As each New Year's day rolls along, many of us make resolutions which we intent to keep, but rarely do. My resolution/aspiration for 2013 is to excel at filmmaking and grow my video business--30a Films.
My background is television. My first job after graduating from the University of Georgia (with a degree in journalism) was at a tv station in Panama City, FL. I was hired as a news reporter, even though I had no television experience. I had only previously worked as a reporter for newspapers.
My news director liked that I had lived a few years near the area, and knew some influential people.
He was very impressed when I walked up and hugged the neck of the Lt. Gov. of Florida when we were having lunch during the interview process! It wasn't that I was anyone special...I just had interned in the Lt. Gov.'s office while in college, scheduling his travels and speaking engagements.
As I have grown my photography business over the last 15 years, I have had in the back of my mind--for at least a decade--the urge to get back into video production. Getting to know about things...people...and telling a story.
Two years ago I traveled to Louisiana to study with a videographer there, to learn of his style. I had stumbled upon his website and that planted the seed. I had been researching videographers in my local area and found that most of them were embarrassingly horrible! I wanted to offer a quality product for a wedding, event or promo films for business websites.
On twitter last year I found out about another school that was going on in California, near Los Angeles.
I made the journey out there, and learned a great deal.
I know how to tell a story and I know how to handle the shooting of the video, from my past experience in television. The one thing that seemed to be holding me back was the editing. It was like learning a whole new computer system! And, quite frankly, it intimidated me, as odd as that may sound.
Last fall I received a call from someone representing a golf academy at one of our major resorts in the area. He was needing someone to shoot and edit a promo film for their website. He found my phone number on the logo on my jeep. Well, I figured this was the opportunity to jump into this head-on, even though I STILL did not know the editing system. Now's as good a time as any to school myself with youtube training, I thought to myself.
My husband mentioned one day to our 24-year-old son about my upcoming shoot, and asked if he wanted to help me. He has some past experience playing around with video/film, and really has an interest in it. So Caleb joined me that day, and then he was a whiz at learning the editing system!
We really make a great team...we both shoot and we edit together. I tell him what footage to place where and he takes control of the computer.
Thus, 30a Films was born. I decided on the name because 30a is a popular county road in south Walton, where hundreds of thousands of people make it a tourist destination. The upscale neighborhoods and restaurants of Rosemary Beach, Alys Beach, Seagrove, Seaside, Blue Mountain Beach and Santa Rosa Beach are the reasons why this area is so loved. And we have been blessed to be able to live just off 30a.
So my New Year's resolution--one that I WILL keep--revolves around something that I love and am passionate about! How can that goal NOT be successful!
Yes, I will keep up my photography, because I have hundreds of families who love my style and look forward to a family beach portrait when they visit on vacation. However, the busier we get with producing high quality films, the more I may have to scale back on photography. We also plan to travel with the business, taking on commissions for weddings and promo films for websites.
Happy New Year to everyone and have a blessed and prosperous 2013!
To keep up with 30a Films, follow us on Facebook. Check out our work by clicking here:
https://vimeo.com/user7951026/videos
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