Adam Chilton and Jeremy Koreski: the ones behind the lens.
When I caught up with Peter Devries on his spring round Innersection win, he mentioned how much work goes into filming and editing. That got me interested in speaking with the ones with the creative vision, the ones that shoot the film and spend hours cutting it together. So I called up Devries’ filmers, Adam Chilton and Jeremy Koreski, to let them speak on their experience, the movie making process, and their feelings on being the ones behind the scenes.
Well, congratulations on the win!
Adam Chilton: We’re pretty pumped.
Jeremy Koreski: Yeah, thanks!
How long have you been working with video?
A: I’ve been working with it on and off since I was young. In the last two years, it’s gotten a little more serious.
J: Off and on for the past ten years. I grew up shooting skateboard and snowboard and surfing with my friends. The more I started doing it, the more people wanted to work on video stuff. Sepp and Raph Bruhwiler were mostly the ones that really pushed me to start. We put out a couple of videos, on in 2002 called Numb and one in 2006 called Shrink.
Jeremy Koreski at home. Photo: Dean Azim.
Do you have any formal training?
A: Probably not you’d call formal. I took a couple things in high school, just because that’s what they were offering, but other than that, no.
J: I just dove into it. No formal training. I bought Final Cut Pro and a laptop, and I figured it out. I definitely don’t want to be a full time editor, so my skills are really not that great, really. What I want to be doing most of the time is shooting.
Do you guys sit down before you start and flesh out an idea?
A: This year, we basically just put surf clips together and built the idea around it. This year it was the idea with the boat in the intro. So I’d say surf clips first, then build an intro around it.
J: I don’t, not really. We didn’t really know how much footage we actually had. Pete’s wife Lisa was the one that pushed us to put something together. Pete put a little part together and Adam and I thought it was really good, so we just decided to put together an intro.
When you go out and shoot, do you have a shot in your head that you want to get?
A: Not really. It’s so tough to get surf clips, especially in Tofino. We kind of just get what we get. Most of the lifestyle stuff is usually somewhat planned.
J: I usually do. More and more now with video, I try to outline it before I shoot it. But then, obviously, if interesting things happen along the way, you try and get those too.
So how was it with Adam in Vancouver during the edit?
A: Yeah, I moved here for a job doing video editing stuff, so we just talked over Skype. and I exported a few drafts and sent them over. They’d tell me what they thought. It actually wasn’t too bad.
J: People don’t realize how time post-production takes. It’s a hundred times more than still. I get home from a trip, and I can rip through and edit two days worth of stills in an hour. With video, it’ll take me close to eight hours to do all the things you want to do to it before you even start making a video. Basically, Adam would just send us Quicktime files and we’d look through them and send them back. It was very straightforward.
Do you have anything planned for the final yet?
A: I hope we switch it up. I’d like to do something really creative, and if it comes to us, then it comes to us. It’s one of those things where you don’t really know until someone’s idea comes together well.
J: For the final, we’re definitely going to spend more time on the pre-production aspect of it. We don’t have any ideas yet, but we know we have to do something completely different. A different look, different scenes – it has to look and feel really different from what we’ve already done.
Yeah, the first two were pretty similar. But do you think there’s some merit in sticking with what works?
J: Oh, definitely. We went number one in round two again, so it shows people want to see what we’re doing. But for me, I always want to better what I’ve already done. Our theme is probably going to be the cold, because I think that’s what people want to see. It’s just a matter of finding interesting ways to represent that.
Do you ever feel weird about the fact that with a lot of these videos the surfers get the credit, but a lot of the work is with filming and editing?
Adam Chlton. Photo: Stefan Lozinsky
A: It’s funny, just chatting with Pete, he’ll like the stuff where the surfing’s really good, and he might kind of overlook the edit. Where for me, it’s the other way around. I’ll see a part and be like “oh, that’s a good video, but the surfing’s not that good,” and kind of overlook it. It’s almost a battle of filmers vs surfers. The credit thing… I guess surfers are going to get it no matter what. You know, the actors get the credit, and that’s great. I’m happy to be behind the scenes.
J: I do it because I enjoy doing it. Pete’s a pro surfer because he loves it, I’m a cinematographer because I love it. For me, it works both ways. I think that’s why Innersection is so unique: it’s a platform for both the filmers and the surfers. As filmers, we’re getting a chance to put something out to thousands of people. Taylor Steele and Nathan Myers have created a platform for people to do that. You can work on a two-minute video and have tens of thousands of people see it.
How much do you work with Taylor Steele and Nathan Myers?
J: On the last one, we talked to them a lot. It was pretty straight forward, though. They would say, “we don’t like this, we like this,” and we’d try to stick to our guns and keep the things we wanted. In the end, it’s their final video.
What would you guys do if you won?
A: In terms of exposure, it’d be great. But the money, y’know, I’d probably just put it back into gear. Maybe pay some bills or something, but mostly back into gear.
J: We haven’t really discussed it. I think Pete’s going to get half. We probably need to discuss how we’re going to split it up. I try not to be too concerned about that. Just to be in the video in pretty great. I think we do need to discuss it before we submit the final, but I’m not too concerned about it. The money’s nice, but that not why we do it.
