To all the red names out there...

rudedog41

rudedog41

Member
What got you started with filming? I'm really curious to find out what really brought you up in the filming game...What do you think was your most important purchase? Whether it's gear, accessories, a season pass. How did you guys put yourselves out there? How did your filming career begin here on newschoolers?

Especially this is to DTF I know your one of the more successful young filmers and want to know what made you want to do what you are doing so well...filming pros.

inb4 spli3 lyfe.
 
probably because red names are site admins, who may or may not film/do photography. I think you probably meant orange names, which means they are involved in the industry, and most of the orange names here could point you in the right direction. Off the top of my head, advice is probably going to be to practice, start small but don't undercut yourself, work on building a name and portfolio, always ask for critique and try to improve, and film as much as possible. If you do that, and you are very lucky, you may begin to find paying jobs in the ski industry
 
thanks...yeah i guess i did mean orange names...well that's embarassing. Thanks for the advice though that will definitely help me in the future!
 
I can guarantee you that I'm not one of the industry guys you're asking, but I somehow ended up orange so I thought I'd chime in.

What got me started with filming? In the beginning of 2010 I blew apart my shoulder skiing park and ended up going under the knife to put things back together. I had always played around with a little tape camera that I owned (hv30) and I started to play with it more because there was nothing else to do. Jib Academy took place and I found myself and the other hurt guys hanging out in the "gimp tent." Nick Martini let me film parts of the event with his DSLR and I found myself hooked on it. I spent all my money on a t2i afterwards and just started filming more and more. Eventually I stopped skiing park on account of my shoulder and started filming a ton.

I guess the t2i was my most important purchase. After that would come the deadcat. That thing changes everything.

How did my filming "career" begin on newschoolers? I got lucky enough for NS to select a webisode series that my friends and I pitched.

Any advice?

Pick up a camera and shoot. Buy what you need gear-wise, and then forget about buying more. Practicing will result in edits that are better than the results of any new accessory.

Focus on sound. 95% of edits ignore this, but I think that it contributes a ton to the flow of videos.

Shoot with the best skiers at your hill. People generally want to watch the best skiing possible.

Have fun. If you don't enjoy making edits, then the edits will probably reflect this.
 
I started shooting in middle school with my dad's point and shoot, but that was back when all my friends and I just filmed each other doing tricks. I started getting a bit more serious freshman year of high school when I bought a Sony VX2100, and way more serious in 11th grade when I bought an HVX.

My most important purchase was probably a tripod. The way I filmed became much more professional after that.

Putting yourself out there is all about looking for connections and making it happen. For example, Cody Carter from PBP is from my area and my local ski shop hosts a PBP premiere each year. When my ski movie premiered in 12th grade our ski shop had Johnny D give me a congratulatory call, which I was stoked on. He told me to hang onto his number and I did just that, and when I found myself in LA for college the next year I gave him a call and asked about an internship. I interned there for the year which resulted in me doing editing and a small amount of filming for The Grand Bizarre (which is basically what got me the orange name). This summer I'm filming at Windells, which came about as a result of me striking up a conversation with the head video guy when I was a camper like 3 years ago. I sent him my edits when I was done that summer, and this summer they asked if I would be interested in filming.

Hope that was helpful and/or interesting.
 
I am at the bottom of the totem in regards to orange name filmers... but hey, orange name none-the-less, right? I'll throw in a few links to show progression in my film style

I started filming when I got a gopro for the holidays and my friends would take turns filming eachother (Here's one of the go pro edits: https://vimeo.com/19648881) . My friends got good at skiing and I got a few concussions in attempts to keep up. I ended up buying a T2i and get more serious and getting really into making edits of my friends (Here's my first edit with the T2i: https://vimeo.com/21925185). I eventually started producing videos that people liked and people took notice. Some of the better local skiers started hitting me up and I was able to keep filming and editing videos with them, that's when the Hood Crew edits started getting pumped out (Here's the first edit I did that "blew up" https://vimeo.com/32437561). I then won a local film festival (Here's the video https://vimeo.com/36677071) which got me tons of notice with people in Portland (skiers and non-skiers). Now all I really go for any more in filming is having fun with some friends and trying not to sacrifice quality while doing so. I've realized that when I disregard caring about stacking bangers and more about having fun, I end up pumping out better shots anyway. What got me my orange name was doing freelance work for some companies in the industry and doing edits for newschoolers.

If I were to list off my favorite edits in terms of fun days with friends, these would be it (in no particular order).

https://vimeo.com/34063720)

https://vimeo.com/40042506

https://vimeo.com/44128908

Biggest purchase was probably my gopro, which got me into filming. Second would have to be my glidecam, people like my glidecam shots and I think it has done me well to have it in my rig.

I had a few keys to getting "noticed": I got to film with some great unknown skiers (some more well-known than others), and getting stuff top rated, VoD, and etc on newschoolers. Statistically, 70% of my views come from newschoolers alone.

My one piece of advice is figure out the technical aspect of filming and then develop a style which sticks out. People are starting to look for a unique aspect/vibe that is fun and interesting. Being able to bust out pristine quality is definitely important, but tone and unique vision is far more important.
 
^Dub post but who gives a fuck

There's parenthesis in most of the url clicky's. Gotta click em then delete the parenthesis from the url, oops.
 
Wow guys...all of you thanks! This is inspiring and gets me even more stoked on getting a new 60d, along with des overly my own unique style. Thank you so much for taking the time to pump out a guide that I can't wait to follow!
 
Wow, so you've only been filming for about two years? Keep up the great work!

And what did you use to stabilize the first t2i edit? did you have the glidecam then?
 
Key things:

don't worry about your gear, the way you shoot/edit your footage is much more important

don't let people get you down, take critiques but be unique, do your own thing

make edits, go shoot, don't be lazy. you're gonna learn the most from just shooting and making edits

last of all, just have fun. getting too serious will take you down. go out and have fun filming your friends, thats all ive been doing for years.

hope it helps
 
Thanks, I'm really excited about how far I've come in terms of making ski videos.

The first T2i edit was indeed shot on a glidecam. Operating a steadicam is really a skill on its own in my opinion, and it takes people some time to get smooth shots and then a little longer to improve in the composition field.
 
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