It seems that nowadays, though, that cost of entry into the professional field of video has plummeted to an all time-low.  The 2-year old “HDSLR Revolution” has spawned an amazing number of new video makers into the industry, snatching up these highly affordable cameras and going out and creating content and landing jobs.  Our inexpensive cameras are being used by the big boys, and we are seeing prime-time tv shows, commercials, and movies being shot on cameras that you can buy at WalMart.  Suddenly it doesn’t take deep pockets, bank loans or strong business plans to buy your way into the industry.

Is this good?  Maybe.  Maybe not.

A little backstory:

When I entered this industry about ten years ago the cost of entry was just starting to take a substantial drop.  The “DV Revolution” had begun with the advent of cameras like the Sony VX-1000 and the Canon XL-1 in the late ’90s,  people could create high-end looking videos at a fraction of the cost then it had been just a few years earlier.  Those cameras which ran in the price range of 3500-5000 were being picked up by people as an alternative to the Betacam and DigiBeta cameras that cost tens of thousands of dollars.  Were they equal?  Not really.  But that’s not what I want to talk about.  So I entered the field during the age when MiniDV and DVCam were very acceptable formats.  My first camera I owned was the JVC-DV500.  I loved it.  Shoulder mount, 1/2″ chip, interchangeable lens.  Cost about $5K.  I used it for about 4 years and made a lot of videos with it.  During that time (while working on staff at a production company) I was acquiring a lot of my own gear.  A light kit here, a nicer tripod there, etc.  It was a piece-meal approach, but it was fine, and when I went freelance I had the necessary equipment I needed to get started on my own.  Had I entered the industry when the necessary camera to produce professional products cost $30-60K, then I might not have afforded to work (and go freelance) in the manner in which I did.  And I’d like to think that I bring something good to the table, that myself and the people I work with benefit from.

So now I’ve noticed two sides to the current argument.  There are the seasoned professionals who have invested time and money into their craft, and they are concerned or complain that the market is becoming over-saturated with content producers who have run out and picked up these cheap cameras, then called themselves pros.  These experienced pros are feeling threatened by this scenario.  On the flip side, we have lots of new entrants in the field who are displaying massive amounts of talent and success.  They might have previously been financially unable to enter into the video field, but now because of these cheaper tools, they are given that opportunity.  As someone who falls (to a certain extent) into both of these parties, I can see both sides to this argument.  I have certainly been inspired by the more and more great work that I am seeing produced, but also see a lot of bad stuff being made, which makes me feel confident in my place in the market.  The bottom line, though, is that with a huge number of content producers, everyone needs to be trying their hardest to make the best stuff they can make.

What I have seen a little bit online, though, which has bothered me is a sense of entitlement by members of the “HDSLR Revolution” to cheap, professional gear.  They have entered the field at a time (and grown accustomed to) creating content with gear that they can buy and pay off very quickly.  And now, as I see the manufacturers starting to introduce newer cameras (based on the strengths of DSLRs) but geared towards the video-pros, a lot of the newbies to market are annoyed that these new tools are more expensive.  And we’re not even talking about super expensive stuff (relatively speaking).  We’re talking about cameras (like the new Panasonic AF-100) which will run about $5k, and should be the answer to a lot of the faults of the DSLR cameras, with a lot of their strengths.  In the scheme of things this is still a pretty small price tag for a camera of this caliber, and people should feel lucky that the days of needing to spend tens of thousands of dollars (on a camera) to have a shot at “making it” in this industry are well behind us.  But I think these people need to also realize that the camera you can buy at WalMart was not going to continue to become the de facto professional tool.

What do you think; does it help or hurt the industry that we have this low cost of entry now?

Finding music to accompany my videos is easily the hardest part of post-production, and I feel strongly that the decision can make or break the mood of the final piece.  It can easily take hours to find what I am looking for, and I often will preview dozens of tracks against what I am working for before I find the right piece.  (I actually find it to be an agonizing and painful process at times.)  I have also had the (crushing) experience of finding a track that I think works perfectly and then have a client come back and say they want something else.  I think that is the hardest part of picking music, because it is so subjective.  I have also had clients give me music to use for a video that I felt strongly was not right for the piece, and then it’s about having a discussion with them, but ultimately the decision falls on the person with the checkbook.

