Stop romanticizing the aesthetic | James Cook | Full Battery Media

In this episode, I sit down with James Cook, founder of Foster Studios in London, to talk about what it really takes to build a sustainable video production business, and why chasing cinematic perfection might actually be getting in the way of results. 

James walks me through his unconventional path into the industry, from nearly failing his GCSEs to filming for Crystal Palace FC, to launching his own company right as COVID hit in 2020. We dig into how he learned to stop obsessing over kit and start obsessing over storytelling, why understanding a client's outcomes matters more than any lighting setup ever will, and how working with small businesses often unlocks the most creative, rewarding work of all. James also shares how he approaches pre-production differently now - asking sharper questions, planning interviews in advance, and finding the human moments that turn a forgettable highlights reel into something people actually want to watch. 

Whether you're a freelancer figuring out your niche, a brand trying to get more from your video budget, or a creative trying to balance passion with profit, this conversation is packed with honest, practical wisdom from someone who's learned it all the hard way.

From your experience, do you get better creative results working with a passionate small business owner who cares deeply, or a big brand with a proper budget and a full marketing team?

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

I I think when I was getting into the space, uh, and it's still probably quite quite relevant now, is that you can get quite fixated as a relatively young video professional in things like kit and getting the best possible lighting set up. And I would remember I remember, you know, when I was getting started out and I would accompany, you know, much more seasoned video professionals on shoots. So like I would be a B can with my small DSLR, and there'd be someone with like a really big Sony rigged-up camera, and I'd be like, oh, this is really cool. I'm I'm really jealous. Like, well, how can I get to to this level? But I think the the older I've got, and and maybe not the wiser, but I think you know, it's always kind of been my mindset that it's not so much about the kit that goes into it, it's it's about the the messaging and what the the story is really. Um, because there's a there's a load of different content I do now, you know. It could be social media content where you don't need the most elaborate setup sometimes. You're just going into a location and you're just there with the camera, and that's that's pretty much all it needs to be. But then there are some other jobs where clients want something that's going on their website and they want it to be really polished, come across as super professional, where you need to approach that in a slightly different way. But whatever you're shooting, whether it's you know high-fire, low-fi, somewhere in the middle, uh, it's all about what is that end goal going to be and what is going to give the client the most satisfaction, what's going to give them the best ROI. And that's not necessarily in terms of financial value, it could be, you know, are they getting the most awareness for their product or service? Is this video used to hire someone that they're struggling to fill in in their company? Like let's say they've got a gap in the market for a new, I don't know, CFO, but they want to hire someone and they want to make a really cool recruitment piece. Is this video gonna fill that gap and attract the right people?

SPEAKER_00 1:57

All right, welcome everybody back to the Full Battery Media Podcast. My name is Sean Trace. I am your host, and I have an awesome guest with me today. Would you like to tell people who you are and a little bit about what you do?

SPEAKER_01 2:08

Yeah, no worries at all. First and foremost, uh, thank you for having me on, Sean. Really appreciate you thinking of me for this. So my name is uh James Cook. Um I work in the video production space. I've got my own production business called Foster Studios um based here in London. And um, yeah, I'm looking forward to the conversation today.

SPEAKER_00 2:24

It's awesome, man. Well, first question first: how did you start out in the video production path? What was it that got you started?

SPEAKER_01 2:33

Um, I mean, it's uh a bit of a convoluted story because I wasn't one of these people that when I was a kid, I was like, wow, I really want to be a cameraman or a videographer, or you know, I didn't really have any real inkling that I wanted to get into the video production landscape. It probably wasn't until I left uh senior school at 16, and then I went to what we have in the UK uh sixth form college, where you go on to study A-levels just before you go to university. And um, funnily enough, I was going there to study history and I think it was English literature at the time, but my GCSE grades weren't good enough to actually go and study those more academic subjects. So after discussing with the tutors at the college, they were like, well, why don't you go down the more creative path? And I ended up choosing uh photography, graphic design, and film studies, and those are all mediums that I'm using in my current day-to-day work. So I'm using Photoshop a lot, I'm using Premiere Pro. Uh, obviously, filmmaking speaks for itself. So really useful, um, really useful courses to have at that age, and then that just led me down a path where I started to explore YouTube a lot more. So I started making my own YouTube videos. I'm a big football fan, so I started making YouTube videos around my favorite football team. That then led to some actual like paid and client work, so I was doing video editing for other YouTube channels. Uh, then I went on to university to study film and television, and that's where I probably got a little bit more clarity about what I wanted to do. So, not to go too too far down the garden path with this one, but I really wanted to get into football media. Nice, and uh it was probably not until I graduated from university that I got a job um part-time with Crystal Palace Football Club based here in London, and I was working with them semi-regularly alongside doing some more uh kind of client corporate work. Um, so two two very different landscapes, but it was actually after doing um kind of the football stuff for about a year that uh my my passion for that waned a little bit, and I was just like, because it's obviously such a massive hobby of mine, as well as becoming work, I just didn't like that the two were like like taking over my life almost. And I really found a passion for the the corporate work, working with businesses, particularly small to medium businesses as well. I just found like delving into those client and business stories really really engaging. So I know this is a bit of a convoluted answer, but um that's kind of how I've landed at where I'm at I am today, where I'm working kind of B2B almost a hundred percent of the time.

