Cinematographer in training: Trilix advises the next star in stop-motion video production

Trevor has two main loves in his life besides his family: Legos and making videos. Trilix was privileged to meet Trevor through our client Heart of Iowa Community Services, one of the state’s 14 Mental Health and Disability Services Regions. Heart of Iowa’s service provider Mosaic Haven and Monarch Employment Solutions partner to provide comprehensive services for special needs individuals in central Iowa.

Last summer, Trilix’s cinematographers shot footage of a camp hosted by Mosaic Haven. The video cameras and other equipment caught Trevor’s attention, and he began asking questions. A beautiful partnership was born. Trevor’s associate, Ruth Mwangangi, founder of Monarch Employment Solutions, contacted Trilix to ask us to provide Trevor some advice before he headed to college in South Carolina in fall of 2022 to pursue video production.

Ruth thought it would be a good learning experience for Trevor to create a marketing video and receive feedback on his work from Trilix’s cinematographers and editors. Trevor was already a practiced hand at making stop-motion videos of his Lego creations — sometimes building his sets and shooting video for several hours at a time — so he chose to use Legos to market his side job: lawn care services.

For nearly a year, Trilix regularly met with Trevor, walking him through the storyboarding process so he could map out the shots, ensuring that he included his contact information so potential customers could inquire about services and challenging him to include the sounds of a lawn mower in the piece.

Trevor created his Lego set, even crafting a lawn edger to show the clean lines he can make between a driveway and lawn. A truck from a “Home Alone” Lego set was repurposed with a sign that read, “Trevor’s Lawncare Service.” To shoot the video, Trevor took thousands of shots, moving the Lego pieces and recording frame by frame to show the lawn getting a fresh cut.

“It’s really remarkable that Trevor chose to create a stop-motion video,” said James Drescher, Trilix cinematographer who worked closely with Trevor. “Out of all the styles of video production, that’s one of the hardest. People spend their entire careers learning how to do stop-motion videos properly. Trevor nailed it.”

Once the initial footage was shot, Trevor worked with Trilix sound designer Phil Young to add effects like the lawn mower sound — which fades in and out as the mower goes from left to right, the sound of the truck backing up and birds chirping.

Trevor, Ruth and Trevor’s parents visited Trilix for the final video reveal, a piece that blew us away.

“I’m impressed,” James told Trevor during the video reveal. “Our video team has those who specialize in preproduction and other experts who do production and editing. You pretty much did 10 jobs on your own, and you made an incredible video.”

We can’t wait to see what kind of videos Trevor will make after he comes home from his first year of college next spring. In the meantime, check out more of Trevor’s work.