Video Story's First Birthday

A Busy First Year at Video Story Geelong

As it approaches Video Story Geelong’s first birthday, I thought I would share with you some of the highlights along the way...

I can’t believe that it’s been almost a year since Video Story Geelong was launched the Geelong Bridal Expo in July 11. It’s been choc-a-block, lots of weddings and TV work and even a documentary.

So, without any further ado, Happy First Birthday to us and hope you enjoy this retrospective post which looks back on our first year…

July 2011: Weddings and Expos

It was in July 2011 when Video Story Geelong first debuted at the Brides Wedding Expo in Geelong. Perhaps it was the ‘luck of the Irish’ or perhaps sheer fate, but the only reason Video Story Geelong even got a chance to display at this show was because another videographer pulled out.

So, with the help of my wife Kay, Video Story Geelong had to organised itself a stand. A few trips to Office Works, Spotlight, Snap Printing mixed with some creativity and we were ready to go! Luckily, Kay’s pretty handy with crafty stuff and together, I think we made the stall look pretty decent, although it will look very different this year.

In any case it was a tight squeeze to get it all ready in time. We had literally just arrived in Australia to live from Ireland weeks before, which didn’t leave much time for designing and printing fliers and getting everything in order before the expo but it all went really well. 

At the expo, we wanted Video Story to get people’s attention so we had a really great sale offer: the first 10 people to book would receive their wedding videos for $1000. As anyone looking at wedding video quotes knows, that was a unbelievable deal.

I remember getting a phone call late on a Saturday night at a party from a couple who didn’t want to miss out, neither did I, it was all very exciting. Something I never expected to happen so soon, happened in a few weeks later. I was turning down work, I couldn’t believe it, people wanted to book Video Story but were booked out for certain dates.

Soon after the Expo I bought all my equipment. I’m not kidding! I bought all my equipment new here in Australia. That way if something happened over here I could simply take it back to the store which is a lot easier than trying to work with Irish bought equipment!

So I spent about 4 hours at Videocraft in Melbourne, where I surely drove the sales assistant mad but probably mad in a good way because I left with lots of gear.

The Wedding Season

Pretty soon it rolled into wedding season and before I knew it, Video Story turned it’s cameras on and we were in business.

I have been filming weddings for about 15 years so I’m no novice but there was something about filming my first Australian wedding here which brought on an unexpected twinge of nerves. I think it was just doing my job in a new environment and a new country, which made me nervous, the nerves disappeared as soon as I pressed record, it was like riding a bike it all falls in to place when you turn the pedal.

In some cases bookings happened much closer to the wedding date than I was accustomed to, at the end of October I had just one wedding booked for the month of November but by the end of November I had recorded five! I guess I was new and had dates available, we’re already nearly booked out for November 2012. In Ireland, 90% of bookings are made 1 year in advance.  

Made in Geelong, the Documentary...

While all this was going on, there was also something else I began to work on. I decided to take a course in documentary film making at RMIT, which I started at the end of August.

Soon after finishing, I made a documentary for the Geelong organisation “Made in Geelong” (which you can see here if you’d like)

This experience was really interesting. I was still a newbie in Australia, it was great to meet some locals at Made in Geelong. For instance, I met Geelong artist and entrepreneur Rod Moore who I would end up working with for my first TV project and I met Anna Kosmanovski a professional writer who re wrote my website.

Video Story goes on TV

It turned out I would work with Rod, and his wife Sue, on a TV series for Channel 31 called Plein Air Painting. We filmed a pilot episode in Queenscliff and hoped for the best. Next thing we know Channel 31 wanted to air a season of it, starting December! Well did we work hard to produce the series on time as C31 liked it so much they wanted to air it right away.

That lead to another hectic schedule for the following 4 months as we filmed 13 episodes of Plain Air Plainting TV. It brought us all around Victoria and we had a great time shooting.

Aussie Summer

I was really busy from January to April with loads of beautiful weddings and we also had Plein Air painting still on the go. In the middle of an Aussie summer this videographer coped reasonable well with long days shooting outside in the sun considering the pale skin!!  I must say I became very fashionable with my wide brimmed hats, shorts with white legs sticking out the bottom and of course I had lots of sunblock and icy cold water to keep hydrated. I’m now accustomed to filming in the warmer weather. 

Main highlights

I’ve really loved  starting up Video Story Geelong, it’s been a wonderful business venture, very busy, hard work and  good times.

I’ve thought about some highlights along the way!

-          Receiving my first booking was a definite highlight!

-          Getting my work on TV was a brilliant

-          Working with Brides and Grooms is a part of the business I really enjoy

-          Meeting the people of Geelong and surrounds

It’s been a brilliant, big and fun-filled year at Video Story and I look forward to what this next year brings. This is a good chance for me to say thank you to all the clients who booked me, everyone in the industry I worked alongside and those who supported Video Story along the way and who continue to support Video Story.