Q1: How old are you?

 A1: 22

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Q2: Where are you from, and how long have you been in London?

 A2: Grew up and lived in Oxford until I moved to London for uni in 2015.

 

 

Q3: What is your creative passion?

 A3: I love most things video and music related.

 

 

Q4: Did you study video or are your skills more self-taught?

 A4: I got into video editing at around 16 when I went to college, and graduated last year after studying Film & TV. Like most others, I latched onto YouTube alongside tedious trial and error to work out what the hell I was doing really.

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Q5: What is your favorite part of the creative process?

 A5: I think it varies from project to project, sometimes concepting, or just seeing the final product. But it always feels best when you’re given more freedom to do your own thing and add your own twist to the process?

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Q6: Do you think it’s essential to have a degree in order to succeed in the creative industry nowadays?

 A6: Not at all, but it can definitely put you in a better position to reach some experiences. It’s more about a personal drive to create over what an educational institute will do for you. What’s important to do is make the most of what you can learn, whether that’s through uni or an internship or just by doing your own shit. I just used an understanding I built through education and applied it to projects and ideas that I wanted to work on outside of that system.

 

 

Q7: You mentioned to me that you now work for Kyra TV, tell me about the projects you’ve worked on so far!

 A7: This year I’ve done London Fashion Week, Paris Fashion Week for Dunhill, A lot of stuff for Foot Locker, Converse, Nike, Levi’s, Puma, Tommy Hilfiger x Lewis Hamilton, Just finished up a campaign with Nikon as well. Kyra also just won a Sponsorship Award for a project we worked on with NCS last year which is pretty cool. A few new fun editorials and big things coming soon as always.

 

 

Q8: What is the atmosphere like working at such a young creative brand?

A8: It’s sick to be around a bunch of like-minded and diverse individuals, everyone kind of bounces off each other’s ideas to create interesting projects together. I get the chance to work closely with people who I admire and have been able to build an understanding of the aspects of running a real creative business.

 

Q9: What have you learnt from the role so far?

A9: The importance of project management within teams, adapting to creatives, understanding and appealing to unfamiliar audience's. I ended up editing some makeup tutorials not long ago, which wasn’t something I was used to doing.

 

 

Q10: What are your long-term goals with video curation?

A10: I think it’s really important to maintain a sense of purpose within your work, and I wanna make sure that everything I do fits into creating self purpose as well. I hope to create inspiring shit that stands the test of time, not getting lost in the endless sea of content we live in.

 

 

Q11: Do you ever find yourself comparing your work to others on social media?

A11: It’s incredibly easy to sit on your phone scrolling through Instagram, Twitter etc critiquing your work to others. It’s better to look at pieces of work and try to understand the thought processes behind them. Why did they choose to use that specific shot first? How does the format/style of edit of the video impact the message behind it? You can learn a lot from others but you can learn even more through yourself. People forget about the process of making art particularly due to the nature of its portrayal on social media. Work someone has spent hundreds of hours on can be scrolled by in a flash, so it’s best not to get too caught up in the Instagram frenzy and just do what you wanna do - not everything’s about playing the game of algorithms. I’m trying to cut down on my social media use, particularly after checking what my screen time can be like.

 

 

Q12: Do you think freelance should be a more viable career option for millennials, instead of unpaid internships?

A12: Unpaid internships shouldn’t even be a thing, but they can undeniably be beneficial to some when it comes to working in the industry. Despite disadvantaging those who can’t afford to work for free. Freelance has its risks with that you might be stuck with no work, but what’s really certain nowadays anyway? People lose permanent jobs with no prior indication all the time. You’ve just gotta try and do what makes you happy in yourself more than anything else.

 

 

Q13: If you could give any advice to aspiring videographers, what would it be?

A13: Experiment. I think one of the most valuable lessons I learnt from uni came from an old lecturer Jaime, is that you’re only really limited by the boundaries of your creativity when it comes to editing. There’s countless methods of approach to creating, just experiment and develop styles that appeal to you. Push boundaries and never stop experimenting basically. You never know when you might come across something that clicks and fully resonates with what you want to create. Which is always a beautiful thing.

 

 

Q14: What is your favorite camera to film on?

A14: I haven’t been filming as much as I’d like lately, but I’m still shooting photos on film, mainly with a Yashica T3. Recently got one of those 3D cameras once again after my old stopped working on me so gonna try do some different edits with that again. The struggle of using old equipment is real.

 

 

Q15: Most creatives know that editing can be tedious! Do you ever get stressed out with certain projects? How do you get past this?  

A15: 100%, I’m always trying to reduce stress as much as I can, but it comes mostly from time constraints and deadlines that need to be met, which everyone feels. Best way to deal with this is to not be stressing out alone, I find it helpful to discuss what’s causing the stress as a way to come up with a solution for it. If that doesn’t help, Haribo’s will.

 

 

Q16: What software do you use to edit?

 A16: mostly Adobe Premiere Pro but a bit of After Effects too.

 

 

Q17: What is it about Videography that you love?

A17: Having an urge to create something memorable, which is even better when you get to share it with others. Working towards this can be a pain but again it’s the finished product that gets you through and makes everything worth it.

 

 

Q18: Do you see yourself owning your own creative business?

A18: I still feel like I have a lot to learn but it’s one of those ones where it will probably be an impulse decision of mine somewhere down the line. I should definitely get my mind, body and finances in check before though.

 

 

Q19: Who are your top three creative inspirations?

A19: it’s tough to think of just three, but I always remember Dexter Navy’s L$D edit for A$AP Rocky as one of the videos that really got me into editing I think, so he’s always been a favorite, and his videos keep getting better and better. I guess an advantage of the internet is an exposure to so many different types of creative art all the time. I try to get inspired from alternative sources to avoid becoming stagnant. I was watching the new Attenborough-narrated Netflix show and the visuals are next level. They’re changing the way we visually experience animals and pushing an urgent climate change message at the same time. I saw an oil puddle the other day, and thought about how I could use a clip of it as a transition effect. Creative inspiration comes from everywhere.

 

 

Q20: What is the best experience you have had, made possible by your work/ job?

A20: Being able to regularly work on videos that have been seen millions of times is a pretty mad thing to think about. Front row filming at Paris fashion week was cool too.

 

Q21: What is the most important thing you have learnt about yourself since moving to London, completing a degree and securing a sick job?!

A21: Make sure you take time to look after yourself, keep good people close to you and never stop moving forward. It’s easy to get complacent, remember why you do what you do and just work hard, opportunity can come from anywhere. But again, look after yourself.