IT ALL BEGAN WITH A SHORT FILM

It was 2013, and we were starting to shoot a short film, Chaos of the Senses, in Prague. Milan and I felt the need to create. Until then, we had been doing photography and shooting weddings alongside our regular office jobs in IT and banking, but we enjoyed coming up with humorous skits with a twist. We eventually developed a story and a script with creative ideas, but we had no idea who would complete our crew and help us shoot the film. Since we crowdfunded the film, we had little technical background and support. The biggest bonus of the campaign was an email from a young American named Cary, who had been living in Prague for a few years. He was looking for a job in the camera industry and was intrigued by our Slovakian essence and curious about the story we wanted to tell. We met on April 23, 2013, at Café Pavlač in Prague's Žižkov district.

We revealed to Cary our intention to break down societal prejudices and explore what it means to be "normal" through the story of Karol, who likes the smell of toilets and therefore visits them often and happily. To this day, I'm not sure Cary knew what he was getting into; his only question was whether the whole film would be about sniffing toilets. We replied that it would not be.

Thus began our collaboration on a short film that was completed in about a year. During this time, we got to know each other better and discovered that we shared values beyond the film and camera world. After the film was finished, we had some equipment left over, and I received a call from TatraTea in Slovakia, who wanted us to make a promo video. So, in October 2013, we did our first commercial project as a team of three. This marked the birth of our collaboration, partnership, and the core of our collective production team.

48h film project

Regarding the history of the word "collective" in our title, I must mention the 48 Hour Film Project, a film competition where your team must shoot and edit a short film in 48 hours. We participated in the fall of 2014, and when filling out the application, Cary had to write a team name in the team name box. He filled in "The Collective." The film Silence in the Car (watch here) was created, and we've been calling ourselves "The Collective" ever since. The initial idea was that the collective symbolizes a group of creative people who produce audiovisual works together.

My job (I was working for an IT training company at the time) was to create a website, logo, and emails so we could reach our first clients. The logo was created by my then colleague, graphic designer Ondřej Dolejší, and was later "skimmed" by our creative Dávid. Apart from subtle adjustments, the logo has kept its shape to this day.

Business

The year 2015 was a turning point. Milan moved from Prague back to the High Tatras, our short film Zmätok Zmyslov (Chaos of the Senses) premiered, and the collective made its first industrial video. We decided to make a living from video production. Like any organic startup, our growth was slow but steady. We shot our first corporate video for Pressmetal in Třinec, traveling there by train as we didn't have our own car.

In autumn 2015, Lucka from Tatratea approached us again, this time with a big project. In an improvised studio at the Tatratea premises in Kežmarok, we filmed an unconventional mixing of drinks by Marian Beke, one of the most successful Slovak bartenders. The creative process was managed by the creatives from TRIAD advertising. Like any business, the production of commercial videos has its light and dark sides. Your focus can shift purely to making money and the technical aspects of filming, which can easily suppress the joy of pure creation. However, our artistic creativity hasn't faded and has reasserted itself over time. But more on that next time…

PS: Strange Foot Productions

There's another story attached to the title, courtesy of Cary and his mom. When Cary was back home in California in 2014, where he and his dad regularly shot stock footage videos, he and his mom brainstormed over dinner for a name for our new video production company. Various names were tossed around, including Strange Foot Productions. The inspiration stemmed from Cary's peculiar feet, particularly his unusual toes, which had been immortalized on canvas by Cary's mom, a painter. Unfortunately, the colorful painting of Cary's feet is no longer around, and neither is the title. By the end of dinner, they both agreed that the name wasn't quite fitting for a video production company focused on corporate videos. If you're interested in using this name, please contact Cary's feet.