I think if you look at some of my videos, you will (hopefully) feel that music plays a strong role in each of them, and that it has been carefully selected for each piece.  There is a mix of originally composed music, production music, as well as commercial (un-licensed) tracks.  (The use of un-licensed tracks is a topic of further discussion, and something I don’t use for paid client work, but will use for personal demos.)  In an ideal world I could always use original compositions for each of my videos, as there is generally no better way to get music that fits the mood, as well as the visual cues of the video, but it is often cost and time prohibitive.  The two composers who I have used most often are Jason Jordan and Russel Wolff, two very talented guys.

Which brings us to production music.  I feel we’ve come a long way since I started in this business 10 years ago, when it comes to the offerings of production music.  Back then, a production company typically purchased a library of CDs (generally for an ample cost), with a wide array of tracks.  But I always found that the selection was typically quite lacking, and among the hundreds (or thousands) of music cuts in the library there were only a small handful of tracks that did not SOUND like production music, and I found that I was always going back to the same tracks.  Searching through the CDs was generally a pain in the butt, and in general it seemed like you paid a lot for a small selection of usable material.

When I went freelance 3 and a half years ago, I thought I’d have to invest in some sort of music library but was not looking forward to doing so.  Fortunately I found a wide array of web-based libraries where you pay by the track, and the search options, as well as the quality and diversity of tracks, was much higher quality.  The cost to license an individual track ranges from site to site, and is generally more expensive than the per track cost if you own a library, but I’d rather only pay for what I want to be using.  I still find that there are a lot of tracks on these sites that sounds more like elevator music than what I’d want accompanying my videos, but for the most part there is a lot of high quality tracks.

So without further ado, here are a few of my go-to websites for production music:

Audio Network:

This site has a great interface for searching and previewing tracks.  I can play a track in the web browser and demo it against my Final Cut Pro timeline as a quick way of seeing if it fits in with the piece.  There are a few composers that contribute to this site that I go back to again and again, but I’m always finding new tracks and composers here.  Almost every track has several versions in different lengths, mixes (drums or no drums, for instance) which is super useful.  They also have different licensing costs depending on the usage, starting at around a dollar (for personal use), so I’ll download a bunch of tracks for a specific job, then buy the appropriate license once the client signs off on the video and whichever tracks we use.  I am also finding that I am hearing tracks from this site on commercials, reality shows, etc, more and more, which I think is a testament to the material that is here.

Non-Stop Music:

I recently discovered this site (thanks to someone on Twitter) and am just starting to use it.  They have a pretty deep selection, but the sound quality is all top-notch.  They have a range of licensing types, and will setup custom libraries if you want to purchase a blanket license for parts of their collection.  Their customer support is excellent and I’ve spoken with a rep from their company a few times.  As part of their service you can contact them about a project you are working on and they will (free of charge) suggest tracks for your project.  I haven’t taken advantage of that yet, but I plan to.

With Etiquette:

I haven’t used this site yet, but I like where their head is at.  They seem to be catered more to the wedding market, with mostly non-instrumental tracks, but the quality is stuff that I’d listen to on my ipod.  They only have a small selection of artists now and I think they need to expand on this (and could easily do so), but what they have is great stuff.  I imagine I’ll have a project at some point where I’ll go here for a track.

There are countless other music sites out there and I’d love to hear what you use.  Happy scoring!

I didn’t get the new car just for work, though.  As I’ve written about before, my wife and I are having our first child (any day now), and we needed to have a second car.  Since I travel a good amount for work, I didn’t want to leave her and the baby at home without a car.  It took me a while to warm up to getting a minivan, but it really is the most practical car out there.  A lot of the compact SUVs aren’t that much bigger than my Mazda and I liked having a third row of seats.  Plus, I know several people in production with minivans and they could fit so much gear in it, that I knew it was they way to go.  Really, the only thing that disappointed us when we began our search, was that currently, there are no hybrid SUVs.  When I bought my Mazda 6 years ago, I assumed my next car would be a hybrid.  Well that will have to wait, I guess.  When we began looking at the options, the only 2 minivans that seemed to be in the running were the Honda Odyssey and the Toyota Sienna.  As far as minivans go, these were the “coolest”.  And on closer inspection, the new 2011 Toyota Sienna, really took the cake.  (Thanks, in part, to their excellent marketing campaign including this great video.)