SPEAKER_00 5:00

That's awesome. Because it's interesting because you know, people have different routes into any creative profession, especially, you know, media production. But um I I do like how you said that, you know, some people are always like follow your passion, follow your passion. But sometimes like you want to keep the things that you're really passionate about separate because it can be really stressful to kind of have them mixed all the time. But when you started making uh content and and you started creating things, did you enjoy um you said you made your own YouTube, did you enjoy making things for yourself as well?

SPEAKER_01 5:37

Yeah, definitely. And that that's how it started out. I think there was a lot of satisfaction in making something that people wanted to engage with, because you know, you you'll know from doing this, like building an audience is really tough, and trying to get people to engage and reciprocate with what you're doing isn't the easiest thing in the world. And if you're plugging away for months on end and you're struggling to break 100 subscribers, it it can feel a little bit um not demotivating, but it's exciting to turn it on its head when you do like break that 100 subscriber barrier and then you hit a thousand and then two thousand or three thousand. It leads to opportunities, you meet new people, you you get people that are turning up to that they're interested in what you're saying, and suddenly that just feels like uh really purposeful and it has a real meaning to it. So I I love that aspect of it. I mean, take away the actual production side, like the filming and the editing. I just liked that there was a little community there, and what I was doing was bringing people together, and um, even though I'm not really in the football YouTube landscape anymore, uh, I still do a podcast um where I'm speaking to fellow football fans of the club I support. I I still know and have made lots of friends through that. So, in that sense, yeah, it it it it's great, and I completely resonate with what you say there about uh your when your passion and your hobbies uh become you know too too fixated around your work as well, it kind of takes the enjoyment out of it a little bit. So um I know I've gone off on a bit of a tangent here, but keeping those things separate, I think, has been really good for me. And it's still kind of playing a role in in what I'm doing now, in a sense. Like I'm still carrying on with the podcasting and staying in in that world in some way, but it's not like the be all and end all, you know. I've got my work, I've now got my passion as well, and um, it's just a very nice balance.

SPEAKER_00 7:21

That's awesome because you know, it is balance is what most of us, you know, should hope for because you know, not everyone finds that balance in their career. And you know, it's interesting because you you got into video and you you started Foster Studio in two 2020, correct? Um, what was the moment you realized you could turn video from a skill into an actual business? How did that go about?

SPEAKER_01 7:46

Well I like I say, I'd been before I started my own business, uh I'd been making videos for clients and for other businesses, um, probably five years prior to that. So I started actually getting paid for videos of service in uh late 2014, and that was when I started you know getting those uh video editing jobs for YouTube clients, and then that then developed into working with a children's media agency and some startup businesses, and uh that was throughout my time at university. So I went from uni from 2015 to 2018, and it was during those years where I was really like freelancing quite a lot with a couple of regular clients, and I was almost virtually in-house with this one agency, and because they were a startup, I was just really interested and really passionate about the process of actually building a business, and that fascinated me. I just found it like the intricacies of you know, even basic things like invoicing and how to talk to clients and all the things that uh are completely separate to the actual service you provide, like the actual, you know, how do I build a business? How do I talk to someone if they inquire with me? How do I, you know, act at a networking event? Because I didn't know any of this stuff. So having that experience at quite a young age, I think was really beneficial. Um, I didn't really see myself at that time being like, okay, I'm gonna grow my own business. My thought process was when I left uni, I'm gonna freelance for a little bit, and you know, I'll see where the road takes me. I still want to get into football media, I still want to apply for those jobs, but for those first six months, I just freelanced. And then to be totally honest, um, I think it was January 2019 where I experienced my first real quiet patch, and obviously prior to that, I'd been in education, I'd had freelance work, and it was like my first time in my life, really, in my professional career anyway, where I didn't have anything, and I was just like, okay, this isn't great. But what I've learned is six, seven years further down the line that actually January and February are pretty dead anyway, so I was probably panicking over nothing really. But at the time, I was like, okay, this is bad, I need to get a job. Um, so that's when I got an internship with a company called Secret London, who are quite a big media publisher here in the UK. And I was working with them for three, four days a week alongside working with Crystal Palace Football Club. So I was getting a really good blend of two very different industries. And um, I think it was after working with Secret London and getting even more exposure to clients because they had quite big names on the books like DiAgio, who obviously um work with brand who own brands like Guinness and the Singleton and some really cool names. There's a lot of drinks brands involved, which is never a bad thing. But I was getting to work with those guys quite a lot, and uh that's like going from working with like in my previous work at maybe a slightly lesser level to now working at quite a high level, working with different types of clients. But you know, you're working with brand managers and there's people in the business that are going out and pitching for the work, and it just felt like a yeah, like I say, just a different type of process to what I've been used to before. But again, I was learning, I was quite involved in the business side of it. Um, even though my skill set was just there to kind of do the videos, uh, I I was quite involved in the the process leading up to it. And again, you know, learning about how to talk to clients, how to behave on set, things like that, like quite basic stuff, but obviously stuff that is really helpful. And it was probably after, I don't know, maybe eight months of doing that. Um, because I was putting my stuff out on LinkedIn and I was getting uh inquiries at that time and I was taking on the occasional freelance bit of work. It was probably when I started to realise throughout um 2019, okay, I'm getting quite a few inquiries now. Maybe there's an opportunity for me to explore that a little bit further. And uh at the end of 2019, terrible timing, but I took the plunge and decided uh okay, 2020 is the year where I'm gonna go full-time on my own thing, and we'll give it that year, we'll see how it goes, and uh fingers crossed it'll take off. And even though it was the like I say, the worst possible time to uh go self-employed, like um I'm glad I came out the other side of it after COVID.

