We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Nick Cavalier a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Nick, we’re so excited for our community to get to know you and learn from your journey and the wisdom you’ve acquired over time. Let’s kick things off with a discussion on self-confidence and self-esteem. How did you develop yours?
Growing up as a troubled kid in Cleveland Ohio, I pretty much had zero confidence until about junior year of high school, I started to turn that around by getting good at difficult tasks. First representational Drawing, then metal Drumming, and eventually into the my current path as a filmmaker. I think when you challenge yourself to do difficult creative tasks, you learn a lot about yourself and you overcome your perceived limitations. Leading to confidence and self esteem.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I create all kinds of films. Anything from documentaries, comedy, music videos, commercials, and branded content. I try to bring myself and my perspective on the world to each project I’m creating. I believe that is what makes it unique, is my perspective and the creative choices I make along side my talented crew that I hand select. I try to focus on deeper themes in my work that are timeless. I love underdog stories and I try to capture the spirit of the characters whether in real life as documentary subjects or as characters through that lens. I try to focus on high production value and intense immersion into the story creating a suspension of disbelief.
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?
Methodology: The way your work is almost more important than what you are making. Films are just an idea until the people around you start helping you execute it. I believe you need to come up with a way of working that is conducive for setting up you and the crew for success.
Craftsmanship: Half of directing is technical. Everything from lensing, shot listing, sequencing, coaching talent on set, mean nothing without a vision of how it’s going to come together in post. You need to be a master of your craft, which is at the end of the day like building a house. The story needs to function and make sense. And every detail matters.
Perspective: Every filmmaker has a view on the world and things they find interesting. There is only one you. Your life experience is the basis for your creative cannibalization. And you need to soak in those life experiences and reflect on them in order to have a strong POV on the world and in turn, will be able to express that in your films.
Awesome, really appreciate you opening up with us today and before we close maybe you can share a book recommendation with us. Has there been a book that’s been impactful in your growth and development?
I am really inspired by greek myth and timeless stories, such as in the Odyssey and the Iliad. I believe in the ancient wisdom of the stories, and their timelessness. I try to create work that is not grounded in time, but focuses on lessons and human centered stories. I also draw much inspiration from Philosophy, the stoics; Marcus Aurelius, Plato, Aristotle etc. More recently I’ve gained tons of inspiration from Stephen King’s “On Writing” and specifically his chapter on the difference between plot and story. We can either retrofit our characters into Joseph Campbell’s “Hero with a thousand faces” archetype, or we can let the characters themselves reveal the story for us in the process of making.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.nickcavalier.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/nickcavalier
- Facebook: facebook.com/nickcavalierdirector
- Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/nickcavalier
- Twitter: twitter.com/nickcavalier
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCP2_-9sKMaQmYjFOa9-83yg?themeRefresh=1