So on Wednesday, we picked up the new addition to our family.  The thing is pretty massive.  We really could probably move into it and sell our house.  I am excited to take it on a shoot and have lots of room to spare.  I also will not hesitate to rent or bring bigger production gear on shoots.  In fact, I can probably seat 4 or 5, plus the amount of gear I bring on a normal shoot, which is something I could never do with the Mazda.  I am thinking of building some sort of shelving system in the back with compartments for stands, light cases, camera bags, etc., for even better storage of the gear.  The dual sliding doors makes loading stuff in a cinch, and the way the rear seats fold flat into the floor is awesome.  Surprisingly the car, as a whole, feels more like a luxury vehicle than a family car.  Basically, I am sold on the concept of the minivan now.

It sort of bums me out that what is now the most expensive piece of gear in my “kit” won’t really make me any money, but I guess that is how it goes with automobiles.  Now my only fear is that I am going to get asked by my friends now to help them transport lots of their stuff.

So in the vein of the “unboxing” videos that are popular online (where people shoot themselves opening up new products), we decided to shoot a funny little video ourselves.  Enjoy!

So today I discovered my (likely) second case of non-payment.  It was for a company that I’ve done probably a half dozen shoots for over the last couple years.  They certainly seemed to have their act together and I knew some of the people involved there.  But I had two outstanding invoices for them (one dating about 8 months back) and over the last couple weeks I’ve made an effort to get fully up to date on any overdue payments.  After several emails and voicemails I finally got someone on the phone who informed me that, just a few weeks ago, they basically filed for bankruptcy.  Crap.  She said she’d get me in touch with someone with more details, but when I asked some more questions it basically seemed like there is little chance I will receive my payment.  In the grand scheme of things, this will not kill me or prevent me from feeding my family or paying my mortgage, but it’s still about $2K that I worked for and will likely not be receiving.  What actually annoys me the most is when I equate it to gear.  That could be a new MacBook Pro, or a nice lens or 2.  Or a 5D camera body.  (Or a whole lot of diapers for my soon to be born baby… although I really don’t think about it that way.)

I feel like, in a small way, I have myself to blame.  I really should not have let an invoice go unpaid that long.  I use (and highly recommend that everyone working for themselves use) some type of accounting software that monitors things like overdue invoices.  I use Quicken Home and Business, and it tells me every time I launch it any outstanding invoices.  (Clearly I will be paying more attention to that in the future.)  While this program is quite deep, and probably took as long to setup and learn as Final Cut Pro, it links to every one of my accounts, and makes it nearly impossible to be “off” on your books.  In my case, I find the only drawback to Quicken Home and Business is that it is PC only, so I have to run it on Parallels (a Windows emulator) on my Mac, and I find it to be somewhat buggy.

Some people will minimize any losses by getting deposits up front, but I rarely do that on small one or two day shoots, or with repeat customers.  On big, ongoing jobs, though, I definitely break things up into 3 or 4 payments with some of it coming up front.  Clients will probably not be thrilled if you seem overly demanding of immediate payment or receiving a deposit (as most companies pay out in 30 or 60 days), so it’s good to be trusting but also to be cautious.  And definitely continue to monitor any payments that seem later than normal.  In most cases a friendly reminder is all it takes to get a check out the door to you.

So I’ll pursue this a little further, but it may not lead anywhere.  I’d be curious to hear other people’s stories on this issue, and if people figured out ways of receiving payment after a company files for bankruptcy.

I bought my first tapeless camera in January 2008 (my Sony EX-1) which is when I first created my storage system.  I had been freelance for one year prior, and was shooting almost all tape-based cameras during that time.  Interestingly, when I (and many others) began using tapeless cameras a lot of naysayers talked about the security issues of storing all this data, as opposed to the “fool-proof” solution that tape-based cameras offered.  I quickly realized that, at least in my case, it was quite the opposite solution.  In my years of shooting on tape-based cameras (as a freelancer and the company I worked for prior), very rarely were these tapes cloned, or backed up.  Sure they got digitized at the time of editing, but what if we didn’t edit for a while and something happened to the tapes.  I’ve certainly had decks eat tapes before and that could be disaster.  But with the tapeless solutions, backing up is an easy part of the process.

When I bought my EX-1, I also upgraded my computer to a new MacPro, so I needed to come up with a storage system for editing, as well as archive.  I briefly looked into some of the bigger RAID systems (things like the Drobo, which I am not even sure were around then) but most were very pricey or slow.  Also while a lot of these systems offered redundancy, by storing data to separate drives, they did not allow for separating these drives easily for offsite storage (which is high priority to me).  It’s great to have all your data on 2 or 3 different “things” but if they are in the same place, you are not protected against theft, fire, or water damage.

