Interview: Shawna Schultz
As the co-founder of Mass FX Media and 38th & Post, Shawna Schultz leads a team of talented motion designers and post-production professionals who create stunning and impactful visuals for documentaries, series, and brands. She is an Emmy-winning director whose work can be found on on Netflix, HBO, Disney+, and Apple TV+. She was kind enough to answer a few questions via email. (Edited slightly for clarity.)
What is your first step when you start working on a new film?
The first step is to fall in love with a story. My most successful projects get completed because I love them, and I put the work in to see them through. If you start to lose your passion for a film project, it’s either a sign that it’s the wrong format (maybe consider a short doc?) or it’s not your story to tell.
When in the process do you come onto a documentary as a motion graphics studio?
For Mass FX, we will get phone calls throughout the process from development to post, but the majority of the time, a team has a rough cut, and they’ve started to realize the graphics needs for their film.
Some directors already know that they want to incorporate some form of animation or motion design, so they come to us during development to make sure they raise the right amount of money. Others might discover they have holes and come to us for help in finishing the story.
How do motion graphics impact a documentary’s story and experience for the audience?
Motion graphics can take many forms within a documentary. The lower third provides extra context for the audience, answering the question, “why do I care what this person says.”
Maps can orient the audience to ground them to a location or visualize how large or small a problem might be in the film. Whereas timelines orient viewers in time and remind them where we’ve been and where we’re going with the story.
Explainers can show audiences something they couldn’t see out in the world. Maybe we’re diving deep into DNA and understanding the amino acids, or we’re slicing a piece of coral in half and finding out how the polyps build the calcium structure they share, or we’re in the expanse of space and seeing the solar system from an angle you could never see in your lifetime.
Main titles set the tone for the film with the color and font choice, background imagery and sequence editing.
The subtleties of the motion graphics choices speak subconsciously to viewers, and a good graphics package won’t distract from the story, but rather enhance what’s already there.
Looking for editing help with your documentary? Let’s chat.