SPEAKER_00 11:56

That sounds like a hell of a time to go on your own, man. But like I think that one of the things too is like, man, yeah, I can only imagine starting a company right before COVID. That must have been tough as hell. But like at the same time, uh you know, one of the things that I think is important in all this is like you have to have a passion, you have to have a joy, you have to really love what you're doing to really succeed as a creative. You know, it's not something that like people think, and I think this is one of the problems that I I um when you look at real great m cinematography, like man, I saw this one shot a while back that they had a drone, and then the drone flew down, like the guy took the thing off the drone that a steady cam and then passed it onto this like and hooked it onto some other thing, and then they drove off in the car and on it. And I was just like, when I watched the full shot, I was just blown away. And the reason I'm bringing that up is because there's almost this magic to really great work, you know? And I don't think people realize how powerful and special it is, but you know, I I was reading up a lot of what you do, and like a lot of people focus on these cinematic shots, but like I was reading about how you talk a lot about outcomes. Like, how do you balance creativity with making sure video actually drives results? You know, because those aren't always the same thing. Sometimes you can be really beautiful and it just doesn't hit, it doesn't land. But sometimes, you know, something that's really simple can just land really well. How do you balance creativity versus, you know, the results?

SPEAKER_01 13:40

Hmm, really good question. And um, I I think when I was getting into the space, uh, and it's still probably quite quite relevant now, is that you can get quite fixated as a relatively young video professional in things like kits and getting the best possible lighting set up. And I would remember I remember, you know, when I was getting started out and I would accompany you know much more seasoned video professionals on shoots, and like I would be a B cam with my small DSLR, and there'd be someone with like a really big Sony rigged-up camera, and I'd be like, oh, this is really cool. I'm I'm really jealous. Like, well, how can I get to to this level? But I think the the older I've got, and and maybe not the wiser, but I think you know, it's always kind of been my mindset that it's not so much about the kit that goes into it, it's it's about the the messaging and what the the story is really. Um, because there's a there's a load of different content I do now, you know. It could be social media content where you don't need the most elaborate setup sometimes. You're just going into a location and you're just there with the camera, and that's that's pretty much all it needs to be. But then there are some other jobs where clients want something that's going on their website and they want it to be really polished, come across as super professional, where you need to approach that in a slightly different way. But whatever you're shooting, whether it's you know high-fire, low-fire, somewhere in the middle, uh, it's all about what is that end goal going to be and what is going to give the client the most satisfaction, what's going to give them the best ROI. And that's not necessarily in terms of financial value, it could be, you know, are they getting the most awareness for their product or service? Is this video used to hire someone that they're struggling to fill in in their company? Like let's say they've got a gap in the market for a new, I don't know, CFO, but they want to hire someone and they want to make a really cool recruitment piece. Is this video gonna fill that gap and attract the right people? So it's just about finding what those outcomes are, and then obviously, I mean it goes about saying you need the content to look good. Uh, you can't just rock up and I when I was getting started out, I I would just turn up with a camera, tripods, and that would kind of be it. But I've learned further down the line that you need um to to bring a certain standard. I don't think that necessarily means you need to have six, seven, eight lights, and you need to be spending loads and loads and loads and loads of time over getting certain b-roll shots, but just making sure that the the shots do look good, that they're meaningful, that they're relevant to what's being spoken about, that and that everything is going to make sense when it comes to the editing process and a nice story is going to align. So it is a tough blend. Um, trying to find that balance between creativity and uh and getting the right outcome. And being totally honest with you, Sean, um, I'm sure anyone in any job will say this. There are certain jobs that you do for clients that aren't necessarily the most uh fulfilling or the most exciting, but you've got to find a way to keep them interesting. Like some some jobs, like tomorrow, for example, I'm going to um a wealth management firm and I'm just filming like a CEO update. But that that's the job, and I've got to make it, you know, interesting and put my best into it. So that that's my kind of attitude, no matter how big or small the job is, just go into it, um, give it the best I possibly can, do, and uh get the right outcome. And for me, that's that's been a good um mantra to work by over the past six, seven years. I love that.

