Jason Smith had been a paramedic for 13 years when he experienced a traumatic ambulance accident that forced him to take time off work.
With time on his hands and the need for healing and recovery, a spark of creativity emerged from Jason’s mind and heart. He wanted to take some time to travel across the United States, but his reason for doing so was the very antithesis of luxury and relaxation.
He decided to fund his entire trip from the generosity of others via panhandling and donation. His goal was to better understand the needs of the homeless population that he worked so closely with as a paramedic, but he also had a deep need to experience the kindness of humanity and to see if people were in fact kind to one another.
Through this experience, Jason accrued roughly 600 hrs. of raw footage that he wanted to turn into a story…
That’s where I come in.
I spent about 8 months pouring through video clips taken with his GoPro, drone and Canon Rebel Ti. The process was very meticulous - I made a spreadsheet where I logged all the notable footage and where I could find it on the hard drive that Jason provided. After going through ALL OF IT, I began to craft a sequence to help Jason tell his story.
Once I put together the initial 3 and a half hour edit, we began to make cuts and bring it down to 2 hrs 10 min. It’s longer than we’d prefer, but he DID travel from Phoenix to San Antonio to Key West, Florida, all the way up to Bangor, Maine, back across to Seattle, down to LA and back to his home in Phoenix. He traveled a total of 17,526 miles in his non-air conditioned van, he experience so much that getting the documentary down to 2 hrs. was a challenge.
After finishing the edit, Jason decided to have 2 premiere events, one where he lives in Phoenix, AZ and the other in the town where he and I both grew up, Centralia, WA.
Arizona Financial Theatre
I flew out to support Jason and enjoy the first premiere at Arizona Financial Theatre in downtown Phoenix. I filmed a bit of the behind-the-scenes experience that you can view in the video below:
McFiler’s Theatre in Chehalis, WA
Jason and I were actually acquaintances when we were in high school and college. We grew up in the same small town and eventually bumped into each and had pleasant conversations. I remember seeing his exploits back in 2018 through his Facebook Page Jason’s Most Excellent Van Adventures. I definitely thought his idea was a bit strange and I didn’t understand it at the time, but I also had a great deal of respect for someone who dreamed up an idea and actually went through with it. Years later, Jason gave me the opportunity to bring his project to life and I couldn’t be more honored to be the person to help tell his story to the public.
It only made sense to have one of the premieres in the place where we both grew up and at a theater where we both used to watch movies (now owned by a high school buddy).
Branding
Part of the editing process was to include a consistent aesthetic that one could easily associate with the film. I chose a color palette that includes blue, green and tan - all of the specific tones found on a Google Maps image.
I also created a more cartoonish version of the iconic van that Jason traveled in (and still owns).
I used these colors to then explore creating a poster image for the movie, which can be seen below.
I also used the images and branding to create the end credits images and animations using a whole lot of Google Maps screenshots and Adobe After Effects.
Future Plans
The goal is to eventually get the film on streaming platforms, but Jason intends to first test the film festival circuit which he is currently applying for.