The studio

An independent visual storytelling collective based in San Clemente, California.

[STILL · A MINUS TIDE AT T-STREET]
[PORTRAIT · ON A SHOOT]

The name

A minus tide pulls the sea back past its usual line. Reefs and tidepools that spend most of the year underwater are suddenly there to walk among.

We named the studio after that feeling. Every business has a version of it: the craft, the ritual, the people you only notice when you slow down and look.

How we work

  1. 01

    Observe

    We spend time in your place, at the hours it feels most like itself, watching and listening.

  2. 02

    Surface

    We find the one idea worth telling: the detail beneath the surface that makes you unmistakable.

  3. 03

    Make

    We build it in image, light and composition, as a short film and stills made to your place.

  4. 04

    Place

    We help it live where people meet you: your homepage, your feed, the screen by the register.

What we make

  • Website hero films
  • Vertical cuts for social
  • Brand films
  • Stills and portraits

Who we work with

Surf shops, ceramic studios, coffee bars and other Southern California businesses with a strong sense of purpose, and a place worth looking at closely.

Have a place with a story beneath it?

Say ahoy