I did make the decision on basing my system around hard drives.  There exist a lot of naysayers to this approach, especially, because of the risks that exist with hard drive failure, but they are cheap and fast.  I knew that I needed my system to be something easy to implement, or else I just was not going to keep up with it.  (While systems like data discs and tape drives have lower risk they take a long time to manage.)

So here is what I came up with:

For archive I decided on building external drives by purchasing internal hard drives and external cases.  My reason for this was that the warranty on most of the internal drives is 3-5 years, whereas most of the all-in-one external systems had a 1-year warranty on the drive.  Initially I was buying 500 GB drives, but have gone to 750GB, 1TB, and now 2TB drives.  I always buy 2 separate brands of drives (typically Hitachi, Seagate, or Samsung) and create a storage pair with one of each brand.  This helps to protect against a (unlikely) bad run of drives in the manufacturing.  I store these in inexpensive external cases by Eagle Tech (which I get for about $22 from NewEgg).  They have USB 2.0 and eSATA connections.  I just bought an eSATA card so that will help with transfer speeds, but I didn’t care too much because these were just for archive storage.  I keep one set of drives in my office and one set at home for added security.  There are similar solutions that involve bare internal drives, with a drive docking device but I really like the ability to take my drives and be able to plug them in and use them without a separate device.

When I finish a shoot all my footage goes to a pair of these drives, and when I am ready to edit I bring the footage over to my edit system.  I edit probably 60% of what I shoot, so in cases that I am not editing, after a shoot I dump the footage to a drive for the producer or client.  I still will archive all my footage on my own drives as a backup for them.  I have had a few occasions where a client called me because they lost or screwed up their footage and I could come in and save the day with my copy.  That is a major plus that didn’t easily exist when shooting on tape.  Clients REALLY like the idea that they get that security.

For editing, I am using all 4 drive bays in my MacPro.  One is for the system drive (applications), one is a “library” drive (photos, music, and the Final Cut cache), and two are configured through the MacOS in a RAID 0 configuration (which is for speed, not redundancy).  I built the machine with 2-500GB drives to make a 1TB RAID, but am about to upgrade to create a 3TB RAID.  Since this is my “active” projects, I try to offload projects to the archive drives as they get finished, but as I have more and more active and ongoing projects I have needed a bigger system for editing.  For each of these 3 drives in the MacPro (system, library, and RAID) I have an external drive as backup.  I use Synk (by Decimus Software) as my backup system.  I imagine Time Machine would work well for many, but at the time I set this up I had heard of some issues between Time Machine and Final Cut, so I avoided it.  The other benefit of Synk is that you can backup the system drive to a create a bootable backup.  That way if your computer dies for some reason, you can plug that backup into another computer and boot off of it, so that the other computer appears as your computer.  I keep my backup drives of the computer and RAID offsite as well.

I imagine that some might find some holes in the system and there is a little bit more manual labor involved than some other all-in-one systems, but this solution works well for me, is economical and (knock on wood) secure.  Between all my drives, I have close to 20TB of storage at this point, a number that not too long ago, seemed astronomical.

If you have any questions about my storage workflow, don’t hesitate to ask.

My wife Kate and I found out in late November that she was pregnant.  This was fantastic news.  It had actually taken us some time to get pregnant, so it was wonderful and surreal to get the positive test result.  We actually had started a blog last winter when we started trying to get pregnant.  We certainly hadn’t anticipated it taking as long as it did, but writing this blog was a nice way of sharing what we were going through and keeping us upbeat about the whole situation.  And we picked up a lot of readers experiencing similar trouble and it was nice to have that online community.

Anyways, so now with fatherhood in the forecast, it has made me think a lot about my life, my family and my work.  I know that I will always be passionate about the work that I do, but come early August, I certainly imagine that that little baby will trump everything else in my life.  At least I hope so.  Even in watching these my wife through these early stages of pregnancy I am really understanding what a miracle this is.

So how will it change my work?  I am not really sure yet.  Certainly I am hoping to cram as much work as possible into the year leading up to the birth so that I can take some time off once the baby comes.  But, like it or not, work will have to continue.  I look forward to figuring out the right balance of work and family, and I am sure it will shift, but that is one of the benefits of working for myself.  I have talked to other artistic people who have discussed how their work changed after having children.  They’ve said that it made them see things differently and the new experiences (and more importantly watching their children have new experiences DAILY) gave them a different vision to their work.  I imagine and hope that will be the case with me.

