What jobs do you have?

D

DDirector

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After hearing people using their equipment for private video for clients, I started thinking.

I never thought of doing making interviews or company commercials for clients. All I wanted was to make short films, basically to learn from.

I hear people working and getting paid to make interviews & commercials. That's all I heard so far.

Well, what else do you do to make money with your video equipment?
*Something that I can potentially do. Not something that is doable in 10+ years after experience.

Secondly, getting these 'interviews', where do you find people who want this stuff? I never heard of any of this. I don't even know what these 'interviews' are - like why would they need this professionally recorded?

Basically, where I am going with this is, as an amateur to this, what can I expect to do rather than be shooting short films and features later on the road? What else is there that's more practical? ~ And how do I find it.


Right now, I am 19, and work a part time job... a crappy one too. Meaning, its a low pay, and low amount of hours. Since I love making films and stuff, I thought that I can work with the equipment I have and make money than making films for nothing, or occasionally short films for festival viewings.
 
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Well depending on where you live and what equipment you have there could be a ton of options. But theres a piece of advice that might be worth more that laying out all the details so here goes... There's two kinds of people in this world. Those that get shiZ done, and those that don't.

At 19, don't sweat it. You'll figure a lot of things out in the next few years. Be a free thinker and come up with your OWN ways of making some dough off your gear. You'll have more fun that way and appreciate the dollars more than if somebody told you... Look on craigslist under the film/video section. ;)
 
Well

Well

Well if you're a professional company, you wouldn't ever do any amateur video footage. I mean that's your company's image, and to leave that to an amateur is a huge mistake. That's one thing we talk about with a lot of companies, about how important it is to present a really professional front with what you are showing your potential customers or clients.

So yeah, some companies request interview footage or like introduction type of pieces for new employees, or statements about the company, etc. There are all sorts of projects you can do that are not overly difficult, but to do very well, sure, it takes more experience. We do a lot of virtual tours for instance, but really any video work a company needs, you can do.

For us, though, we most like to do shoots with a real crew, like 3-4 people for instance, where I direct / produce it and have a DP to deal with the camera work (I don't do any of that), a grip to help setup dolly / jib, etc. There is lots of smaller work out there though for sure!
 
One of the things I'm going to start doing when I get back from visitng my family is shooting music videos for my friends who are in bands. Shooting events is also a great idea, you can build a reel very quickly doing that.

As for equipment, look in to your local access TV station. Every area has at least one, and they will have equipment that is usually free to members. Membership is generally either free or very cheap. Chances are the equipment won't be great but it's certainly a start. I'm interning at a public access station now and it has everything you would need to get started - a bunch of different cameras (a couple of which are hd), 3-point light kits, mics, boom poles, etc. All of which is free to members and interns.
 
Having no idea where you live, I have no idea what the market is like where you are. Maybe there's a local film club. Maybe you can go hang out at a local film school. If you live somewhere with small or student films going on, probably the best thing you can do is PA on a few of them. You might not get paid but work just a handful of those with a crew that's even a little good and you'll learn a lot that can earn you money later.

The important thing, I suppose, is to figure out where your skills are. Can you swing doing weddings or events as a one man band? Would you be a great shooter for live events if someone else is directing? Are you better at sound? Do you play well with others? Well, if you want to make money, you'd better, so I guess that shouldn't even be a question.

When I was 17-18 I did a lot of volunteering at the cable access station, which eventually led them to trusting me with the equipment to go make my own films or even use the studio for live shoots if I wanted. From that I also ended up getting some gigs camera operating for football games and live events, and eventually directing some of those as well. None of that was what I wanted to do for a living exactly but it was all valuable experience, and some of it got me paid. None of it required me to have a dime worth of my own equipment – but that's just one small example.
 
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