SPEAKER_00 16:54

I love that because there's a lot of people that think everything needs to be glamorous all the time. And it's not. You know, there are days where you're just wading through wading through the weeds, and you just gotta get through what you gotta get through to get to the fun stuff. But one of the things that I try to remind myself is that, you know, it's all all attitude because I I think that no matter what, if I can remind myself, I'm simply lucky to be here. I'm lucky to be able to hold a camera, whether it it doesn't matter what type of camera. If I'm shooting on a phone, if I'm shooting on something fancy, dude, whatever it is, I'm lucky to be here. And you know, and I think that that that that that mindset has always made it so that it's easier for me just to kind of enjoy the project. Because I had one client, oh geez, about two weeks ago, and they sent me 30 revisions on a short TikTok reel. And like the revisions were like, this is too high. And then I moved it lower, and they're like, now it's too low. So I moved it higher, and they're like, this is too high again. And I'm just like, you do understand that there's not much room between those two spaces. And it just was like, I was sitting there, wanting to pull my hair out, and then I was just like, you know what? This is the job for today. This is where I'm at. And you know, do it with a smile, have fun because there's gonna be fun stuff that comes along. And sure enough, I had an absolutely awesome project that came in the next day that I was just like an absolute joy to work on. But you know, I I think that it's about keeping the mindset and then and and and being present with whatever it is. But I I wanted to ask you this when a client says we just need a highlights video, um, you know, we just need something simple. But you know, someone saying something simple is really simple. You know what I mean? Like, what questions are you asking before you even pick up the camera?

SPEAKER_01 18:52

Um, again, I mean that's gonna really depend on what the project is. So let's say it's that highlights reel of an event that you referenced there, right? Something I'm trying to get better at is making event videos more interesting because what I'm getting a little bit not tired of, um, and I do appreciate sometimes a client will just want a one-minute B-roll montage of an event. And I'm not gonna complain because that that's relatively straightforward work, it's enjoyable work. You know, you don't have to, it doesn't take a lot of um, for use of a better term, brain power, because it's uh you've done so many of them. It it it becomes bread and butter, right? You know what the shots are. You like before when I just started out making event videos, I would be focusing on things like the canopies and branding and things like that. Whereas now I know it's all about what are the moments that are happening, what are the interactions within the room, do people look like they're enjoying being here? That's what the client wants to see at the end, right? They want to see happy faces, happy people, and they want a one-minute piece that can be used to showcase their next event. But if I was having that conversation with a client right now, I would be asking, okay, so are you interested in potentially exploring a way in which we can make this a little bit more dynamic and add a bit more value to people that you might be looking to target at the next event you're hosting? So I did one back in um November for a really cool client called Yakol in the UK. They're like a um gut pre-b not prebiotic, probiotic. And uh it's like it's just a really good, really, really cool little brand. Um, and they they host uh a science day where they get scientists together and they discuss um you know what's going on in their industry around um gut health, which is a very niche industry, also very cool. But with this event, because I knew there was such an opportunity to speak to people and get lots of different opinions from people at Yakult, from people um that were attending the event just as guests from scientists that were quite high profile. I didn't want to just have a camera off to the side, have a you know basic light on it, um, and just kind of do vops pop. I really wanted to do more in-depth interviews, so it's it can be quite hard to pin clients down to get like the answers you want because I mean you'll know what it's like if you work in the video space. Trying to get a certified answer from a client can be really tough. Like, I wanted to know do we have a room where we can do interviews? What time are the people going to be available? And it's like, oh, we'll see on the day. Like, no, no, no. We need to kind of know beforehand if we're gonna do this really well. Can we get these people at a certain time? Can I set up in this space? And lo and behold, for that job, they said we can we can do our interviews, like for our brand, in the auditorium before the event starts. So that looks really cool. Like we had an empty auditorium, we did interviews in there, like all the seats behind them looks really amazing. And then they gave us a separate room, which wasn't the most exciting, but you know, played around a bit a little bit, managed to make it look fairly decent. But the the the point is we took a lot of time over this, like beforehand, planning out who we want to speak to, where we're gonna do the interviews, and just doing that and having that time, I think made for a much better end result than just kind of grabbing people on the day. And sometimes you have to do that, right? Sometimes at the job, you're just working with what you've got. But if you can be a bit more methodical about it and plan out what you want, who you want to speak to at an event in this example, um, that makes for a much better value piece, I think. Because highlights are great, but if you can add some dialogue in there and create a bit of a story behind it, that's what's gonna sell your event.

