-
Looking for a summer job
Hey everybody, my name is Sean Emer. I am 17 years old, and school is almost out and I really don’t want to go back to being a counselor for my daycamp. I live in Holmdel, NJ (Monmouth County), and I’m very interested in doing some work for event videography. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not a rebellious teenager looking for quick cash; I have some experience in the field of videography as well. Rather than concentrate on my grammar, I’ll just list the things that I think might qualify me for a job as an assisstant 🙂
I own my own camera – Canon XL1s (no modifications yet, except for a 2 plug XLR Adapter on the bottom)
I’ve used the camera for a variety of different shows (including a 3 year evolving piece documenting the seasons at Horseshoe Cove, Sandyhook, a 100 year anniversary video for Jersey Shore University Medical Center, and the recruitment video for Meridian Health)
I’m familiar with Avid Xpress DV and Avid Xpress Pro
I worked as a grip, editor, and graphic artist for the recruitment video of Meridian Health
I won a bronze Telly Award for my Horseshoe Cove musical montage
I am a recipient of a bronze Telly for the Jersey Shore University Medical Center’s 100 year documentary (I helped with editing and effects as well)
I grip for my dad – professional lighting cameraman – whenever I can.
If anyone is looking for some hired help (whether it be camera, gripping, or editing) over the summer, you can email me at se******@*****st.net or call my home at (732)-946-1601 (You’ll probably get my dad answering with ‘Eastern Video, Emer’ if its a business hour call). Thanks for your time.
-
7 Replies
-
Sean,
Why not concentrate on working with you Dad who already is one of your established contacts into the business.
Learning from a family member already in the business is one of the easiest way to get your foot into the door.
Good luck,
Tony Salgado
-
He works freelance, and mostly on corporate video shoots or live teleconferences (like the Johnson&Johnson stockholder’s meeting). I’m more interested in structured video and editing, and shooting weddings is the perfect thing for me as far as that goes, unless someone else has a better idea that hasn’t crossed my mind yet…which is very possible.
-
Sean,
Working on the corporate shoots will give you a good foundation for skills required for lighting as well as shooting techniques. Another major item to learn is the politics required when dealing with paying clients.
Wedding clients can be quite demanding and I don’t recommend you test out your experience on these clients until you have sufficient field production experience as well as client protocol.
Good luck,
Tony Salgado
-
If you are looking for “structured video” then I’m afraid to say that weddings are anything BUT structured. 😮
They can be a lot of things, including challenging, entertaining, stressful, educational, and so forth…But structured is not one that I have heard.
Postal
-
You’re probably better qualified than a lot of the people currently out there selling wedding videography, Sean…with the sole exception that you haven’t done any weddings, per se.
Remedy that by calling around to the local wedding video folks and offering your services as an additional shooter. After you do three or four of these, you’ll get a much better feel for how the day flows, and what you can expect. If you can’t interest the locals, at least crash a couple of weddings to see how the ceremony and the reception run.
Borrow a friend and a second camera, for backup, and a wireless mic, and go into business for yourself. Offer to do a couple at a deep discount “to get your name out there and get material for your demo reel”. Say, at around the $500 price point. You may have good luck with this offer if you work through your own church.
Good luck!
Regards,
Doug Graham -
Hey Sean
When I started my business I did two weddings for free, probably could have gotten away with one for free but you’ll need a demo to sell your business. Most brides & groom’s want to see a demo before they book.
I’d been in the industry for over 10 years, worked on broadcast material (editing and colour correction) but the average bride and groom could care less about a resume, they want to see what you can do – and they want to see wedding stuff.
My advice would be to ask around and try to do a wedding asap for free – or even call up a church or wedding planner. Offer to do the wedding for free but that you would like to use the wedding as a demo – I am sure they will say yes.
The wedding business can be quite stressful, especially if you don’t have the right gear. It’s always a good idea to have a back up camera, 2 microphones, a lighting kit and lots of batteries as you can sometimes be out there for 12 hours doing weddings. You can often rent the back up equip and extra gear you don’t have from a local supplier. Just add a little more than what you would charge normally to cover the extra costs.
Remember to get a good contract to cover your butt in case anything happens.Hope this has helped some. Feel free to send me a message if you have any specific questions.
All the best with your new business!
Heidi
-
Apprenticing yourself to a full-time wedding producer will be a quick and useful education. You will only grip at first, then move up to backup/ wide shot/cutaway work, and maybe editing. At first you will be working for low or no pay, until you’ve become proven and reliable. Wedding guys that are full-time very often overbook or get too many gigs to handle, and that’s when they refer off to someone like you, usually expecting a little gratuity for the referral, or some other arrangement. It’s boot camp, doing weddings, the stakes are high, failure is not an option, if you do it right, you learn a lot about how to shoot documentaries and plan angles and shot selsction “in-camera” to tell a story.
Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up