Freelance Video Producer

I graduated in 2010 with a BA (Hons) Media Production degree but didn’t feel like I was quite ready to start looking for work just yet. I wanted to learn more skills and create a bigger body of work. With this in mind I decided to carry on my education with an MA Media Production degree. Before the BA I hadn’t had any previous experience in filmmaking and so those first three years had some steep learning curves.

While at the time of completing the degree I felt I had learnt a tremendous amount, I wanted another year to hone my skills, to use this knowledge to create my own pieces of work. The resources and equipment, guidance from experienced practitioners, and a year to create four pieces of original independent work all made the decision an easy one. Looking back I know this was a good decision.

Around the time of completing the MA I was asked if I would be interested in a temporary, part-time position at the university as a learning advisor in video to cover a couple of days a week. Obviously I was interested and said yes! The job involved technical support for students along with scheduled camera and editing workshops for groups. It was fantastic experience and I really enjoyed it. Teaching university students the fundamentals of camera operating and editing, if at first a bit daunting, was confidence building. The work lasted around nine months.Roughly around the same time as the learning advisor work was offered, I was informed of another job opportunity by the university. The Media Archive for Central England (MACE) was interested in producing a series of films about various areas across England using the archive material that MACE holds. This was to be eventually made into a series of DVDs called ‘Midlands on Film’. This project was to be a collaboration with the University of Lincoln School of Media and MACE. Tutors from the Lincoln School of Media would produce individual films, roughly each an hour in length. My official role when asked to be involved in the project was the editing consultant. This work required me to be editor of a number of the films, working alongside individual producers. This was fantastic experience. Each producer had a different style of working and each had a different idea of what their film should be. This might have been a traditional documentary with a story, a series of short chapters, or a showing of the original archive material as it was. Each film was different and the variety gave me an insight into different methods of editing together a film.

My role in the project was quickly expanded into more than just the editor for a number of the films. I was part of the crew for filming some new footage around Leicester Market for the Made in Leicester film, I worked in the LSM’s sound theatre to record narration for a few of the films, and when it was time to start creating the DVD menus, I designed and authored the menus to create an original professional template that would be used for all of the films that I edited.  At the end of this year long project I had been the editor of five of the films, online editor for one, worked as a video editor, sound editor, camera operator, sound recordist, designed many aspects of the DVD such as its menus, and authored many of the DVDs. I had used software such as Final Cut Pro, Adobe After Effects and Adobe Encore.  The project finished December 2012 and the DVD series Midlands on Film is now complete. I learnt a lot and gained a vast amount of experience. I consider myself extremely fortunate to have been a part of it.

More recently I have decided to become a self-employed freelance video producer full time. I have only really just started and I know it’s going to be a lot of hard work, but I am really enjoying the experience.  Here’s my site and you can contact me by email info@steveyoung-film.co.uk