Behind the scenes
After helping out on professional video shoots, I learned I’m closer to my career dreams than I thought
The first day, I arrived at 5 am to help set up the studio and prepare the cameras and lights for the shoot.
I was working on the set of Tone It Up, a social media-based fitness company. While there, they filmed new workout videos for their fall series.
A few of the many things I learned about included lighting setups, clap sync, and media management.
I got a behind-the-scenes look at the production. I took notes for the editor as well as practiced live shot selection.
After filming 7 workout videos — and eating many snacks in between them — we wrapped Day 1 of shooting at 6:30 pm.
After a 13.5-hour day, I was done with Day 1 of my Los Angeles experience. But I was just getting started.
As a Marquette University student, we do have Diederich College of Comm-sponsored trips to cities like Los Angeles, Chicago and New York to network with Marquette alumni and gain career insights. Unfortunately, due to other commitments, I am not able to be a part of this experience.
So I made my own LA experience.
A teammate of mine on the Marquette men’s lacrosse team, Ryan Fazio, connected me with his uncle, Jake Loskutoff. Jake is an Emmy award winning videographer and is also the founder/director of LIFEinaVAN Studios. His company works with many different organizations within the realm of sports, beauty, fitness, and music.
After talking with him on the phone a few times, he invited me out to California to visit studio shoots he had scheduled for 4 days.
Much of my personal experience has been away from the studios so I was interested to see how it works at a professional level and if it varied what I learned in my classes.
After that long first day, here’s how the rest of the trip unfolded.
Day 2
I was more comfortable with the shoot and knew what to expect. I arrived around 7 am since we had very few things to set up. I learned more about mics and met the owners of Tone It Up. We closed the shoot around 6:30 pm that day as well.
Day 3
I was given even more freedom and the ability to experiment with some of the gear they had on site as well as shoot some footage for a behind the scenes video. Although we experienced some technical difficulties in the morning, we still finished on time and concluded the 3 day shoot at 6 pm.
Day 4
After three days on the same set, I mixed it up and traveled to Anaheim as we worked with Fox Sports West and the Los Angeles Angels. This shoot was a roundtable discussion with former Angels players, Bobby Grich, Garret Anderson, Tim Salmon, Mark Langston, and Mark Gubicza.
After lugging gear across the stadium, I watched the complete creative process occur — from deciding how to set up the discussion to cleaning up after the shoot. During this shoot, I was able to film a behind the scenes video. I found this to be the most fun task of the week.
Throughout the week, I learned a ton. What was eye opening was seeing how my experience at the Diederich College of Communication has helped prepare me for the professional world. My classes have taught me many skills and techniques that are utilized in the professional world. I found many things familiar and concluded that I was not as far from a professional level in my career as I thought.
While working, I was particularly drawn to the camera and shooting aspect of it. When watching videos, I am always curious how each filmmaker achieved the shot.
I learned the days were long and the shoots often lasted the whole day. We had to arrive early to prepare equipment then wait until the talent was ready to shoot. The early mornings were not new to me though as I am used to it given my schedule with lacrosse.
One of my favorite parts of the trip was wearing the Ronin camera stabilizer mount. I had always been in awe of these big camera stabilizers. I am always interested in learning new ways to improve my shots and being able to use a piece of equipment that is used for feature films was a memorable experience.
Overall throughout the course of the week I was given a ton of hands-on experience, including setting up the lights and cameras, decorating the set, taking notes for the editor, operating a Ronin, controlling a follow focus, and shooting a behind the scenes video.
Coming back to Milwaukee, I looked to expand on my experience I had in California. I was given the opportunity to shadow the Marquette men’s basketball shoot with Tri-Marq. It was perfect timing.
I carefully watched the set up and took down notes about the shoot. It was interesting to see the similarities and differences between production companies in the gear, set up, work flow.
Again, I had the opportunity to shoot a behind the scenes video — this one appeared on Marquette basketball’s Instagram.
Final thoughts
Marquette has given me many more opportunities to network with industry professionals as well as hands-on experience like this.
I could see myself working in this industry as I approach the end of my college career. I tend to gravitate more towards the sports end of the spectrum, within the video world. In the future, I hope to work for a professional or collegiate sports organization within video production.
While it would be tough to leave my midwestern roots and head to the West Coast for good, I do hope to find myself somewhere in the film production industry.
Throughout the rest of my college career, I hope to find myself on more video shoots, soaking in every piece of information that I can and then perfecting my own craft.
