Working with Vans

Last weekend I was commissioned by The Works Skatepark to film and produce a day one and day two edit for a finals contest they where hosting called: Vans Shop Riot.

The Vans Shop Riot contest involves skate shops from all over Europe competing for a big cash prize.

As the weekend crept up I was trying to get myself prepared for what was to come and what I needed to shoot and produce. I was already, days in advance, trying to work out what music to use in the videos and getting hold of logos and animated intros from The Works and Vans. I also arranged to hire out a Canon 5D mark 3 from university so I had an extra camera to film with while I was there, this camera became my main camera for shooting during the weekend. 

I was extremely nervous as I had never really produced anything of this standard and I knew that there would a chance that some people from Vans would want to see the videos and possibly use them on their website. Despite being nervous I was extremely excited to be apart of something so big because the event is streamed live online and last year almost 300,000 people where watching it live! Plus I knew with Vans them selves being there it was a great networking opportunity for me.

The days of filming went well, the first day was a tad nerve-racking because I wasn't so sure where I could go on the course and I didn't really know what to film. This is because is the past while filming skateboarding videos I am usually filming the action as it happens, being very up close and personal but with these kind of videos, The Works wanted an edit that showed what was going on during the day along with footage of the skateboarding in the competition. The second day went much better, I felt a lot more confident and comfortable about where I could film and what to film, etc. 

At the end of each day filming I had to get straight home to edit the videos because The Works wanted the videos complete by the next day. This was a tad stressful for myself but it worked well because it meant that I could film and edit the weekend through the weekend and not have to worry about the videos interfering with my university work. Editing went well on the first video, it didn't take too long either but the second video took much longer because I was having some issues with software and the song choice. I ended up having to re-edit the video from the beginning with different songs 3 times in total, because the music I wanted to use wasn't quite right for the footage and atmosphere of the event I had captured. Overall though the videos came out great and both The Works and Vans loved them. 

While I was showing the videos to a lady called Katrin, who is the Interactive Marketing Manager for Vans and Reef, I took the opportunity to give her my business card so we could arrange transfer of the videos to her from myself so they could be put on to the Vans Shop Riot website and so I could have the opportunity to talk to her about possibly working for herself (vans) again in the future.

A few days had passed since the event, I had uploaded the videos The Works YouTube and Mpora channels and Vans had released there own video of the weekend. While I was emailing Katrin she asked how I would like to be credited on the website either by my company name Phil Jones Video or just my name Phil Jones. I asked her to credit myself by just my name because my company logo was already at the end of the videos anyway. Then two days after I had watched Vans video on their website I checked the website again and my videos where up there. Here is a link to the post of my videos: http://www.vansshopriot.com/stories/shop-riot-finals-day1-day-2-edits

I was so happy that my videos where posted on a Vans website, I never thought I would ever be featured on or with a big skateboard company like this. The videos are below if you care to watch them. Also I have just realised today that my videos are on the featured section on www.mpora.com which is an extreme spots video site which I am also really happy about. The videos on Mpora already have over 1000 views each which is unbelievable to think about! 

Hopefully this whole experience is definitely going to help my in the future with projects and commissioned work. Katrin said she would stay in touch with me via email as she said that Vans have some projects coming up around the UK in the next year, so that will be amazing to see if I get asked to go and help out. Overall I am really happy with how the weekend went and the connections I have made from it. I feel like also it has helped my confidence a lot in doing commissioned work or just even projects for people in the future.