We were lucky to catch up with Evan Zissimopulos recently and have shared our conversation below.
Evan, so excited to have you with us today. So much we can chat about, but one of the questions we are most interested in is how you have managed to keep your creativity alive.
Creativity is an organism attached that must be fed in order to flourish. It is symbiotic to us, therefore, creativity needs good fuel, training, and rest in order to thrive. Everyone’s individual creativity resonates with a certain type of energy and does its best when it’s fed accordingly. If your creativity enjoys dark and moody energy, then consuming dark and moody forms of art will nourish its soul, and simultaneously, your own.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
I am an independent director and cinematographer of film, television, and occasionally, commercials. Through my company, Astral Eye, I seek to bring a unique vision through a lens of higher creativity. This means devising clever and interesting ways to enhance projects from preproduction through post, while always putting the story first.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
There are three ideas that have have greatly helped me along my journey of which I’d wish to share. The first is, always aiming to ensure a project is told story-first. This means that, no matter how small or large the project, it should try to convey a theme and explore a philosophy or philosophical conflict.
The second nugget of information that has helped me is learning how to accept and digest criticism. This can be especially hard for artists, as we usually feel like our soul is on display. However, more often than not, the people giving you feedback are doing so because they want you to succeed and usually see flaws that you can’t. As much as it can hurt and seemingly always takes some personal work to accept, take what your peers say into careful consideration. They’re telling you because they love you and you might even learn a thing or two along the way.
The third is, don’t feel too pressured to take a step back and try to find a different view. In film, we are often up against the wire, trying to make an insanely packed day. This fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants environment isn’t always the most nurturing for creativity. Therefore, if you find yourself feeling stuck creatively, it’s important to take a quiet moment to examine your situation, let go, and feel what your creativity is trying to tell you. When you have too much noise and distraction, it can drown out its voice.
With that said, I’d like to give advice to those early in their journey in film or really any creative endeavour by elaborating that you cannot nourish your creativity without spending personal time with it. Even though you might work on projects for others out of enjoyment or the need for income, always remember why you fell in love with what you do, and relentlessly set aside time to make your own art.
Before we go, any advice you can share with people who are feeling overwhelmed?
The concept of becoming overwhelmed is generally seen as a flaw in today’s grind-culture society. We admire those who seem to perform effortlessly, somehow able to accomplish everything they want and more in a day while looking sharp and placing first every time. The reality is, that even those people get overwhelmed, and while they’re generally practiced at not showing it, they also prioritise ways to mitigate the situations that will lead them to that point. Here are a few things I’ve learned from high-performance friends in an effort to avoid overwhelming yourself:
Treat your rest periods as sacred time. On weekends or evening, do something that you really want to do other than work. Even though you can become obsessed with your craft as an artist, solid time away from it will have you returning with inspiration.
Focus on a healthy routine. I’m not saying don’t party, because I love to play as hard as I work and think that’s its own form of decompression. However, try to keep that to its own time, and do at least one healthy activity per day. If you’re on a physically demanding job, work your mind in the morning by practicing meditation, even if it’s just for 10 minutes before you get out of bed. Try to find time to move your body. It’s a bonus if you can train for endurance and strength as these will help you on those really long days where you’re physically and mentally pushed to your limits. Not only does maintaining a strong body enhance your mood and endurance, but it also helps you sleep better, which is another huge part of the philosophy of a healthy routine. Try to get to bed at the same time every day, even when you might not be on set. Don’t sleep in unless you really feel exhausted and don’t lurch for your phone and check social media to see that the world’s on fire first thing in the morning.
Stay organised. Creatives are the first to let their worlds become a mess as we hurtle ourselves blindly into our art and the world disappears. The unfortunate backlash from this, is that as our surroundings unravel, we can become frustrated later when we may have misplaced something. Try to have a system of organisation for where things go, whether its bins for gear or folders on a computer for editing and keep these processes moving project to project. If something isn’t working, you’ll be able to see and amend it.
Make lists. Sometimes the most overwhelming thing can be just knowing that you just have tons of work to do. If you lay it out line-by-line, you’ll be able to set priorities, delegate tasks that might be served better elsewhere, and attack your goals one by one. There’s no better feeling than crossing off those high-priority items.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.astraleyepictures.com
- Instagram: @egzcinema @astraleyepictures
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/astraleyepictures
- Twitter: @egzcinema
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/astraleyepictures
Image Credits
Anna Faiola, Kasee Shambora