One thing I am sure of is that our child will get pretty comfortable very quickly with getting filmed or photographed.  I can certainly imagine that this baby will have a well-documented childhood.  Kate and I have already started to incorporate some video in our blog, including this video, which is probably one of the most emotional things I have ever shot (and at 6am mind you):

I am entering my fourth year of being freelance and am more excited than ever.  Last year, which started out a little slow, and gave me a lot of concerns given the economic “crisis”, turned out to be a great year.  I continued working for some old clients, and picked up a bunch of new ones.  I got to work on a couple different documentary projects, shot a few music videos, and short films.  I traveled a fair amount, taking over 25 flights, and god knows how many miles in a car.  I started using some new technology, shooting video on DSLRs, while still embracing more conventional video tech.  I embraced social media as a business tool and started using Twitter, through which I have made a lot of new friends and contacts, and even landed a couple jobs.  I started my new website (thanks to Rob Baker) and started blogging.  Professionally (and personally) it was a rewarding year.

I hope to continue this trend in 2010.  I am hoping to make some more time for some personal projects, and also cultivate new partnerships with writers and directors.  I would like to expand my work into some other avenues, maybe doing more commercials and tv projects, and further develop the documentary work that I have enjoyed so much.  I hope to collaborate as much as possible and really push each project to be the best it can be.

I want to thank all the clients, colleagues, friends and family that have supported me in my professional ventures.  I feel really blessed to have a job that I am so passionate about and working on projects that help to promote, raise awareness, entertain, or inspire.  Happy New Year!

I have written previously about packing for travel, and fortunately for this job, too, I could pack pretty light.  We were shooting a lot of b-roll with available light in the warehouses, and a few interviews, mostly on the warehouse floor.  I brought only 2 lights and a bounce card, which helped keep things more portable.  All told I had three bags to check (tripod, Kata case (with lights, cables, stands, etc), and a small bag with my clothes).  Unfortunately the airlines have a ridiculous pricing scheme for checked bags.  The first bag is $20, second is $30, and third is $125!  Ridiculous!  The client who I was traveling with only had one checked bag so we saved a bit by having him check my third bag.  But still, in this or similar industries, the costs for checking gear can sometimes surpass the ticket cost.

Our first shoot in Indy for DJO went off well.  I have done three of these case study videos for Kiva already so I am pretty comfortable now with all their lingo and the kind of footage we need so it makes it much easier.  We got to the airport for our flights to San Diego with plenty of time but our flight was already an hour delayed.  We had a short layover in Detroit before our second flight and I was already concerned that we might miss it.  Long story short, we were pulled from our flight because we WOULD miss the connection and found ourselves on a different airline with moments to spare.  So we got to San Diego that night, finally.  But no bags.  All I had was my camera (which I ALWAYS carry on) and some mics, batteries, etc.  No tripod.  No lights.  No clothes.  At this point it was about midnight and we had an early shoot at the DJO headquarters doing a couple interviews.  So, while en route to DJO the next morning we made a quick stop at Target to buy a cheapo tripod.  Something that could at least hold the camera (barely) for an interview.  And I decided to wing it for lighting, and we hoped to get lucky with a well lit space, or we could shoot outside or something.  As it turned out we got very lucky and DJO had their own photo department for shooting their product shots and the guy there had a small video lighting kit of some Dedolights.  And a nice Bogen tripod.  Total score.  That made things MUCH better.  Seeing as this was the second time I have had bags not show up for a shoot (and both times happened to be for Kiva) I am trying to figure out a kit that I can carry on with a small light and tripod with the camera but not sure I can do it if it’s just me.

That’s my rant on traveling.

The rest of the shoots went well and our other flights went off without a hitch.  I got to see Reno for the first time and got to play a little blackjack, so that worked out.  Kiva has been a fun company to work with.  They make an innovative product which is highly photogenic and dynamic so I always enjoy shooting their bots.  They also like to do some fun videos in addition to their product or client case study videos.  We shot this one a couple years ago for them to send to their clients around the holidays.  Earlier this year we made this video to show the basic idea that led to the creation of Kiva Systems.  Enjoy!