SPEAKER_00 22:22

I 100% agree. I you're you're speaking my language. I swear by the idea of a story. Today I made a video, and it was just a video that was off the cuff. It was just random as hell. I was gonna go pick up a new mic uh for like shooting reels, and that's why I got the DJI mic mini that would like with the double uh like mics uh that have a single receiver. And I was walking up to the store and I was a Star Wars fan, and I have a shirt on that says, You are my father, I am your father. And I live in Vietnam, and suddenly this guy looks at me, this security guard at the side of the road looks at me, and I forgot that I was wearing the shirt. And he looks up and he's like, I am your father, just shouts it out at me. And I was just like, What? And so I went back and I bought my mics and I went back. I was like, dude, can you say that again? Can you read that again for me? And he's like, What? And I just was rolling, he's like, I am your father. And I was like, that was what I wanted you to say again. And it just cracked me up because I was able to then anchor my mics into this weird story about me walking down the street. And I was like, you know what? At the end of the day, great content is all around us, but you have to figure out how to package it and contain it inside of a story. And so suddenly, like this whole video about me going to buy two mics just got a lot more interesting. And I mean, that's just a simple little silly video. But like, if you're doing an event, if you're doing a corporate video, I'm gonna be going back and making some videos at some wineries. I live, my family lives in the Napa Valley in California, and I'm doing some videos with wineries there, which is super fun. But one of the things that the wineries do, they always want to focus on the wine. Show us glamour shots of the winery. And I'm like, how about the people? How about the people who work here? Like, let's talk about that because that's to me is interesting. Um, and you know, one of the things that I was able to do was to get them to see that there could be something else, that there could be a different way to approach a story, which to me was a huge and epic win that you could figure out a new way. Um, but let's ask you this like because you've worked with both big brands and small local businesses, what are the biggest differences in how they approach content?

SPEAKER_01 24:40

Oh, that's a really, really good question. Um, but so uh with one of my biggest clients, I think uh the attitude towards content is about volume a lot of the time. With uh this this one particular client um that I work with quite a lot, uh it seems to be that because I mean this is the instance where the content is for social, right? So they bring me in on a regular basis to create content specifically for predominantly Instagram, and uh they want to maximise every shoot, so a lot of the time it's how many videos can we do, what's for the X budget, and can we bolt on certain videos on the day? And they they might you know message me sporadically and say we've got something going on. Do you want to come in and film it? Um, and it's all about getting as much content out of that shoot as possible that they can then post for um the long term, and it's it's quite rare, I would say, in that instance, that we're actually allowed the time to think about what that content what purpose that content is serving. Um, because a lot of the time it's around there's a campaign happening, we've got something going on, we need to get it captured, and because the with a big brand like that, everything is moving so quickly, before you know the next campaign is already starting. So you haven't really got a lot of time to think about that. And I think you know, um that's not always the case, and I think we talk about social in this instance, right? So I think it's understandable that the content is gonna be like that in some instances, but with um, let's say a I mean a brand like Yakolt that I just referenced, they're a big brand, a lot of people know them, they're in every supermarket across the UK. They really took the time to take on board, you know, um, my thoughts, opinions, and they came in with their own ones as well. And it was a really good collaboration from start to finish. Um, I mean that project's only just wrapped up. I mean, we've been working on it for the past couple of months, but it's just felt really like they they were really invested in what we were doing, and I was really invested because they were so invested, you know. It doesn't really, for me, no matter what client I'm working with, so long as I get that enthusiasm that they're passionate and interested about what they're doing, um, about what we're doing, that makes me want to deliver the best outcome for them, if that makes sense, because I'm sure you've worked with people as well where uh they're in a job, and to them it's a job, and that's that's totally fine. Like I've got absolutely nothing against people that just want to be in a job, and that that's it. And they might not share the same passion as you, and you've just got to accept that sometimes, and you've just got to do the job that's been handed to them. But it it goes a long way, I think, when you're working with marketers or creatives that are interested in driving the best outcomes, that come with ideas that are willing to take on your own ideas, and that that's a good thing about working with with on the flip side to big brands, small brands, because they're not experts, you know. With with big brands, they've got marketing people in place and they kind of know or have a an idea of what they think will drive the best outcomes already. So they they will have the brief, they will have the end result in mind. Whereas uh if I'm working with, let's say, a local gym or Pilate studio, they don't know what unless they've very rarely done this before, they don't really know what what they need, whether that's a promo piece for their website, uh a testimonial or or something for Instagram, and you can kind of not dictate but steer the conversation, uh guide them on what you think has worked well for previous clients in their sector and what you think would work best for them based on what they're telling you. And then again, it all comes down to collaboration, right? The best results, like that's if you're a big business or a small business, you have to both come with ideas and you have to both be willing to listen to what each other has to say, and that's the only way you're gonna whittle it down to okay, this is the end result, this is what we need to do, and this is how we're gonna get there. Just have a bit of a roadmap. And um, for me, I personally love working with SMEs because I think you can have the most flexibility with them. Uh, there's no marketing people normally, so you can um be working directly with a business owner, founder, and they're obviously really invested in it because yes, it's their money, but it's their business, it's their pride and joy. Uh, they want to create something really slick and really cool. So um I love that. Like my favorite gig last year was for uh a local Pilate studio just around the corner from me. But they were super passionate about what we were doing, they got everything ready for me before I went there. Like they they had cleaned the studio, they got yeah, exactly, and they just got all the right people in. They got testimonials from the exact right people, and you could tell they'd do they'd invested as much time in it and I as I felt I had as well. Like obviously, I had to do the the pre-the filming, the post, but I felt like they'd really put a lot of effort into making sure that filming day was perfect, and um, it absolutely was.

