We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Michael Evans. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Michael below.

Alright, Michael thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s start with a fun one – what’s something you believe that most people in your industry (or in general) disagree with?

Something that I have been thinking about a lot lately is giving creative people time and space to create. This is something that most in the industry would say they agree with, but when it comes down to budgets and timelines, it becomes everyone’s goal to churn out content as fast as possible. Every creative field has always faced these issues but we live in an interesting time where content is created and dispersed in massive volumes. In some ways, it’s a fantastic time to be in content creation. Everyone needs content. But many of my favorite ideas have come to me in quieter moments when I have allowed myself to slow down and let all of the work just sit there in my mind. The brain has a way of solving puzzles when you let it relax. Art and creation has often been about solving puzzles and making something that works.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Early on, I met a lot of fantastic creatives at UNLV and a small number of us jumped on a little project I wanted to do called 2AM: The Smiling Man, adapting a creepy story I read online. It’s funny how it’s probably the lowest-budget, quickest-timeline work we have created and that’s the one that went viral. That’s what I’m most known for, but also this taught me that you cannot predict what will connect with people. You have to make things for yourself. Make what you enjoy. This gives your work an authenticity that people can feel.

Years later, Duane Wik and I created Normal People, and we did so to tackle a big project: making gaming videos and content for our friends at Lenovo Legion Gaming and Intel, which was a fun way to combine our hobbies with work.

In the past year, we have turned our attention back to this amazing, wonderful town of Las Vegas. It’s such an incredible place and it’s in this huge transition right now. It’s really evolving as a city. We’ve had the privilege recently to create video and photo content for a number of properties in Downtown Las Vegas and you can see this positive growth and change happening right before our eyes.

It’s been fun to be so involved in this too. Nightlife in Vegas is fun, of course, but being out there in it, as we film, as we take photos… what I notice is just the incredible variety of people you see in every venue. People at all ages too! In our world of video creation, what this means is you get to experiment with a lot of creative ideas. There’s so many possible ways to reach those people and it’s a fun challenge to take on. I’m just glad we work in a way where we can try stuff and have fun with it. If we are having fun making it, the viewers can feel that. They can sense it.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

It’s always rewarding to see something you made connect with someone. Getting any number of views on something is one thing, but when someone writes a personal message and tells you how something you did or made actually became important to them for whatever reason, that is something incredibly special. What you create is a bridge between you and that person. It’s a relationship between the person that creates and the person that the art resonates with. It’s really wonderful.

Just in recent months I received a message from someone who told me that he watched many of my short films with his father, who had passed away. He went on to tell me that watching those short films now helps him feel closer to his father during such a tough time. This is just something I never considered would happen when directing these projects. A message like that is an incredible gift.

How do you keep in touch with clients and foster brand loyalty?

On the business side of things, I think it’s always important to be involved and be excited. We’re filming nightlife? Hell yeah, let’s make it fun. We’re shooting food and beverage? Hell yeah, I love food. Who doesn’t! Fashion? Work boots? Video Games? No matter what we are creating content for, we are all in. You have to be. It’s definitely work, and there are stressful times that require quick problem-solving, but overall, this is fun work. I like to be involved in it as much as possible from start to finish and I get very honestly excited about what we do for our clients. Then there is a feeling of true collaboration.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.normalpeople.net
• Instagram: @normalpeoplelv
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/normal-people
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Normal_People

Image Credits

Dam Short Film Festival
Michael Evans