By Jack Yewman (Digital Media Producer)
I’m a strong believer in making the absolute most of every opportunity given to you in life, with a view to how it might open more doors for your future self. I sit here today as a fully-fledged self-employed Videographer, having already achieved so much while still only being at the mere beginnings of my career. I can say with certainty that I wouldn’t be at the level I am today without the lessons I learned while carrying out my job as a Digital Media Producer (DMP).
So, what did my role as DMP involve? To simplify: filming and editing. I had a background in video editing but, I’ll be completely honest, when I started out I didn’t know my way around a camera at all. I’ve always had the mindset of just saying yes to opportunities and figuring out how to do it later, because otherwise we just live in fear of how we might fail and never end up achieving [our full potential].
My first project was filming and editing lecture demonstrations for overseas students during COVID. The first thing I realised when working with clients is that I knew a lot more about cameras than I thought previously. The problem with being surrounded by other people at Uni who also study video photography, is that you fool yourself into thinking that all the knowledge you’ve gained over the years is just common knowledge. When I was put in a situation where I was filming with people who have never touched a professional camera in their life, it gave me an incredible amount of confidence that carried me through to where I am today.
While a lot of my learning came on the job, I would never have learned so fast if it wasn’t for the support of Matt and Charlotte who guided me through my entire journey as a DMP. We had multiple training days in the studio with Matt, which taught me so many valuable skills, many of which I still use to this day. And if it wasn’t for Charlotte constantly chasing us up on projects, I’m almost certain we would’ve achieved a lot less! So, I’m very grateful for her incredible patience.
Comparing myself at the end of my time as a DMP to my first ever project is night and day. I’ve gone from an unconfident student who didn’t know his way around a camera, to someone who, on some of our most recent projects, was directing rooms full of people as well as filming at the same time!
As I now move on from my role as DMP, I step into an even bigger, scarier role. As a freelance Videographer, not only do I have to film/edit people myself, but I also must find the projects and clients too! However, I am approaching this role in the same way I did as a DMP – figuring it out as I go along.
Some of the projects I’ve worked on so far have had me filming live events, creating short commercials, and helping businesses get themselves a higher social following by filming short form content for them. So far, I’ve worked with a variety of clients; Lloyds Pharmacy, NHS, Film/Book Festivals, Tyson Fury, Kaiser Chiefs, Fashion Agencies and many more. While each project is unique and has its own challenges, each one is carried out in a similar process to that of our DMP projects, so that has taught me a formula on which I can build upon.
In my freelance work, I also teamed up with a business partner and long-time friend to create our own startup company where we create and run online Ads (Facebook/Instagram/Tiktok/Google) for our clients, helping them to maximise their ROAS (Return on Ad Spend) and profits.
If you are an academic who is considering using the DMP service to create content for your course, I can say confidently that it is a great investment, and you will no doubt enjoy the process of filming, as every academic we’ve worked with has done. We always try to make it as fun as possible while still getting the job done, and most importantly our work allows more people to have access to learning resources which benefits everyone.