’s still great benefit in doing them. 

-Jacob