I was really into it early in high school but haven't done much video work since I've been in college. I've been trying to get back into it for a while but it's hard with the lack of time and money these days. I'm thinking about picking up a new DSLR camera this winter though (t3i or t4i or something along those lines).
I guess the other side of it, for me, comes down to getting into the field/community (not quite sure how to word it). I'm getting into kayaking and have been skiing for a while so I'll probably try to put together a few action sports sorts of videos over the next year but I'm wondering how you move beyond that into motion graphics and more commercial type videos?
I've watched a bit of your stuff, Danny, whenever it pops up on facebook. A lot of it is pretty incredible. You've come a long way over the past two or three years
The website is looking nice and the content on there is really impressive! I'm sure you've posted this somewhere but what kind of equipment are you shooting on these days (mostly wondering about the biking videos)?
You're into your photography too aren't you? Yeah, man. A DSLR will be perfect, best of both worlds. Plus, you get that nice large sense for the shallow DOF that you won't get with a lot of dedicated video cameras.
Is it something you want to do? Like you said, just do a few videos of your friends kayaking, or skiing. Look what's out there already, and see what other people are doing. There's two sides of the coin, you can see what they're doing, and do something completely different and hope it'll catch people's attention and won't fall on it's face. Or you can try and mimic certain styles because they're popular, in which case you'd hope people would like it... because it's popular, haha. Once you've done a few short videos of friends and stuff, approach a small company (maybe even people you know), or a club, or some sort of establishment, and ask if you can do a video for them. Be prepared to start doing some (not all, don't want a reputation as being that guy that doesn't value his work, plus you don't want to undercut the professionals and piss them off) work for free - it's a foot in the door. Go from there really! Just build up work, get it out there, show the right people! Get it amongst the community you're working with, on forums etc.
The motion graphics is really just something that started on the side. Experiment with combining it with real footage, you can get some pretty impressive results with relative ease. Though when you get more into the motion graphics you'll need some kind of graphic design ability. I wouldn't be able to do the majority of the motion graphics I have if it wasn't for the graphic designer where I work.
Thanks, man, appreciate it! haha, yeah; it's weird looking at stuff from College and Uni, looked pretty shit in comparison, it's embarrassing, haha. For the biking videos I use my 550D and a Rode Videomic Pro with a 50mm f/1.8, 70-200 f/4 and (I know, I know) the 18-55 kit lens. The IS really comes in helpful for the handheld shots and when on the steadycam - which is killer!
Then in work it's like a wet dream, haha. 60D, Rode videomic pro, wireless lav mics, boom mics, shotgun mics, 24-70 f/2.8 (main work horse lens), 50mm f/1.8, rail system, follow focus, matte box, field monitor, 16ft camera crane/jib with remote pan/tilt head, steadcam, glidetracks and a Sony prosumer camera. Tissue please.
Hope that's helped some. I should have included chapters, sorry, haha!