Today's episode brings you Levi Allen, a filmmaker out of British Columbia and Founder of Left Coast Media. Levi's most recent film 'Untethered' was featured as a Vimeo Staff Pick in December 2015.
In this episode Levi discusses how he started out making films, the importance of not letting gear stand in the way of creation, why he decided to begin vlogging, the story behind the making of Untethered and why he decided to release his film for free.
2015 was a big year for me. It was the first full-year of being my own boss, making six figures, filming & editing hundreds of videos, and I also traveled a ton. In this video I share six things I learned specifically related to making so many videos last year.
I also wrote a full annual review with more lessons learned, stats, and financials here.
Read MoreLooking back at 2015 gives me a lot of reasons to celebrate.
It was also very trying year though too. It started with my wife Jen's third round of surgery to remove cancer from her tongue. The success of that and no further appearances has helped fuel Jen's recovery back to almost full strength again.
Her health challenges have pushed me to work harder, think bigger, make more, and take plenty of time to enjoy life, friends, and family along the way.
But before I look back on the rest of 2015, it helps to look back even further, going five years back to when I start doing work online. Each year while I do my annual reviews I read through my previous ones and I say to my former self, "Oh how little you know."
Read MoreWhen I had a desk job it was easy relax. I would come home, enjoy the weekend, or go on vacation without even thinking about work at all until I was pulling into the parking lot at my job.
But when you work for yourself, there are always tasks to do and when you work from anywhere, you can always be getting them done.
In this episode I talk about creative distance and how to remove properly yourself from your work.
Read MoreI've basically spent the past three months traveling for either client video projects, video conferences, or vacation. Through all the flights and carrying my camera gear to five countries in three continents I've compiled nine of my lessons learned from traveling while shooting video.
In this podcast episode I break-down in detail why you want to invest in proper storage and image stabilization gear, why you need a pocket-sized camera, how to use tools like reflectors when you don't have lights, and why wireless audio may be the best option.
Read MoreOver the past two months I have had an insane schedule filled with trips and client shoots.
And instead of releasing crappy podcasts and video shows along the way I decided to live by my favorite Ron Swanson quote: "Don't half ass two things, whole ass one thing."
In today's video show I'll explain where I've been and what's next for DVG. (Hint: season two of the video and audio shows start next week.)
Read MoreThe last five months of "flying solo" have been an insanely busy juggling act of client work, launching this podcast, shipping YouTube videos weekly, my wife's two rounds of surgery and recovery from cancer, trips around the Holidays, and more.
I figured it was time to share a bit of behind the scenes on how things are going internally at my video production studio and what's next for DIY Video Guy.
In this episode I talk with my editor Tim about what gear investments we've been making (and why), what our workflow is (including all the programs and web apps we use), how video podcasting downloads have compared to YouTube viewers for the weekly video show, talk candidly about how video production for clients has been going, and tease version 2.0 of the DIY Video Production Guide (which comes out March 24th).
Read MoreIf you're looking to hire a video person or team to come shoot videos for you, there is plenty to know beforehand and a lot to do that will help the project go as smoothly as possible.
In this podcast episode I chat with Wes Wages of Armosa Studios about what it is like to work with a videographer.
We cover everything from what to expect process wise, how to prepare to get the best result from your video team, whether or not it makes sense to make them travel to you or you to them, and tips on dissecting proposals and contracts.
Read MoreI love attending conferences.
I've shared many times before why, so I won't do that here, but to someone trying to decide whether or not to attend a conference for the first time, there are only two real ways to decide.
Either ask someone that has been there before or watch the event video, and your only option is usually the latter.
In today's episode I chat with Paul Searle, a freelance videographer who focuses almost exclusively on making videos for events. We chat about what makes a great event video, how to best record the talks, how he is livestreaming events to the web, and all the gear he uses to do so.
If you ever need to record something that takes place live (weddings, sporting events, conferences, documentaries, etc.), this episode is for you.
Read MoreEven if you're a professional and you've done something tens of thousands of times, you're still going to mess up occasionally. (Just think of how often NFL receivers drop easy catches.)
When you make enough videos, you're bound to make plenty of mistakes.
The two most important things to recover from mistakes are to fix them as soon as possible and to put processes in place to never let them happen again.
In today's episode I talk with Tim Krupa, my editor, production assistant, and brother-in-law. In it we discuss ten mistakes we've made while making videos for ourselves or clients and how you can avoid them.
Read MoreIf you're making videos for yourself, there is a good chance that you might be interested in earning some money on the side or full-time by making videos for other people.
I've been making videos part-time for a couple years, and full-time for the past few months, so I have some decent experience doing so, but in this episode I chat with Chad Owen, who has been freelancing as a video maker for the past 6 years.
We talk about how to feel comfortable charging what you're worth, how to properly sell your services, creating properly through budgeting and proposals, how to position video as a solution with an ROI for your clients, and when to invest in gear versus renting your equipment.
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