Videographer with an idea

[Conradb]

Hello all, my name is Conrad, I am a videographer from Cape Town, and for the last few years I have had this idea burrowing in my head...

I have spent the majority of my life surrounded by water, I enjoy surfing, free diving, and worked on cruise ships for the better part of 8 years.

I have been back from my cruise work for 6 years now and I have this urge to travel and be free to explore this blue marble.

I have sailed many times before with friends and have never really been interested in learning largely due to the fact that my face was buried in a camera for most of my 20’s.

Ok, on to the idea... I WANT TO BUY A BOAT AND TRAVEL FOREVER!

I am here to get some tips, read some forums and do a few years of research before I decide anything. I look forward to reading some posts! Any tips or suggestions would be greatly appreciated, even the basics, ie some good books to read on the topic, good places to get sailing lessons, all that jazz!

😎

[Leo Ticheli]

I don't have any tips or suggestions, but as a retired commercial Director/Cinematographer, I have some questions for you to ask yourself.

If you are not of independent means, how will you support your endeavors? Will you be doing this alone, which presents its own challenges, or will you have others with you?

Are you interested in commercializing your work, or will you do it for its own sake? Will it be instructional, documentary, or story-telling?

There are many people shooting their sailing experiences; what can you produce that will stand out from other motion picture products that will make people want to pay to see it?

What venue are you considering to show your work, and how will you gain compensation for it? Do you have a sponsor in mind that will support you?

I'm sure other members here can be of more help than I, but I'll leave you with one more thought. When I starting sailing and cruising I imagined that I would put my skills and art to use shooting our travels; while I was only too aware that production is very physically difficult and time-consuming, I soon realized that the work of producing robbed me of much of the joys of exploring via sailboat. You're young and full of fire; it may work for you.

Welcome to the forum; I wish you well and hope your dreams come true.

Fair winds,
Leo

[Jcolman]

I would echo Leo's post above. I'm also a retired video/film producer/director. I would personally not want to spend my time creating videos of my travels and adventures because it would be an enormous amount of work. There is already a plethora of sailing videos that one can view on Youtube. However, having said that, if you could come up with a fresh approach perhaps you could garner an audience and make money from Youtube. Just be prepared to spend a lot of time on your project.

Best of luck to you!

[Conradb]

Thanks for your message Leo

Many of these concerns are already in my thoughts.
Currently my business involves videography projects for companies with a strong focus on marketing. I have a background in web design and have designed quite a few blogs for people. Granted, none of that guarantees success, but with the right positioning and high quality videos I believe it can be pretty successful.

I have a company or two (with a similar target audience to mine) who are willing to collaborate, but I’ll only be able to confirm that closer to the time.

I am very aware of the time it takes to produce quality content, but the more you make, the easier it gets. Especially if it’s part of the same series(over time you build up templates and project files where you just replace new footage and keep the layout of an “episode”) currently all my work is for different projects so we start from scratch every time.

I will not be going alone as that makes everything more difficult, not just sailing, filming solo is also not the easiest thing and the kind of person I am, I need to experience things with other people.

I also sell stock videos, and If I’m in the mindset of filming every day I will be able to capture amazing things which can potentially earn money for years.

All in all, nothing is guaranteed in life, there is no way for me to completely plan how to make money granted all the variables, but if I budget correctly and start planning early I think I can even start a video series before sailing documenting the planning stages, just to test the waters.

Either way, if it all fails I can always go back to my day job freelancing in the film industry, shoot a movie and get back out there (but I don’t want to do this)

��

[mikedefieslife]

Buy boat, hold auditions for crew, start reality TV show on Youtube, count the ZARs/Dollars.

Something like that.

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Conrad.

[Conradb]

Originally Posted by mikedefieslife

Buy boat, hold auditions for crew, start reality TV show on Youtube, count the ZARs/Dollars.

Something like that.

Something like that yes!

I am considering working on a couple of yachts as a videographer to save up/get some experience while I go through the process of finding and buying/renovating my own boat.

All I need to find is a few girls for the thumbnails (kidding)