I find packing for air travel to be somewhat of a pain.  Baggage costs are now astronomical, plus the logistics of transporting gear through the airports can be quite a hassle.  I tend to pack lighter than some other productions, typically with a smaller lighting kit then when I am shooting locally.  My goal is to check 2-3 bags and carry on the camera, laptop, and enough accessories that if that was all I had, I could shoot something.  Last year on a trip to Central Pennsylvania (flying to BWI) my large checked bag did not show up and I had no lights or tripod.  I was reduced to find a small camera shop and bought the best tripod they had (which was only $50 and ridiculously underequipped for a large camera), and fortunately could rely on available light for the warehouse I was filming in.  Basically I try to keep on my person whatever I need to get by in a pinch.  I also always look for rental houses in the area I am shooting (which sometimes does not exist in more remote places).

On this trip the only lighting I need is for run and gun interviews so I packed my Zylight Z90 LED light.  This is a very versatile little light that I can put on my camera or a stand and is really all I will need for this shoot.  I did bring an extra Sony EX-1 as we will be shooting some different things simultaneously and I also have my new Canon 7D, for it’s inaugural shoot.  I will mostly use the EX-1s this week as I need to run 2 wireless mics and an on camera light, but hope to get some creative B-roll with the 7D.  We may get out on the strip tonight to shoot some fun videos to show at some point during Blogs with Balls so I may use the 7D for that.

So I have my large rolly Kata case (the OC-97) with my tripod, several wired and wireless mics, the Zylight, my Zacuto shoulder mount system and other accessories.  I have 2 Kata backpacks (the HB-207…I love this bag) with the EX-1s, the Canon 7D and lenses, batteries, media cards, and a couple mics.  I sort of felt like a walking Kata advertisement, rolling through the airport this morning.  We checked in fairly easily with only a 70 dollar charge for our three checked bags (after shifting some stuff in the big bag to keep it under 50 pounds).  So all in all, it wasn’t a bad travel experience, but it helped to have Rob around to help out.
So on to Vegas and Blogs with Balls.  More to come in the next few days.

BWB was such a big hit, that Chris and his partners were asked to hold another conference as part of Blog World & New Media Expo, a huge industry conference.  Fortunately, through some very generous donations, BWB got enough funding so that I can go back and work the event again.  I don’t typically do a lot of event work, but this turned out to be a blast last time, and the conference is one I would benefit from attending otherwise, both for the content and the networking.

Plus it’s Vegas, and I’ll never turn down a job in Vegas.  The icing on the cake is that Chris organized a BWB poker tournament hosted by Annie Duke (a major poker pro).  I am an avid poker “hobbyist” so getting to go work a fun event AND play poker with a famous poker pro sounds like a total blast.

So that’s it.  I am just excited!  You can check out the highlights piece I put together right after BWB 1.0.

The shoot was a great experience. We filmed beach scenes for a documentary about a famous pirate shipwreck off of Cape Cod.   I helped set up their camera (which was owned by the director, Charlie Burnham, although he had little hands-on experience with it) with the appropriate settings that would work for the look of their film, and assisted the DP with some of the features of the camera.   I brought my own EX-1 along (just in case) and they ended up having me shoot second camera on a few scenes. It was a good day of shooting and I had fun (although it was miserably cold and windy on the beach… but at least I wasn’t one of the actors who spent the better part of the day playing “dead”, lying on the wet beach).  At the end of the day I helped Charlie offload the footage and we started chatting. He was interested in the work that I do, and really appreciated my technical knowledge of the camera and workflow.  I gave him my card before I left and told him we’d keep in touch.

A month or so later I got a call from Charlie; he was planning some more scenes for his film to be shot in Provincetown and asked if I could be the second unit DP and do some interviews and other filming for the non-reenactment part of the doc.  Immediately it was clear that taking that one-day shoot for a smaller paycheck the month before was going to pay off. I ended up filming with him in Provincetown for three days (and did my first underwater shooting while doing my first open water scuba dive) and had a blast.

Since then I have done a number of other projects with Charlie. He has a successful business doing corporate videos, mostly for pharmaceutical companies. I have worked with him on many different projects, and he has hired me to edit and oversee all of the post-production on his documentary (which is turning into a pretty big job).  So, the moral of the story is that it clearly pays to be open to the smaller jobs, especially if there is an opportunity to learn something new or meet some new people who may be able to hire you in the future.

I just did an interesting job with Charlie this past week, which I was going to write about here, but I have already gotten a little long-winded so I will save it for my next post that I’ll write over the weekend.