A Proper Retrospective for a Humble Author/Artist

In 2019, I was approached by a good friend and colleague, Eleanor Sandford, to help her create something for her father, John, who was a renowned author and illustrator of children's books. He was scheduled to be honored with a lifetime achievement award at an upcoming industry show and was hoping to put together a slide show of sorts to give to the event organizers.

As we discussed the possibilities over lunch, we both quickly arrived at the conclusion that this could easily be (and damn-well needed to be) more than a simple slide show. So we set out to see if he would allow us to open it up to an interview and have him share a little more directly about his own career and process.

Mr. Sandford is a kind and extremely humble person so as Eleanor suspected, he initially had some reservations about being on camera himself. He usually prefers to let his characters run the show. The thing is, this was his story, and who better to tell it.

Even though it was a different than his original approach, John agreed to be interviewed and to let us (and the audience) come a little further into the world where he creates his magic.

We made it as comfortable as possible for him, bringing a small crew of only three (one of which was his own daughter) and shot everything over the course of a short afternoon. Eleanor is a seasoned interviewer so she was able to put her dad at ease and guide him through a great conversation about his work.

For the camera work, we enlisted the help of our talented director and cinematographer colleague, David Yakir. He captured exactly what we were looking for so much of the postproduction fell into place really easily.

Ultimately, John was happy with the piece and agreed that it did a better job of capturing the essence of his career than a slide show or sizzle reel might have. It set the tone for his award and most importantly, it paid the proper respect to someone who absolutely deserved it.

sandfordarchive.com