SPEAKER_00 29:39

It's because they care, you know, that's one of the things too, is like when when you get people who care, it you can feel the difference, and not that big brands don't care, but there's this investment, this buy-in from smaller brands that I think is so powerful. But you know, one of the things that I was reading on your bio was like, you've said that learning what to capture is one of the biggest learning curves. What does a younger version of you overshoot? And what does present-day Jim uh James never miss?

SPEAKER_01 30:08

Um this this is the thing, right? Like it goes back to what I was saying before about particular events. I know I was filming things that had no relevance or a very minimal reference to the end product. So I would be shooting things like the lighting in the venue, you know, if they had a cool lampshade or if they had a cool chair or uh plants and things like that, um, and branding and food and drinks and you know, all of those stuff. Uh, you know, you want to get a certain amount of that for an event video, you want to get that filler content that can be used sporadically. But for me, it's now all about again in the example of an event, showing those meaningful connections, showing energy in the room. And um, I try to throw in an interview into almost every type of video I do now because, like, like you said, this is where the content comes from, this is where the stories are. So, speaking to people, I want to make sure I'm capturing that because I I personally don't think there's a huge amount of value in just a basic highlights reel. Like a one-minute video is great for LinkedIn, it might get a good few hundred likes depending on who's posting it, and it shows that your event was was a success. But beyond that, what value is it serving? If you are having an event in the future, you're hosting it on Eventbrite, you want to have a video in there where you've maybe got some people talking about how good that event was, and maybe it can be something that sits on your website for the long term, you know, to promote you as a business. It doesn't even have to be about that event. You could get people you could use that event to be a promo piece where you get testimonials from clients depending on who's in the room. So there's so many opportunities there. Um and I think I've just tried to be a lot more thoughtful in what I'm filming now, particularly with B-roll. Um, yeah, and again, going into events, I just want to capture that energy. But then it's it's nice when you have jobs. I I don't know about you, Sean, but I find it tough when I've got jobs where there isn't a lot to film. Like I don't know if you found it where you're going to say a recruitment agency, for example, and they've said we've got this big project, we all need to do uh a really big project where we want to um make a really cool film about hiring new staff because we're growing, you know, we've just got investment and we're going through a growth phase in the next quarter. Uh, this film is going to be front and centre of our website, LinkedIn, but it's a recruitment agency. So, what do you film? You know, you've got your interviews, but then the challenge is okay, uh, what do we get in terms of B-roll? How do we make this interesting? Like, we can't really fly a drone around because you're a central office in London. Um, can we get some shots of the team interacting? But I mean, that stuff wears thin pretty quick. So I'm just trying to think of ways to now make those videos more engaging, vary the shots. Uh, but that that is still um a challenge for me. Like trying to find ways with those office-based businesses to make those videos interesting because that's a lot of my work as well, and I just need to keep pushing the boat out to think okay, what can further elevate these videos, whether it's animation or whatever it may be, just to have more of an impact because that's uh, as I say, for you, you must experience it as well. It is a struggle with businesses that um don't have a service that you could physically show.

SPEAKER_00 33:20

It's really tough because one of the things that I notice is that um I I I see it with vlogs. Like we do like a short, we used to do long-form vlogs for myself and my wife a lot. And one of the things that I noticed that was really hard with that is that there's only so many ways that you can start the same damn vlog, you know, and I like we're gonna drive in the car now. And I was like, I don't want to show any more of us driving in the car. We've shown us driving in the car to a location so many times. So I have to sit there going, well, what would a different start to this video look like? What what else could we do to make it look different? Because you you're you're spot on. Like it gets really tiring to do the same thing again and again and again. But I what I find is that it's really fun to start looking at how you can play it up a little bit. You can change things up because, you know, there's a million ways to do things. I I saw this one running video recently, and it was a guy who had posted it on LinkedIn, and I was watching it and was trying to figure out what it was. But it was like about cross country, people running cross country, not something that I can relate to a whole bunch. But what was interesting to me is he did techniques that I absolutely hate. I have never been a fan of like dip to black, dip to black. And he just kept going, shot in, back out, dip to black, shot in, back out, dip to black. And I I was like, what's he doing? But then I suddenly watched it and I was like, that was really nice. It was a creative way to do something that I get stuck in. And that's one of the things I love watching other people's work because I tend to find that I will um do the same thing again and again and again. And this is why I I love looking at what other people are doing, seeing where other people are going, and seeing like what I can can kind of copy from it. Not like copy, but just you know, be inspired by. Because I think that there's so much great inspiration out there, but you have to be willing to open your eyes up and look at it and say, oh wow, that's different than how I do it. And is that you know, why is that important? You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01 35:40

