We’ve been so busy these past few months with paying gigs (fortunately), our documentary on James J. Hill has had to take a back seat for a spell.  We did, however, manage to fly to the Midwest this November to shoot an interview with transportation history guru Carlos Schwantes from University Missouri-St. Louis, as well as business historian Professor Burton Folsom from Hillsdale College in Michigan.

It was a pleasure meeting both men and their interviews are a great asset to our story.

Interview with Professor Burton Folsom

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After sifting through 2,000+ photographs for a documentary, you are bound to have some kind of epiphany into the world of your subject.  And today, mine was a monumental one.  James J. Hill, the “Empire Builder” and founder of the Great Northern Railway actually lived in a world of color, just like you or me.  Yes, I know it sounds absurd, but I have proof.

Case in point:  Below is a picture of James J. Hill’s daughter, Mamie, living, in what I always assumed to be, her little black & white world:

But that was before I saw something in the corner of the screen…

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The funnest thing about shooting documentaries is that every day is a field trip. Last August, Stephen and Kyle headed east on HWY-2 capturing images for our documentary on The Empire Builder: James J. Hill. Armed with only a car, a camera, and an iPhone, the two followed the old Great Northern line through Washington, Idaho & Montana, shooting railroad history and beautiful scenery along the way.

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At the end of May we produced a two-camera shoot on the floor of Salon Shoes at Nordstrom.  Jeffrey Kalinsky, Director of Designer Merchandising, demonstrated how to approach and sell designer shoes.  We’re currently working on our first round of edits to create this 10-minute sales tool.

We just wrapped our fall designer shoot with Nordstrom’s Jeffrey Kalinsky, who is back to highlight the “must haves” for next season.  This 20-minute video has become an instrumental tool to educate salespeople on the key designer pieces from fashion shows in New York, Paris and beyond.  

We’ve done several training videos for Nordstrom in the past, but nothing quite like this. Last week the whole SFW crew spent half the day in the designer section of Nordstrom filming Jeffrey Kalinsky. Jeffrey lends his skills as an experienced shopkeeper in this video, interacting with a real customer in the dressing room getting her fit for a charity event. Not only is the video educational, but also a treat to see Jeffrey in his selling element.

We have been hard at work putting the finishing touches on a fascinating documentary for Puget Sound Energy. This hour-long, HD piece, captures the unbelievable story of Charles Baker, a young civil engineer at the turn of the 20th century, who designed, financed and built the first all-underground hydro-electric power plant in the world at Snoqualmie Falls. The plant and transmission lines, built in just 16th months, helped usher in the age of electricity to the Northwest and brought with it tremendous growth.

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For the past three years, Sadis Filmworks has teamed with up Nordstrom as they travel across the country, giving away college scholarships to high school students.  This year, we documented 40 students in eight different regions receiving the $10,000 Scholarship. 

Our crews capture the moment when Nordstrom representatives enter the classroom and announce the winner.  We then interview their teachers, coaches, counselors and family members to create short vignettes on the lives of these exceptional students. The stories will then be shown at a regional awards ceremonies in the Winter.

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Each year the Washington Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) hosts an inspiring event in November that attracts over 1,200 business, non-profit and community leaders to honor and celebrate seven recipients who have dedicated their time and efforts to philanthropic work.

We are extremely proud  to be teaming up with AFP to work on seven vignettes highlighting the tremendous philanthropic contributions of these recipients. This is the fourth year we have worked with AFP and it is always an honor to give back to the community by collaborating on these videos.  Getting to know these passionate and tireless people and telling their stories is an inspiration to all of us involved in the project.

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As the cold, rainy Northwest winter approaches, what better time to think about Spring fashion! We are currently in the middle of editing a 30-minute production to show Nordstrom’s employees the latest fashions from New York, London, Paris and Milan. This video features fashion expert Jeffrey Kalinsky who highlights the key designer offerings from Nordstrom.

Reviewing hours of footage of beautiful models walking down runways is challenging work for the crew here at Sadis Filmworks, but somehow we manage to work through this onerous task.