Journal
Perspectives on creation, collaboration, and the craft behind the screen.
How to Recruit Crew for an Indie Film or Music Video in Japan (with a Template)
Who to ask, what to write, and where to post so people actually reply.
Most indie crew calls fail on the text, not the project. Four things to write first, the order to ask people in, and a copy-paste template.
Free storyboard and shot list templates for film (PDF, Excel)
Free printable A4 storyboard templates (PDF) in 16:9, 9:16, 2.39:1 and 4:3, plus an Excel shot list with a filled-in example. No email needed.
How to make a storyboard and shot list for film (even if you can't draw)
How to storyboard a film or video even if you can't draw, then turn it into a shot list for the shoot day. Free printable A4 sheets in four ratios.
Free call sheet template for film and video (Excel and PDF)
Free film call sheet template in Excel and PDF: a one-page day sheet, a scene x cast breakdown and a filled example. Direct download, free for commercial use.
Start Alone, Finish as a Crew — How to Build a Team for Independent Film
Minimum-crew thinking, finding people through their work, how to write the first message, and the logistics that build trust — a practical guide to crewing your first independent production.
How to Scout a Location — Light, Sound, Power, Load-In, Permits: A Field Guide
From finding candidates to the on-site checklist to turning findings into a call sheet: the location scouting routine that applies to indie and commercial shoots alike.
An Archive That Keeps Itself
Creative careers leak: screenshots vanish, credits go unrecorded. CREA's archive tools catch what you'd otherwise lose.
Call Sheets That Speak Human
A call sheet a first-timer can fill in, a wrap report that closes the day, and a schedule the whole crew actually sees.
The Life of an Idea — From a Note to a Brick in the Road
Most ideas die in note apps. We built a pipeline where a seed can grow a crew, get slated on set, wrap, and be remembered.
Make a Portfolio PDF That's Always Up to Date
The best portfolio is the one you never have to rebuild. Upload works once — export a current, credited, cleanly typeset PDF whenever a door opens.
Every Crew Is Missing a 1st AD, So We Built One Into the Workspace
Not a chatbot. A rules-and-listening 1st AD that reads your schedule backwards and your chat forwards.
Storyboards vs Shot Lists — and How to Run Both in One Table
Directors draw; producers schedule. A modern shot list should serve both — including importing a storyboard PDF exported from Keynote or PowerPoint.
Why We Built a Pixel Town Next to the Film Studio
Most platforms are lists. CREA's world is a town you walk through — where finished films become paving bricks on the main street.
How to make a call sheet for film and video, with examples
How to make a film call sheet: what each section needs, example lines, common mistakes, when to send it and how to revise it. Free Excel and PDF template.
ONE RIVER
Every meaningful project moves through five waters: accumulation, recognition, proposition, resourcing, event. Every existing tool serves one of them. None serve all five. So the river never runs. CREA is built to let it run.
YOU'VE ALREADY STARTED
Every Pinterest board, every screenshot folder, every 2 AM note — they are not random saves. They are the first frames of a project you have already begun. CREA is for the moment you finally see it.
IF YOU DO IT FOR REAL, IT'S AN EVENT
Storm Thorgerson never took the easy path. His philosophy — that real creation demands real effort — is the foundation of everything CREA stands for.
Location guides
Real, rentable spaces for your next shoot
5 Locations Built for Cosplay & World-Building Shoots
A dedicated studio with smoke and fake-blood booths, an unfinished bubble-era resort, a rentable school, a spaceship-like Showa hotel — five locations you can borrow a whole world from.
Shoot 'Overseas' Without Leaving Japan — 7 American & Beach House Studios
Before an overseas quote kills the idea: vintage American, motel, wine bar, Morocco-meets-SoCal — seven studios in Japan that deliver a genuinely foreign frame.
8 Station-Close Studios in Tokyo & Kamakura — Easy Load-In, Zero Hauling
Moving lights, cameras and props is a real cost. Here are 8 studios from central Tokyo to Kamakura where load-in pain is minimal — station-connected or a 1–3 minute walk.
Rooms with a Worldview — 5 Small Studios That Carry a Whole Scene
Five compact studios with outsized character — for portraits, MVs and brand shoots that need a world, not just a wall.
Pools and Watersides — 6 Locations Where Water Does Half the Work
Six real pool and waterside locations for summer campaigns, MVs and lookbooks — from Chiba beach houses to an Osaka river terrace.
Japanese Rooms Beyond Tokyo — 5 Wa Locations Worth the Trip
Five Japanese-style locations outside central Tokyo — from film-history landmarks to an Edo-period farmhouse in the Akigawa valley.
School, Warehouse, Unfinished Resort — 4 Locations Built at Impossible Scale
When the script says 'big', these four real locations answer: a closed school, a mega-warehouse, a highland cosplay studio and an unfinished resort.
Shōwa Retro Time-Slip — 5 Locations Where the Past Is Still Standing
From the tube corridors of Hatoya Hotel to a US-forces house turned diner — five real locations for period and nostalgia shoots.
Kitchen & Lifestyle House Studios — 6 Spaces for Food & Living Shoots
From a family house in Kashiwa to a Sendagaya studio you can really cook in — six house studios on CREA with working kitchens, for food, product and lifestyle shoots.
Designer & Architect Studios — 7 Spaces with a Point of View
From a Tadao Andō gallery off Omotesandō to a glass-fronted house in Sangenjaya — seven designer, architect-built and one-of-a-kind spaces on CREA.
Warehouse & Large High-Ceiling Studios — 7 Spaces with Room to Build
From a 5-metre warehouse in Nerima to a 6-metre winery studio in Chiba — seven large, high-ceiling and industrial spaces on CREA for sets, cars and scale.
Sea-View & Shōnan-Kamakura House Locations — 7 Spaces by the Water
From a house at Inamuragasaki where the bay fills the windows to a beach house two minutes from the sand — seven seaside and Shōnan-Kamakura locations on CREA.
Natural-Light House Studios in Tokyo — 7 Spaces Lit by the Sun
From STUDIO SAND in Sendagaya to a sunset-long studio in Setagaya — seven Tokyo-area house studios chosen for the quality of their natural light.
10 Traditional-House (Kominka) Filming Studios in & around Tokyo
From Kominka studio BODO to the Registered Cultural Property Kuraku-an — a curation of traditional-house and Japanese-modern shoot locations across Tokyo, Kamakura and Kawagoe.