Yeah, absolutely. Um, I think I resonate with you a lot there about doing things repetitively in the same way, in the same style. I remember when I was just uh in the first years of my business and I sh I I used a gimbal a hell of a lot, and I would shoot everything on a gimbal. Doesn't matter what it is, I'm shooting it on a gimbal because I just first discovered gimbals in 2019 because I used them at the job I was at, because so many of the videos we were creating were slow pans, you know, really luxurious, silky, smooth videos. But obviously, when you go out and start working with different types of clients, you realise not every video is gonna be like that, and not every service or product, whatever you're filming, is gonna be like that. So, in that first year of using gimbals relentlessly, I looked back at my work and was like, all of this looks the same. Doesn't matter what I'm shooting, whether it's a video for a school or you know, uh a gym, every single shot looks the same. I'm slowing it down, everything's in slow motion. It looks buttery, it looks cool, it looks slick, but where's the variation here? And it probably wasn't until you know 2021, 22 where I was just like, I'm just gonna film everything handheld. Like the gimbal is only coming out on special occasions if I'm filming a property or I need a specific type of shot. And funny enough, I'm still using like a seven, eight-year-old Xeon Crane tube because I'm just like not invested uh in a gimbal because I'm using it so so rarely now. But I love shooting handheld, like I absolutely love you know the quick movements you can get. I love that kind of rough, ready, kind of shaky approach. I know I think when I was younger, I looked at that and thought, oh, that's that's kind of amateur. But you look at it now and you think it just it feels a lot more emotive, the movements you can get, the kind of push-ins, it can be a lot quicker than a gimbal, and you've got the kind of wobble on either side, and it just feels a lot more you feel a lot more immersed in those shots a lot of the time. And I think having that ability as well helps a lot with those jobs that I was talking about previously, like with the you know, the office-based companies. If you can get more dynamic bits of B-roll, that really helps to bring those stories to life a little bit more and just make them a little bit more kind of cinematic. I I I'm kind of hesitant to use that word because I'm conscious I'm working in the corporate space and not everything is going to be cinematic, but just to make those videos a little bit more um dynamic and interesting. But yeah, again, I'm going off on a tangent here, but I I have definitely tried to change my filming style and I think I'm probably now at a place where a lot of my work is looking quite like I I'm sure you felt it as well. There comes a point where you look back at your work from three, four years ago and you think this isn't too different to what I'm I'm making now. But rather than think, okay, I'm plateauing, I'm thinking, okay, that's a good thing because actually there's consistency in my work now, and it's good that I can still show work from several years ago and it's still be relevant to today. Whereas maybe in 2020 I would look back at work from three years ago and think, boy, I there's no way I can show that anymore. Whereas that is becoming less of a case. Like I've still got work on my portfolio from uh about five years ago, which I I think is is a positive to kind of show the depth of work and um the variety in it. Um, but I would again I'm always looking at what everyone else is doing, you know, to be inspired. And you know, if I if I see something that I like and I think there's an opportunity to kind of um copy, I suppose, like for use of a better term, that that technique, you know, we're all creatives, we're all watching YouTube tutorials every time we're all engaged on LinkedIn and Instagram. Um, we're all here to support one another, right? Unless you're completely copying the video scene for scene or word for words. Uh I I I don't think there's anything wrong with that. Like I would be kind of flattered if someone took one of my ideas and implemented it in their own videos. So always a giveaways to stay fresh. But I'm really happy now with my style. I think it it works. But again, I don't want to just sleep on it. I don't want to fall into a pattern of, you know, this is my work and it's gonna stay like this for the next 30, 40 years. I want to now be kind of looking at ways to not get left behind, I suppose, um, and make sure that yes, my work is at a good standard, but how can we how can we make it even better now?

SPEAKER_00 39:45

It's about iterating and evolving and getting better every time, you know. Um one of the things to me that I think is really interesting is because I I love that concept that you were talking about, about how the work that you have now actually is representative of what you've been doing. Like you can look at the stuff from five years ago, because I love that. I love when you start getting to the point where things get uh to that level of refinement, you know, and you can be in the place of like um growing to the point where it's really something to be proud of. I wanted to ask you this because if you were to meet a young creator who's getting into the field and wants to really start getting into this profession, like, you know, creating content, whether it be for work or for themselves, what advice would you give them to get started?

