"What's it like to film videos for huge bands like Don Broco, Deaf Havana, Futures as not just a hobbie but a full time job? Well, take a read below as Daniel tells us how he got to the level of awesomeness he is today!" When did you decide that creating film/music videos is something that you wanted to do with your life? I think my passion developed when I was about 13 years old and we used to make skate videos, at first it was mainly for vanity, being able to watch the tricks you do back was a blessing. This was much before the time of smart phones with cameras etc so we would always shoot on an old VHS camcorder and eventually a Mini-DV handy cam. It soon became apparent that certain techniques and angles made the videos look better which slowly began to propel me into the vague world of film-making. That is how I got into filming in general, music videos came from having music in my life, I was (and still am) in a band so I would always be watching music videos however my passion for making them didn't really fall into place until just after university when I was essentially forced into that creative field in desperate need of a money making scheme that didn't involve going for a job that wasn't relevant to what I'd studied. However I am extremely lucky to have fallen into something that I know have so much passion for.
Who was your first major client, and how exciting was this process for you at the time? I guess my first major client was a band called We Start Partys from Bristol, It was the first shoot I was ever paid for, all be it a very small price at the time, but it definitely pushed me in the right direction. Fortunately at the time DSLR's were still only creeping into the world of film-making with everyone holding back from getting one because of all the drawbacks they have. We put a lot of time and effort into making the video look to a standard that we deemed as professional yet organic and not caked in effects and transitions. I think the shoot was somewhere around the timescale of 15 hours but I had some great friends working with me who had graduated from college and even one guy (who now works for me all the time) called Alex Thornton who was still in his last year at college which allowed us to hire out the equipment they had for free adding a huge amount of production value to the shoot at no extra cost.