Rocket Science: Evan Wolf Buxbaum

Evan is a filmmaker and Head of Video for LEROI.nyc

What are you listening to right now?

I’ve been listening to a lot of jazz recently. A friend and I are doing a thing where we’re making 12 short films this year. We’ve committed to make a short film every month, all year.

In February we’re doing a rom-com-style short film for Valentine’s Day. So, I’ve been listening to a ton of jazz, romcom-style jazz. A lot of Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, that kind of stuff, while I’m writing to get in the mood.

What’s your favorite wall decoration in your home?

I have these three posters I got a while ago, these watercolors of directors. The artist takes any given director and makes their portrait through a pastiche of their movies.

There’s Scorsese, Tarantino, and Hitchcock … it’s almost like a Rorschach painting. I really wanted him to do Wes Anderson and I don’t know if he has yet. I should check in on that.

What’s the most frustrating cliché you see in movies?

This one has been going on for a while in films and TV: totally unneeded and aggressively over-the-top exposition in conversations.

You see this a lot in crime shows, someone’s like, “Let me tell you about Jimmy the mob boss guy.” Then someone else delivers a bunch of facts and descriptions that blatantly telegraph Jimmy’s character traits to the audience.

You see it in romantic comedies, too, especially at the end when they’re getting back together. They’ll say, “Remember that time when we were on the beach?” And the other person will say, “Oh yes, we walked 14 steps on the beach and then we saw a seagull, and then we did this, and we did that.” Nobody would ever say that to anybody, ever, because they both remember exactly what happened! They were there!

No nuance, and that just kills me. It’s just a very clichéd way to convey history and emotion to the audience.

Whose creative work do you really admire?

I love the Coen brothers’ work from the beginning. I love their characters. I love the way that they write scenes and the way that they shoot things. I think they’re incredible visual storytellers. They’ve had a profound impact on the way that I see film, and really, on me getting into film in general.

Also, I love Woody Allen’s filmmaking. I grew up drawn to his work — the dialogue, the long wide shots, the love of New York City, the improv — it resonated with me deeply and has had a big influence on my love of film.

I’ve wrestled with that recently as allegations came out about his personal life — I’m not sure what actually happened there but the last thing I want is to be insensitive to victims in any way. It’s something I think about a lot — the necessity of a moral compass in the audience — and not only in relation to film.

When you’re filming on location, what’s a handy piece of gear you always have on you?

I know it’s just a piece of clothing, but I think the single best thing that I have found for shooting on location is a Patagonia R1 fleece layer.

When you’re on location shooting, and I’ve done a lot of commercial, adventure sort of stuff, you’re all over the place in all kinds of temperatures. In the mountains, in the desert, early morning, late night … it’s very hard to dress for the schedule. I’ve used that shirt more than anything while shooting, even though it has nothing to do with shooting.

If you had to have your ashes spread somewhere, where would that be?

I think I would spread them in the ocean. I grew up going out to Fire Island, which is a great place to learn how to surf and just be a water baby. I feel very tied to the water in a lot of ways. I’m a Pisces, maybe that has something to do with it.

I think it would be nice for the people who are still around when I’m gone to be able to go anywhere that water connects to the ocean, and to know that a little piece of me is out there somewhere.

What advice do you give brands that want to get more into branded content?

Now that real commercial dollars are being tossed at branded content, there’s a major debate going on. Content is getting the same attention that commercials do, but they’re not the same thing.

I’ve often found the more that a brand can let go and just put their logo at the end, the more people will gravitate towards that content, and the more successful it will be. But it’s a challenge to get brands to relinquish that control and not insert their brand at every opportunity, which makes the views go down. That’s a very big learning curve for some companies.

Companies that focus on specific things, like, say, air travel or outdoor activities, typically have an easier time. As long as the content is about vacations or saving the environment, they’re on board. Companies that have a less specific brand can be tougher.

Commercials sell things for the company, branded content sells the brand itself, and that’s the difference, I think. You can’t really sell a product through branded content effectively, but you can sell the ethos of your company.

Where have you never visited but want to?

I have always wanted to go to Lhasa. My whole life, I’ve wanted to go there.

I’ve tried several times. I came close from the Nepali side, and my visa got cancelled the day before I went. I almost studied abroad there in college, and then the program got cancelled because there was unrest before I went.

I ended up studying abroad in Mongolia, instead, which was wonderful, it was one of the most powerful experiences of my life. But I feel in a lot of ways, I’ve just been trying to get to Lhasa for a really long time and I’ve never gotten there. I feel like someday, I will. Just not yet.