SPEAKER_01 40:36

Um I think it's a really tough industry to break into. And I don't say that to dishearten anyone, but I think it's also important to have, you know, a bit of a reality of what you're going into. Because when I got into it, I think I broke into it at just the right time. Um, because videography was a term that actually wasn't being used a great deal. Um, videographer felt like quite a new thing. Um, like I remember when I was talking to my university uh lecturers about it and you know paths I might want to go down, and they didn't really grasp what it was, which seems like quite surprising to me. Um and now there's kind of a such a broad landscape now in video, which, although I'm saying it's competitive and it's tough, and there are more video people than I've ever known, but there are so many, they seem to be absolutely everywhere, especially in London. Like you can't move for videographers. Um, but because there are so many levels now to video, I think there's a lot of room to succeed in this industry. Um, that's because you've got people that are working at a very high level with video production, um, and they're working in crews and they're taking on big five-figure, maybe six-figure campaigns. Um, and obviously there's a lot of planning and process that comes with that. And they might do like six jobs a year, but they're all obviously big advertising TVC jobs, and then you've got kind of rungs below that, where you've got um companies that are doing like really high spec social media work with big brands, and then you've got someone like like myself who's probably a rung below even that, where they're working with the small, medium businesses, but they're also doing like um fairly big jobs. And I I kind of sit somewhere in the middle where I'm I'm not reluctant to say no to work and I kind of know where I'm at in terms of okay, what budgets are we working with and what can I achieve within that certain figure. Um, but then like at a totally different level, and I'm not saying this is a lesser level by any means, there are so many people that are focusing on content, purely content, content, content. And again, it's all for social media, it could be for YouTubers, it could be um, it could be anything really. I know so many young videographers that have seen such success in going into um businesses, uh like particularly gyms, um, anywhere where you know you can create churn content almost. And what I mean by that is go into a business and create like 20 videos in a couple of hours. Uh they're not going in there with lights or you know, crazy camera sales, they're going in there with an FX30 or an FX3 and they bring in a little mic and they're clipping it on people and saying, Can you just do a testimonial for this business? That's it. And I'm not I'm not putting that type of content down at all because I think there's a serious market for that. And if you're able to do that at scale and get a lot of businesses that want that sort of content and you can churn it out quite easily, I think you could make a really, really, really, really successful business doing that. It might not be the most glamorous work, but it's effective and it's really good for social media. So I'm not putting that down by any means. I know a lot of young people that are finding uh a great deal of work in that space. So that's why I say if you're getting into it, um, kind of find what interests you, whether you want to go high spec, somewhere in the middle, or you want to create that social media content, whatever you want to do, so long as you I think focus in on that, um you will find success in it. But even if like let's say you go for high end work, but it's just not working for you. But you're happening to get inquiries for you know vertical uh social media content, explore that, you know. That that's what happened for me. Like I just happened to find that I was getting inquiries for a certain type of work, and I just played on that, and that's kind of led me to where I am today. But don't be afraid to say um yes to anything, say no to anything. Just take everything in your stride, explore lots of different things and find what works for you. And uh, I think naturally you will you will find that you start creating a certain type of work um that people are recommending you for, and you're not having to do the marketing yourself. Like someone will see a video and they'll be like, I really like that, and you end up doing it for one business and then another and then another and another, and suddenly it snowballs. So um, yeah, I think the landscape is tough, competitive, um, but if you're good at what you do and uh you've got that work ethic, um, the world is your oyster, really. And I again another thing that I don't I don't want to stay too long on this, but uh I think communication is really, really, really important. Um, whatever you're doing in life, no matter whether it's video production or wherever, there's a lot to be said for just being able to talk to clients. Right. Um, because that is that that that goes a long way. Because I I've hired people in for uh for my own productions and they've either been really slow to respond, or they've like maybe said something inappropriate on set, and you know, this is quite basic stuff, but you'd be amazed how hard it is to master, like responding quickly, asking the right questions. And I was I I didn't get it right at the start, absolutely not. Like I'm saying this with 10 years of experience under my belt, but being a good communicator means that you don't necessarily have to have the creme de la creme of work. Like if you're easy to work with and you you are communicative with the client and you give them a solid end result, uh, they're probably going to work with you, you know, compared to the guy that is creating amazing work but takes two to three business days to respond. So if you can be in there and ask the right questions, say the right things, but try to respond in a good timely manner, I think that goes a long, long way.

SPEAKER_00 46:09

Being a genuinely nice human being that's easy to work with goes a hell of a long way. I I think that that's an underrated skill in every profession. I my wife is a famous singer, and I see a host of artists that are just jackasses. And like they're just not easy to work with. And one of the worth and one of the things that my wife has always prided herself on was just being easy to work with. And you know what happens? People book her again and again. Like they like her to be around, and she brings a great attitude. And I think that that's something that's an underrated superpower in the creative fields, is just being easy to work with and being um just a genuinely chill and responsive human being who can just be, you know, someone who shows up, gets the work done, and people know it's not going to be a painful experience. Probably will be a good experience. But let me ask you one last question: where can people go to find out more about you and what you do?

SPEAKER_01 47:12

Um, so the the the best place to find out more about my business in general, fosterstudios.co.uk. You can see my work and um a bit about my processes and working with clients. But if you want to keep up to date with um, you know, what I what I'm doing and the types of work I'm doing, um, I I try to post as often as I can on LinkedIn. So LinkedIn, James Cook, Foster Studios, and I do post uh as often as I can on Instagram as well, so Foster Studios on there. Um try to do the occasional blog, which which is easier said than done these days. But um yeah, I mean I love connecting with other people in the landscape and you know, going back to what I said previously, I think there's a lot of work that we can potentially share around, um, particularly in the UK. You know, I I'm finding a lot of agencies and other video professionals uh are bringing me in for shoots and and vice versa. I'm bringing them in for gigs as well. So it's a it's a promising landscape. And so long as we're collaborative, I think it's really like last thing I'll say on this is um it can be quite easy to look at other video people, professionals, videographers, camerots, whatever you want to call them, as competition. Um, you've got to get out of that mindset if you look at it that way, because they're they're not competition, they're collaborators a lot of the time. Because if you are brought in by someone to do a great job for them, um they will keep recommending you to people in their network. And it's all about trusting.