The enthusiam of youth

[Peter Stedman]

Through a friend of a friend of a friend etc. I have been in touch via e-mail with a young chap I met about a dozen years ago. (He is now in his late 20s) I met him through his amateur interest in magic, which as some may know, is my everyday hat. At the time he was a talented and artistic young magician. We have not met over those in-between years. His ambitions have moved on and it’s now video. In fact his bread & butter job is connected with video and he does some very nice editing with a real artistic touch. I know this because he has sent me some links to his work.

We arranged a lunch meeting to discuss matters arising. His ambitions are to move on and to hopefully make video production his main occupation. As I’m now in my mid 70s it can be seen that we are many generations apart and our views are bound to be different. I had already learnt that he has a wonderful and expensive new video camera and he has now told me that it is one of the DSLR/video cameras now becoming popular. He says that when he makes some money(?) with his video projects he will be able to add to his kit items that he feels that he needs, such as a radio mic. lights etc. I’m sure many readers here will have their own views on this.

I want to make it very clear that I am in no way intending to belittle or decry this talented young man’s admirable ambitions, but at the moment I think he is seeing the future through some very rosy spectacles. Ah yes – the ambition of youth!

I asked him what would be his main interest in video production and, as he has an interest in magic, he wants to make promotional ‘showreels’ for magical entertainers. I tried to explain the many problems. The well-established competition is there of course. There are many experienced small video production companies more than willing and able to undertake such work. In fact I know of one such company that is even now specialising in producing top-notch showreels – at a price of course. There are the logistics of getting to the performing locations, obtaining permissions and so on. There is the need for certainly having more than one camera in use. It’s also a fact that getting such work is not easy, as I know from experience that few magicians are prepared to invest big money in that sort of promotion. They rely on picking up clips from here and there, editing it all themselves on their PC or getting someone like myself to do this for a reasonable sum. In my opinion I feel he wants to run before he can walk.

His other idea for raising money(?) is to break into – what he sees as a lucrative market – WEDDINGS. I will comment no further on that, as I’m sure many of you could pass on bitter words of wisdom on this subject. In fact for about 15 years I was a wedding photographer, but only still photography.

I asked what promotional videos he could show to interested parties that would illustrate his skills and he said that at the moment none. (The videos I have seen are very specialised relating to his day-to-day work and not suitable and are copyright of course.) This discussion went on for some time but I could see that his rose coloured specs had not slipped at all.

Then I suggested I give him a simple project of going around his town and making a promotional film of about 10 minutes that could be shown to the council and others for appraisal. He was not impressed and asked what he would get out of it? Naturally I explained that he would get nothing financially from it - unless the council thought it so good they offered to buy it. I put it to him that it would be like doing a practical experience exercise at college. I put it to him many times that he should create some example projects to show interested parties.

Finally I think I have got him interested in actually doing a project that would interest him. Approach a local club for magicians and set up a project of filming a member or so performing with the others acting as an audience. I have offered to come along to assist and perhaps be his cameraman whilst he directs and so on. It’s possible that this may actually get off the ground. I have left it for him to arrange. Mustn’t hold my breath of course.

I have also suggested that joining a good local video club and getting involved with their club and individual projects. No money in it for him obviously. There is a well-known club not far from him.

Well that’s the story. What observations & comments have readers to offer?
Pete Stedman

[Michael Slowe]

Well, this young chap certainly sounds keen and won't take no for an answer which, to my mind, are prerequisites for film making. If he has the talent (particularly in editing) that you mention then he should have as much chance of succeeding as anyone else. Of course there are loads of promo producing companies but that's no reason for him not to attempt it himself. As for gaining access etc. we've all had problems of this sort to overcome and speaking personally I've usually managed and have made films in the most unlikely places where access would be thought impossible.

Where he is going wrong is thinking that he must make money from the very start. The important thing at present is for him to make films, any films at all. He must get experience, find the problems and overcome them and get used to the production process so it all becomes second nature. He may well make better promos than those other producers, better wedding films than the others and the fact that there are others in the same field should not discourage him, quite the contrary.

One thing though he must do is join some club or group so that he can see the films they are making, show his own and see where he stands. His kit sounds a bit limited though, he may need some advice on this, maybe a visit to Tom Hardwick?

[ned c]

A few thoughts. Be careful about investing in a lot of expensive equipment; it is often better to rent a specialised piece of equipment than to own it, e.g. radio mics are going through a transition at present. Shoot and edit; shoot and edit; there is no substitute for loads of practical experience; get friends and others to honestly critique the results. Make some free demos so that a show reel can be put together. Enter the contests/festivals that give judges comments. Network and network; expect about two years to the first real paying job and don't give up the day job too early. It's good to be a specialist in an application and get some recognition; however make sure it is an area where there is money for video projects. I had the good fortune to shoot and edit a number of large civil engineering projects where the cost of the video was the small change; but all generated by networking. Good luck to your friend, remember someone has to do it!!

ned c

[Peter Stedman]

Thank you both for such sensible and full answers. You have both hit the nail on the head with your various comments. I wont be seeing him for a while but when I do I will pass on your tips to reinforce my own advice. You are so kind in replying.

Cheers.
Pete

[tom hardwick]

Ah, so good to see the enthusiasm of youth. He's in his late 20s - a great time to start down this photographic road and the advice he's been given in this thread is spot on in my view. I'm just a little worried that he plunged right into the deep end with an expensive vDSLR, but hopefully he sought advice on that before purchase. He also realises the need for a lot of extra kit but seems rather reluctant to take on non-paying work to build up his portfolio and experience.

I shoot both stills and movies at weddings, and one is about 10 times more difficult that the other. We all start by doing such work free, for penniless friends, and every shoot and every edit adds to the valuable chest marked 'experience'. He's got time on his side which is good and video on his side which is even better.

Us oldies had to wait 2 weeks to see what our experimentations looked like on the big screen; nowadays it's instant gratification or disappointment. But both of these are great teachers, no doubt about that.

Good luck to him. His rose-tinted specs are his best armour against the coming storm of unemployment. There's tons of accumulated knowledge, freely available, just a few clicks away on his pc screen. It sounds to me like he'll make it, but always best to hang onto the dull day job to see how things pan out.

tom.

[Michael Slowe]

Tom writes "us oldies", my goodness, he's about 20 years younger than me and I'm only middle aged!

The general view is that experience gained by actually doing it is the key to film making with the very rare exceptions of the really really talented imaginative artist who somehow manages to overcome the technical obstacles in their urge to express themselves. It does happen in all fields but as I say it's rare. Tom mentions the convenience and immediacy of video but I sometimes think that this can work against doing good work. In the days of film when we had to view our footage by winding a handle and spooling film through a small viewer with the audio on a separate magnetic perforated reel which was synced to the film and both had to be edited together. Each clip of film pinned on a rail and hanging into a linen lined 'bin', each cut carefully cemented together with no room for error, they were the days! But it did make us think carefully about what we were constructing and probably helped in the creative process. Experience, that was what we were gaining.