Zach Both Made His Own Camper VanSurely almost every one of us in childhood dreamed of making a house on wheels with our own hands. There are a huge number of stereotypes about people who want to live differently from everyone else. If you want to power your house with solar panels, you will be considered a hermit who is destined to live alone in the forest. If you believe in zero-waste production, you must be a hippie or a fanatic. One way or another, any desire of a person to live in non-standard conditions is reduced by society to his frivolity, stupidity, or the lack of opportunity to buy or rent normal housing for himself. American filmmaker Zach Both, who has been living in an old Chevy van for the past year, has destroyed all these stereotypes. It has become not only a home for him, but also a mobile film studio on wheels.
The view outside the window changes every day Author of the projectshared his story: “I left my job as a creative director at a fairly large company and decided to devote all my free time to filming. Since filmmaking involves a lot of mobility and constant change of locations, living in a van seemed like a natural step. Filmmaking is a constant migration. There is no other way I could write a script and shoot the first parts of a film in the mountains, then continue shooting in the desert far from civilization, and then meet with an editor or composer in Los Angeles. And all this in one month. The van gives me the freedom of movement that I need.”
Small workspace Inside Zach Both paneledwagon with wood he borrowed from an old nineteenth-century church in Cleveland, Ohio. It has a , and a small work station in which a chair with a removable lid serves as a trash can. The windows are covered with awnings that can be used as chalkboards for thinking about the storyboards of the film. The whole space is organized as economically as possible.
Compact bedroom in a van
Chalkboards act as curtains
The bed turns into a mini-sofa. The kitchen and cooking stove are hidden under a small work table.
A small kitchen stove allows you to cooksimple dishes On the roof, the author of the project installed solar panels that provide low-energy household appliances, such as a refrigerator, computer, home theater, and Wi-Fi. The van is maximally insulated, which allows you to live in it even in the cold season. Zach Both most often takes a shower in the gym.
A House on Wheels Is Convenient Cinematographeradmits that living in a van can be quite uncomfortable and exhausting, because you become a stranger both in nature and among other people. However, there are also a number of positive factors to counterbalance this. “During my constant movement in a motorhome, I received a huge number of unforgettable impressions. When making films, I collaborated with actors all over the country. One winter, I had to wait a long time for help because my van was stuck in the snow. Every day the view outside the window changed, and I spent unforgettable times in the mountains and forests, even celebrated Christmas in nature, communicating with my family on the Internet.”
Zach Both at his work station Zach Bothsays he spent about $4,000 on the upkeep of the van, and another $8,000 on finishing and repair work, changing tires, and so on. He spent another $3,000 on other minor needs and keeping the equipment in working order. Now he has released The Vanual, a small collection of tips on creating and maintaining a home on wheels from start to finish. It contains a large number of tips for those who decide to live in a mobile van. Would you like to live and travel in such a van? Write to us in the comments!
Mobile housing: a mobile home
