By Julie Garisto
Podcaster and filmmaker Tristan Ford Frower envisions Greater Gainesville as America’s next moviemaking hub.
The media guru aims to manifest his vision by opening a state-of-the-art studio this fall.
“The goal ultimately is to turn Gainesville into the next film capital,” Flower said. “We have so many creative people in this town, and we are losing them because they think there’s no place for them to go, but that’s not true. Filmmaking is growing like crazy in this town.”
Its name, Chasing Shadows, gets its inspiration from Frower’s favorite film of all time, “Hook.”
The 1991 reworking of “Peter Pan” tells the beloved tale from its villainous pirate’s point of view. It stars Robin Williams in one of his most memorable performances. Hook also inspired one of Frower’s favorite anthems, “Bangarang,” a call to action that comes up often.
Chasing Shadows will open the last week of September. It will provide memberships for $27 per month. Membership includes many perks, such as 15% off all services, 25% off photo print services and free workshops. See a complete list of benefits below.
The studio will feature a green screen, teleprompter, photography studio, an editing PC, a podcasting bay, a livestreaming studio, backdrops, lights, footage and even a mannequin for practice.
“This is a project I’ve been dreaming about since I was in high school,” Frower said. Incidentally Frower is a truncation of his two moms’ last names, Brower and Ford.
The podcaster and actor has been in front of, and behind, cameras sinch his elementary school days.
When he was 8, Frower had a stuffed dog that he called Jake, and it’s still in his bedroom. Frower would take Jake on imaginary adventures and tell his mother about the stories at bedtime. She told her son to write them down so she could read them later.
Tales of lava monsters and other adventures eventually led to Frower’s first film.
“My third-grade teacher saw what I was doing and she’s like, well, you like movies, don’t you? Why don’t you turn this into a script? So, she taught me how to write a script, which became my first ever screenplay called Jake the Spy Dog. It was terrible. I still have it!”
Jake still makes cameos in each of Frower’s short films.
Frowers said he “lives for collaboration” and enjoys giving pointers, but he also emphasized that he would give customers space to work on their own, too.
Chasing Shadows
Opening September 2022
Creekside Mall
3501 SW 2nd Avenue, Gainesville, FL 32607
Services to be offered:
- Green screen studio with:
- teleprompter
- microphones
- 4K camera
- lights
- backdrops
- Photography studio with:
- lights
- strobes
- backdrops
- mannequin for practice
- color gels
- product photography tools
- Editing computer with:
- The Entire Adobe Suite
- Stock Library:
- music
- photos
- footage
- templates
- DaVinci Resolve
- Podcasting bay:
- four microphones
- user-friendly recording system
- Livestreaming space:
- backdrops
- microphones
- multi-platform streaming service
- multicam system
Membership perks:
- 15% off all services
- 25% off Photo Print Services
- free workshops
- monthly prize drawings
- free hour in studio of choice during select times
- discounts on film festival entries