Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Savanna Crasto. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Savanna , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

After doing ‘The Psychology of Beauty’, which was centered around the impact of the beauty industry, specifically on our sense of worth and how the industry speaks to women, I received a letter from a woman who had seen it with her daughter. In the letter she spoke about how the film made her question the way she brings her daughter up considering the impact of the beauty industry, and that for herself and her daughter, how the film made them feel understood in the struggles women face to achieve an impossible standard. To me, those are the projects I want to create and that I think are important. That was my second feature film and it had a private screening in 2021. It showed me that even if one person feels heard and understood, that is the merit of a successful film to me. That is the importance of this industry to me; films that show what it means to be human.

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

I got into the film industry in an all-in, head-first, kind of dive. I had this play that I was completely in awe of and I wanted to put it on, however, the covid lockdowns had just started so I thought of the idea to fuse film and theatre together to create a film that took on the elements of theatre within a film mindset. A good friend of mine, Robert Plaza is a cinematographer and at that time I had taken the script and the concept to him and from then it’s been back-to-back films. After we filmed that feature at the start of 2021, premiered it in mid-2021, we then shot our second feature at the end of 2021, premiered that at the beginning of 2022, and got into our third feature by August 2022, and that pace has continued on into 2023. Apart from the first feature, the other three I wrote as original pieces. I think the thing I’m most proud of is the people who have come on board over the past two years and the passion that is clearly driving them. The crew and the actors I’ve gotten to work with through these productions have highlighted the point of why I continue to want to be an active part of this industry. The passion and talent I’ve been lucky enough to be around have shaped and defined my reason for wanting to be apart of films, whether that be acting, directing, writing, or producing, and have encouraged my view of film and the creative arts. I’ve always wanted to create films that reflect what it is to be human and reflect the human experience back to audiences and while this has resulted in a few of my films straying from conventionality. I find the potential of someone being able to view themselves, their emotions, and their story on film, and seeing that their existence is just as much to be celebrated as anyone else’s, is worth straying from the conventional means of storytelling. I’m interested in forming my own way, and I’ve been fortunate enough to be surrounded by people that support and believe in that vision. To me, that is what I am most proud of; the people I’ve had the opportunity to meet.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

I can only speak for myself, but the most rewarding part of this industry and the arts as a whole is that we have the potential to create something that instigates a feeling in someone and makes them feel seen or heard, or understood. And especially with film seeing as though it can be created in one part of the world and shown to the other, the idea that someone at a different time, in a different circumstance, could watch your film and have a moment where they feel spoken to is enough to be fully committed to creating films that do just that. I think the most rewarding part for me is that there’s a chance that any film could be someone’s own personal world that they can have a place within.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

I’m very into psychology, especially how our brains respond to the world around us and our collective experiences. I’ve found that the best recourse when it comes to enhancing my management and entrepreneurial thinking, and even my drive to jump into projects and follow through, is an eagerness to be proven wrong. And when I say that, I more loosely refer to the point that the greatest recourse I’ve come to find is the potential knowledge we have at our disposal. Books, lectures, articles, science, mythology, history, it all fuels a drive to create. I think that comes from this idea that the more we look into the world around us, the more need we have to show the beauty in what we’ve found. I’m currently doing a Harvard online course in neuroscience partnered with Chinese philosophy and that in itself has pushed me further into a creative mindset and almost silences that voice of doubt. I think the ability to put emphasis on the world around us and utilize the resources that force us to see the importance of others over ourselves is the biggest creative motivator for me. Falling into that eagerness and want is the reason I’m more interested in creating and trying, rather than living up to a societal standard of who I should be; which makes all the difference when it comes to taking action.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.thecolourseries.com.au/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thecolourseriesofficial/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thecolourseries
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWUpNe7pg5FoppBSG1-Iolw

Image Credits
Tim Ross Photography Will Smith