This week I spoke with Corim de Guzman, a filmmaker and Youtuber who has amassed an amazing portfolio of work. We spoke about the coolest project he’s done, some hot work he turned down, and how to avoid burnout as a creative.

Corim’s journey as a filmmaker began like many others, making home movies of family vacations and documenting his personal life. After becoming comfortable with a camera, he began to make original narratives and won his first accolade with a venture into stop-motion animation. Taking inspiration from a video he found on Youtube, he created a stop-motion video in which he fought… an office chair. Thanks to this video, he won his middle-school talent show and kickstarted his career as a filmmaker. The chair was unavailable to comment.

After Corim began his studies at The University of British Columbia, he reached out to student organizations to offer his services and gain some more experience. This initiative resulted in his first paid gig as a filmmaker when he was hired to film “UBC Homecoming” in support of varsity football. Running through the 10,000 person crowd, he describes this experience as “action-packed” and “overwhelming” to take on by himself. At the time, this was one of the largest undertakings of his career and he spoke about the pressure to deliver on such a big stage. But once his final cut was published, he was rewarded with an influx of commissions from other organizations seeking his talent. Corim says that the adrenaline from the crowd and the physical challenges presented by event filmmaking are what first attracted him to the genre and what keeps him returning for more. Furthermore, he tells me that the creative freedom he has in event filmmaking is unlike any other. He says that “nothing is too crazy when it comes to event filmmaking,” and that these limitless possibilities push him creatively to constantly explore new shots, effects and styles.

Castles to Cars: Diversity in Filmmaking

In Corim’s opinion, the best part of freelance filmmaking is the “diversity of the people you meet” and the experiences you are exposed to. This diversity is celebrated in his portfolio that spans incredible locations, genres and clients. Corim first explored filmmaking through travel videos, so it is no surprise that one of the first goals he set for himself was to be paid to travel as a filmmaker. The first assignment in which he accomplished this was when he was asked to film the Ice Castles in Edmonton, a collection of life-sized castles sculpted entirely by hand out of ice. Between spending his childhood in the Philippines and studies in Vancouver, he had never experienced this degree (or lack thereof) of temperature before. When I asked him about these working conditions he remembers thinking “what am I getting myself into” as the sprinklers that created the ice froze his clothes against his body. However, he described the final products as “straight out of Disney” and looks back at this experience as a major checkpoint in his filmmaking journey.

Moving to his more recent work, Corim discussed a commercial he just shot for Porsche. When selecting clients, he tries to choose work that he is passionate about, but naturally, sometimes creative compromises have to be made. What made this shoot memorable and unusual for Corim was the creative liberty he had to experiment and “get away from the usual style” of corporate filmmaking. This freedom made this project feel less like a corporate gig and something in which he could really inject his personal style. In addition, this was the first professional project in which he worked alongside his brother, making the job that much more special. Over his career, Corim has “taken on any kind of project [he] can get his hands on in any type of industry,” and this has led him to accumulate an extremely varied roster of clients. However, there are exceptions to any rule, and he shared a few would-be clients that stood out over the last 5 years.

One such client found Corim’s work on Instagram, like many before and many since then. Impressed by his page, the client sent Corim a standard inquiry message that also included the key phrase, “I was wondering if you’d be interested in shooting porn”. Corim described this as the most “outlandish” project he has ever been approached for, and for the record, he said no. While this project was unique in the subject matter, Corim tells me that the payment can be equally surprising. He shared another message in which he was asked to shoot a standard product video, but instead of a cheque, the client offered payment in the form of magic mushrooms. I do not know what the current exchange rate is for video content to mushrooms, but this was another project that Corim politely declined.

Be Nice and other Career Advice

As a self-identified workaholic, Corim notes that many creatives face burnout and that this is “something that more people should be talking about”. Between late nights and fast turnarounds, filmmaking can easily have a negative effect on one’s mental health. To avoid burnout, Corim tries to find a balance between the amount of corporate work he does and his own passion projects. In between shoots, he also tries to make sure he does “activities that have nothing to do with filmmaking” to give himself a mental reprieve. Moreover, his advice to creatives is to “surround yourself with the best,” to stay happy, healthy, and produce the best work.

On one such non-filmmaking excursion, Corim found himself downtown at Twelve West to celebrate a friend’s birthday. In a state that he described as “a little bit hammered,” he struck up a conversation with a man at the bar. After exchanging Instagram handles, Corim continued on with his night, not knowing that his bar companion was one of the marketing leads at Vessi. This chat eventually led to a healthy partnership with Vessi that Corim maintains to this day. Early on in this partnership, Corim pitched a shoot to feature their products in Hawaii. Vessi initially declined the offer, so Corim gathered some friends with the intent to travel on their own. But on the day before the flight, Corim received an update that Vessi had reconsidered and was now interested in sponsoring the shoot. (If you’re thinking of upgrading your Crocs this summer, check out the final cut). Much like the Ice Castles were a milestone in Corim’s journey, this shoot represented the next step as this was his first sponsored international shoot. Looking back at the humble beginnings of this partnership, Corim says that “the moral of the story is you never know who you’re going to meet, so be nice to everyone”. If all drunk people would heed this advice, the world would be a much better, and probably less sweaty place.

Youtube

Corim’s most recent endeavour is his journey into Youtube. He tells me that this has long been a goal of his, but he had always faced “that hurdle of putting yourself out there,” and to come out from behind the camera. He’s not entirely sure what his channel will look like but “a mix of tutorials, vlogs,” long-form narratives or documentaries are all possibilities. He has already released some great content, so definitely check out his channel for more. To stay updated with Corim’s work, or to proposition him for questionable gigs, make sure to shoot him a follow on Instagram as well.

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And in case you missed last week’s article here you go!

-BF