ON CAMERA
That sentence has stopped more business video than any budget ever has. It is also the exact problem I am best at solving. I get nervous business owners good on camera. Not tolerable. Good.
01
01 — THE OBJECTION
THE PROBLEM ISN’T THE CAMERA. IT’S WHAT IT DOES TO PEOPLE.
Put a capable, articulate business owner in front of a lens and something strange happens. The voice flattens. The hands disappear. The person who explained their business brilliantly over coffee ten minutes ago now sounds like they are reading a hostage statement.
So the video never gets made. Or worse, it gets made once, everyone hates the experience, and it never happens again.
Here is what I know after fifteen years and more than 2,000 videos: the person who knows the business best is the person who should be on camera. Customers do not connect with a logo. They connect with the owner who has been doing this for twenty years and can answer any question without notes. My job is to get that version of you onto the screen.
02
02 — THE TRAINING
I TRAINED ON YOUR SIDE OF THE LENS.
Before I ever owned a camera, I was in front of one. At twelve I auditioned for Scott Hicks for the lead in Sebastian and the Sparrow. I trained at SA Casting Agency, spent years in stage productions, and moved into directing plays and short scripted work. Years later I even ended up on screen in Hicks’s Shine. As an extra, no lines, blink and you’ll miss me. But when the film you’re standing in wins an Academy Award, you remember what a real set feels like.
That matters for one reason. I know exactly what it feels like to stand where you will be standing. I know the dry mouth, the self-consciousness, the sudden inability to say your own company name naturally. And I know, from years of directing, how to get someone past it.
Most videographers learned cameras first and people second, if at all. I learned people first. A competitor can buy my camera tomorrow. They cannot buy the training.
03
03 — THE METHOD
THE BEST PREPARATION IS NO PREPARATION.
The worst thing you can do before a shoot is write a script.
I have watched it happen for fifteen years. Someone stays up all night polishing every word, and the moment the lights come on, it is gone. And when a perfectionist forgets their own script, the frustration lands on their face. That footage is unusable, no matter how good the words were.
So do not prepare. At all. Your only job is to know your business, and you already do.
Mine is the questions. There are no gotchas, nothing you cannot answer. After 2,000 videos I know exactly what a good, clean edit needs, and I have learned how to ask the questions that draw those answers out of you. You are not performing. You are just answering someone who is interested, and I am quietly steering you toward the lines that will cut together beautifully.
If you get stuck, I will step in front of the camera and show you. I do it all the time. Trust me, react to the questions, and be as natural as you can. That is the whole method.
And for the rare script that genuinely has to be word-perfect, dense technical detail that nobody should improvise, I carry a teleprompter. It is the last resort, not the starting point. Reading a prompter and still sounding like yourself is a skill of its own, and I will coach you through it. Most videos never need it.
04
04 — THE VOICE OPTION
THERE IS STILL A VOICE OPTION.
Some videos do not need a face. Product pieces, facility walkthroughs, explainers. For those, I voice the video myself.
That is not an outsourced afterthought. I went through radio school, worked country radio, and spent years behind a microphone. Voiceover is a capability I bring to a production, the same as camera, lighting and edit. One person, start to finish, including the voice.
But I will be honest with you: for most businesses, the owner on camera outperforms a voiceover every time. I will always tell you which one the video needs.
05
05 — THE PROOF
THE PEOPLE WHO STOOD WHERE YOU’RE STANDING.
2,000+
VIDEOS DELIVERED
9
YEARS WITH MY LONGEST RUNNING CLIENT
5
YEARS STRAIGHT COVERING THE SAME EVENT
“Before I worked with Jerry, I would have been 0% confident in front of a camera. Now I’m comfortable, I don’t stress before filming, and when I’m the only one available, I step up and nail it.”
KOSTA, DEALER PRINCIPAL, STILLWELL FORD
“If you need to communicate effectively with members or customers then Jerry is your guy. His flexible, no-nonsense approach means that you can be to the point and effective with a minimum of fuss.”
TOM KENYON, CEO, SSAA
“Nice clean images that present our products, services and people in the best light.”
CRAIG, BUILDING INDUSTRY
YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE GOOD ON CAMERA. THAT’S MY JOB.
You have to be willing to stand there and talk about the business you already know better than anyone. I will handle everything else.