It's odd how life can bring you full circle. Those who know me are aware of my background as a writer and filmmaker … Something that I thought I had to leave behind.
Why?
Well, I am 40. I have a family. Writing and film weren't paying the bills. This is partly why I dived into becoming a Multimedia Designer. I have always had a great interest in all things webby, so, changing direction wasn't a huge issue for me -- infact, I am pleased I did it.
Taking a degree in Multimedia Design was a great decision. I discovered the joy of coding; actually building a website with nothing more than a text editor and a browser. Learning to build the web, rather than just surf it, has changed the way I think and do things, for the better.
During my degree I became aware that my filmmaking skills weren't something I'd leave behind. Being a Multimedia Designer isn't just coding, it's about creating all sorts of things for the web, and, video for the web is one of them.
In fact, I ended up running workshops for other students, teaching them the basics of filmmaking. Showing them how to handle a camera and set up lights. The last workshop I did a few months ago was attended by over 80 students!
The interest and need to produce good quality video for the web has become hugely apparent to me (and, no doubt, to that room full of eager students I taught a few months ago).
These days it's easy to film, and, easy to cut video together -- iPhones and iMovie made it that way. But. Making a video production look professional is more than just the tools you use. It takes skill. Knowledge. And, well, a splash of talent, too.
I know I have the skill. And the knowledge to make films. I went to film school in my early twenties, worked freelance on and off for a number of years, and, I have even written and directed my own short films.
So, it's ironic in some way that, having changed direction into Multimedia Design, that I find myself coming out of the other side of my education moving back towards film.
I am almost two weeks into my internship at redWEB.dk, and, it seems my purpose there is all about film.
Yesterday, Karsten (redWEB's flash developer) and I spent the morning recording sound effects for a game he's producing. It's now my job to process the sound and make it usable for the game … Producing sound is part of video production, something I am more than familiar with.
Once I am finished processing the sound effects I will start producing a short video to show off one of redWEB's products, redSHOP. redWEB has another department called, redCOMPONENT. This department produces some backend solutions for Joomla (an Open Source content management system for building websites). redSHOP is one of their backend solutions for turning a Joomla website into a web shop or e-commerce site.
As you can imagine these kinds of products are useful, but, also difficult to nutshell for potential clients. So, it's my job to make a video to nutshell what redSHOP is all about.
On top of producing this small video, I am producing a short documentary about the company as a whole. The idea of the documentary is to show what the company is all about … In fact, show more than just what the company is about. I want to capture the process of making a website. I want to capture the passion, hard work, and dedication of redWEB's developers and designers.
The company has two very strong founders, Christian Bennike and Ronnie Christiansen. Strictly speaking, Ronnie founded redWEB. He started the company alone and built it into one of Denmark's top web companies.
Christian started a company called, Web Zoo. Web Zoo is known for it's strong design ethic and visual identity.
Ronnie and Christian found their companies working together rather a lot, so, it made sense to them to put the two together under one name, redWEB.
Of course, one aspect of making the documentary is to help promote the company. But. I am not going into this with promotion in mind. For me, it's about capturing the company as it is. Capturing the people as they, and, the process of how they go about doing what they do in a way that makes it clear that producing a website is more than just writing code -- it really does take commitment and passion to make something that's right for the client, which, isn't always what the client wants. It's about what the users of the website need. That is what a web designer and developer strives to achieve.
The first part of making the documentary starts with redWEB's foundations: Christian and Ronnie. I will be filming interviews with both of them next week. This will form the foundation of the film, it's spine, I guess. Once I have those interviews in the can, I'll start building the film around them … Building a picture of redWEB as a company to show what it really takes to build for the web.
So, next week I will put up lights, set up a microphone, and stand with a camera in my hand. Full circle. A filmmaker once again.