We recently connected with Casey Oberhansli and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Casey, thanks for joining us today. Can you recount a story of an unexpected problem you’ve faced along the way?
Being a Cinematographer, filmmaker, or creative of any kind in the last four years has been a major challenge. The world is constantly bearing down on you and disrupting the flow of creativity. Covid, forced us away from sets and isolated us from our creative peers, and then the movie industry was plunged into a long and unforgiving set of strikes. Many were forced to move away or dig deep into savings. It was a time that had many of us professionals in Hollywood asking if we even belonged here.
I think the way I made it out of the doldrums for me was to focus my energy into smaller and more personal projects. Big movies were on pause, but small groups were able to take advantage of all the free time and make projects showing what could be done with a minimum amount of resources. Those small projects allowed me to continue working on my passion of filmmaking while still making a living.
In Hollywood, a person is only successful if they have a group of friends who share their extra jobs with. I didn’t struggle as much as I expected because I’ve always married my technical knowledge with a fun and positive attitude on set. It cannot be understated how important it is to have people on set that are fun to work with. I’m very thankful for the people who didn’t forget me! Much of the work that kept me afloat during the slow period was from people who I had only worked with once or twice, years before, and I had made enough of an impression for them to remember me. I’ve been described as having “golden retriever energy” and I think that energy has served me well. Always be positive.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I am a Cinematographer in the film industry. That means that I am responsible for the overall look of the film. I build the team that creates the lighting, manages the cameras, and hits the little red button when they tell us to roll.
My path to tv, film, and videos started way back when I was a kid with a love for watching movies. I think nearly everyone drawn to film has a kind of “ah ha!” moment, when they realize that there are actually people behind the cameras, that movie making is an actual Job, and I was no different. Watching the behind the scenes of pictures like “The Lord Of the Rings”, “Star Wars”, and “Pirates of the Carribean” lit my young mind on fired. I loved the way that film making looked like a real problem to solve and a way to act out a crazy imagination and share those visions with friends. Naturally, I made my two younger brothers spend their video game time by helping me to shoot little films. It’s okay, they are filmmakers now too ;)
I continued to be interested in film and video. I loved to draw, and I loved engineering, and I think film and television was a kind of synthesis of those two things so for college I chose to attend Savannah College of Art and Design. I had a scholarship thanks to those little films my brothers and I made.
These days I help bring visions to life. If you are a director or a producer out there who need to get an idea off of a page and onto a screen, I make that happen. I have been fortunate enough to acquire cameras, gear, Steadicam, postproduction facilities, and great crew members that I am confident can handle almost any size project. I love the challenge of making a lot with a little and with just the right amount of creativity I believe almost anything can be brought to screen.
One of the things that I am most proud of in my career is that I’ve noticed that even when things seem really slow or difficult, I have really been able to spread the wealth that comes my way. When people have come to me for help, I almost always have a way to help them but now in a handout kind of way. I like to mentor and help people grow and gain skills that will help them, help themselves.
How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?
We are at a turning point in creativity. AI looms over everyone and there are some who think it will create a wealth of new images that we’ve never seen before but I think that is unlikely. I think AI will be like that annoying partner in group projects who encourages the others to take a break because they don’t like what everyone else is bringing to the project. Hopefully there won’t come a time when creatives are sitting at home wishing they were a part of the creative process. I think the best way to avoid losing jobs is to pull from our lives and our friends’ lives, make art from life and not copycat others because their video is the popular trend at the moment. Society can support artists by being smarter about what they are looking at. These things that people create have value because they have a perspective. It’s more than pretty colors and flashy lights.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
I’m in the middle of a pivot now. My main focus for the last few years has been to direct a decent feature film. But the right project hasn’t come along, and the rapidly changing landscape of the film industry makes it unclear if that is even something that is rewarded any more. In a time when the “hawk tewua” girl becomes insta famous and is being offered deals to have her around, it is difficult to tell if making a good movie even matters anymore. I am in the middle of trying to be more visible on social media, which is difficult when you’re just a simple man trying to make your way in the universe.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @caseyoberhansli
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/casey.oberhansli?mibextid=JRoKGi
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/
- Youtube: https://youtu.be/_-kt9N1z-hM
