YG15 Showcase: MINDCASTLE

Shining the spotlight on this year's Young Guns winners

Young Guns 15, arguably the most prestigious portfolio-based competition for creatives under 30, is going out with a bang! This year's winners were unveiled earlier this month, and it's safe to say that this is one of the most eclectically talented classes in Young Guns history. 

This Thursday is the traditional Young Guns ceremony and party, (you've scored your tickets, right?) and nearly all of this year's winners will be travelling from across the globe, across the country, or across the Williamsburg Bridge to attend. Ahead of the festivities, the One Club for Creativity is highlighting many of the winners you'll be able to meet.

MINDCASTLE
Filmmakers
Based in: Seattle, WA
Originally from: Yakima, WA
mindcastle.tv

SEE MINDCASTLE'S YG15 PROFILE + WORK

What does winning this award mean to you?

Winning this award is a huge milestone for us. Young Guns is unique in that it takes into consideration a body of work and also examines all the elements we brought to the table in each of the projects. For many of our projects, we are involved in so many different areas of the production in addition to directing, often pitching the creative and then designing props to doing sound design and color grading.

"Winning this award is a huge milestone for us. Young Guns is unique in that it takes into consideration a body of work and also examines all the elements we brought to the table in each of the projects."

What sorts of challenges have you encountered to get where you are today?

We have never felt like we fit the perfect mold of the industry, and have navigated our own path of getting to where we are now. Our work has spanned many disciplines, and we have taken on many different roles — everything from producer, director of photography and editor — to find our way to where we are now as directors. A few years ago we realized that we needed to focus on directing and creating the best reel we could. We have taken every job as an opportunity to grow and move forward. We have been lucky enough to have a few great mentors who have helped us think critically about our work and challenge us to be better every day both in creative but also the collaboration and energy we bring to sets.

How did you decide what to enter?

Filmmaking is a time-intensive process, so it took us a long time to have six projects that we thought were at the level they needed to be, and that we were involved in many aspects of the production.

Can you name any past Young Guns winners who you look up to?

Stefan Sagmeister (YG1), The Daniels (YG14), Gemma O’Brien (YG13) and Rei Inamoto (YG4).

What keeps you going, creatively speaking?

Filmmaking is a highly collaborative medium and something that drives us working with other creative and inspiring people. Both of us are driven by the continual need to make work that expresses different emotions, concepts, or ideas that we have at the time.

Now that you’re a Young Guns winner, what’s next?

Our goals for the future are to just to have more opportunities to continue to do the type of work we love and meet and work with fun, inspiring and creative people. We have so many ideas and concepts still stuck in notebooks, on napkins, and iPhone notes somewhere in the cloud so our goal is to get out and make them.

MINDCASTLE and their fellow winners will be honored at the Young Guns 15 Ceremony + Party, taking place on Thursday, November 16 at Highline Stages in Manhattan's Meatpacking District. 

Young Guns 15 is presented in proud partnership with Shutterstock, Levene/Leavitt and MTV.

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