Short films for
people and missions
that color outside the lines.

Good stories come from great listeners.

- something we made up for this website

the first fifth.

We spend the first 20% of all engagements listening and planning before we do anything. Why?

Your story, told well, should speak about your why to your specific audience in a differentiated manner. Instead of comparing price, features, and benefits, you are telling a very specific audience that you designed something just for them and they don’t need to look any further.

And that story should be in your own words, not someone else’s.

Which is why our entire motto is sophistication in restraint. No big crews, fancy rigs, or bloated budgets. Just open ears and an eagerness to collaborate. (And a camera + microphone. Maybe some lights.)

The first fifth is our way of making sure this process runs as it should, every time.

What we capture

STORIES

CONVERSATIONS

EVENTS

MUSIC VIDEOS

we're here
to tell stories that convert through differentiation.

wasif gets a hairline

Dr. Vinay Rawlani builds hair restoration around art and medicine rather than volume. We spent the first fifth understanding what his patients were actually afraid of, then made the film from what he told us. Our video and brand work with Dr. Vinay helped to double his revenue in one year, and resulted in new patients coming in telling him they knew him (from his videos).

WATCH WASIF

the highbrow and the lowbrow

Tim Peterson has run an independent shop in Evanston for fifteen years. There was no marketing problem to solve here. There was a man nobody had ever asked why he does it. One intro film and eleven clips was what we delivered. Before the review call was over, Tim had asked us back to make the store's fifteenth anniversary into something special. "I gave answers I've never said aloud before. Made me think about things I've never been able to articulate."

WATCH TIM

" But I don't like being on camera. "

" I wouldn't know what to say. "

- most clients

before they get to know our process

Most people don't like being on camera, including Rob here. We understand. But our process is designed to help you be comfortable speaking. And it doesn't have to be on camera. It's just better when it is.

Here's what some folks have said to us after their story is revealed:

" I've never felt comfortable speaking to a lens.
Prashant worked around that, making me feel comfortable to just be me. "

- Natasha Kohli

visual artist, Evanston, IL

everything starts with the first fifth.

Ninety minutes on a call. A story written from it. $3,500.

It's yours. Put it on your about page, or use it as the foundation for whatever comes next.

We don't quote a film before we know what the film is. Once we have your story, we'll know what it takes to make it, and so will you.

meet the mind behind the method.

TLDR: i make mini documentary films profiling people and missions that color outside the lines. that think about community instead of maximizing shareholder value. that laugh at convention in pursuit of a better path forward.

i try to live life as a living, breathing embodiment of calvin and hobbes. every day ripe for adventure.

i was often in my head, daydreaming, which meant that teachers found me frustrating and disruptive. and like everyone else in this class, i was an easy mark for bullies.

that led me to ping pong between honors classes and detention. hating school. and as the son of a strange and wonderful marriage - a mom born in india but raised on the south and west sides of chicago and a dad who never planned to immigrate to america but has called the chicago area home for nearly 50 years - my experience was shaped by people who grew up in different worlds but shared a fundamental perspective. be good to others, always.