Evacuate!
Max G.
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This short film, Evacuate!, was based on deciding what my family needed to take when we were told to evacuate during a wildfire near our home. In 2021, the Lucas Valley Wildfire prompted a a small community in northern San Rafael to evacuate. As it was a weekday, both of my parents were at work and I was at school, leaving my dog home alone in the backyard when the fire initially started. Luckily, a friend took our dog on her way out. When the evacuation order was lifted, I took my camera gear to the firefighters' basecamp and starting point of the fire, a mere half a mile from our front door. Staying out of the firefighters' way, I filmed the b-roll that is in the news broadcast in the beginning of my film. Weeks later while the hills were still charred black, I safety put my drone up to capture an aerial view of the damage.
Despite my drive to create something with the footage I captured, a year later all of the footage was still lying untouched in a hard drive. I had all of this unique video, but couldn't formulate a story out of it alone. Eventually, instead of focusing on the wildfire footage itself, I focused on the impact it caused on my family - the communication from the authorities, the stress about our dog, and our worry about our material goods and house. The final film, while not a 100% true retelling of our evacuation, was greatly inspired by my thought process during the fire.
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Expressing my creativity lets me film unique material. My video work with Apple, Golden State Warriors, and Post Malone would not have been achieved if my original sport and concert edits did not stand out creatively. These opportunities were granted through my creative filming and editing.
