On September 16th, 2011 Mark Bandte wrote:
So about 3 years ago, I got my first HD video camera.
It was always one of those things that I thought "Hey, I could make movies, and I think I'd be good at it too". I started out making travel films with music in the background on iMovie, and everyone I showed them to thought they were pretty good. Then I made a little film for my cousin in Byron bay to help him promote his business. Then I tried my hand at a couple of crappy short films, and since then I've just been taking some jobs here and there, getting more and more experience…
It dawned on me a week or so ago when I was finishing off a film for Alka Forsikring (not on iMovie), and my girl came up to me and said something like "I have absolutely NO idea how you do what you do", and I realized that even though there are a fair few people out there who make films, that for the most part they are über professional, what with the crews, sound guys, production teams and all that jazz, and they are extremely expensive!
I can do colour grading, basic sound cleanup, all the photography, all the cutting and everything else myself, and what's more, is that I absolutely love it! I love nerding around with all those little details, getting the shots in the right order, and shaving milliseconds off and making sure the whole thing rolls out how I imagine it should be, and BECAUSE I do it myself, Toothless Tiger can make films for a good price.
Henriette and I also pride ourselves on the fact that we are one with the creative forces of the universe, so we come up with some really cool ideas too! SO now, that's a part of Toothless Tiger: web films - including introfilms, product films, events, and whatever else our customers need.
Really, movie-making is all about 'seeing' the shot, capturing it, and cutting it together. We can do that, dammit! We've even been getting some pretty big clients, and they've been more than satisfied too, which is great for a bit of an explosion in the self confidence.
So here's me: some guy who just picks up a camera, and less than 3 years later, has a kickass camera which has been paid for by jobs, and is making money by making films for big companies. How cool is that?
If it is that anyone is interested in Toothless Tiger films, big or small, then throw me a mail at mark@toothlesstiger.com - I'll sort you out :D
[film, HD, video, creative]
[1 comment]
On August 15th, 2011 Mark Bandte wrote:
So I'm one of those people who is kind of good at many different things. I been around, y'know? So these things I can do, be it making some films for the web, selling snow to eskimos, consulting people on social media, or even fixing a broken roof - they are things that I can do here and there for customers or friends, and sometimes even make some money from it (or barter for services and products). But how is it that I could promote myself as "singer, internet extraordinaire, filmmaker and roof fixer"? These things are quite different, and anyone who knows anything about SEO will tell you that it would be pretty damned hard to get a site going with all those things combined, but hey - I don't really care about that so much. This is where word of mouth comes into play, and that good ol' word of mouth is my bread and butter, especially when it comes to Toothless Tiger and social media in general.
After all - social media is just amplifying the word of mouth market. Getting the message across to more people than you would normally talk to in person, simply because they are on you contacts list. I have actually gotten some cool jobs merely by an acquaintance noticing my
photos (which I have neither studied nor proclaimed that I am great at), and me saying 'Yeah…I can do that' and them telling a friend who books me. What luck! Or is it? Is it not a way of promoting ones self simply by doing? By living? By showing yourself, and your abilities? It's especially the 'showing' that's important here, I think - because if you aren't showing the world what you do, how is it supposed to know?
So I figure that if I just do these things as they hit me, and do them as well as I can [as well as being as charming as possible while doing so ;) ], that I might just get remembered in those certain conversations where other people or companies need the same. Remember the olden days? Someone would hook you up with the fix-it guy who would come to your house do your plumbing, your lights and your tv. I like that. But more like a modern version, where I can drop by, take some photos and film, make you laugh and sell you some snow….and sing while I'm doing it And in the end, hopefully you will have some information, some inspiration and a film that you can put on your website and sell a gazillion whatever it is that you sell.
[social, media, word, mouth, film, web, photos, consulting]
[1 comment]