Jake Venom used to be an IT employee responsible for maintaining the server and emails. Jake Venom quit his job to become a full-time filmmaker or cinematographer. Therefore, he started his own media company with two others: a producer, an editor, and a cinematographer. Jake loves to meet friendly people and gets a lot of energy from being around people. Which genuinely brings him joy.
I am still a dreamer
Jake Venom
According to Jake, that is one of the upsides of cinematography. He gets tons of energy by working his ass off, and Jake considers this his driving force. He loves to look at his dreams and put a lot of time in them while instantly seeing the results. It is remarkable to see that Jake taught himself all the ins and outs of cinematography through courses, articles, YouTube videos, and experimenting with different techniques he read about. All and all without education.
Jake states that he is improving himself every time. He would love to earn more money with cinematography to help other people and use the money to invest in new equipment. Oh, and to buy food, of course. Money itself is not essential if you want to live a happy life. That is solely the reason for Jake to get out of bed.
A golden piece of advice is that you do have to ask for money as a cinematographer. Otherwise, they will most likely appreciate it less and won’t consider it valuable. Therefore, a cinematographer should ask for money.
Becoming a better Cinematographer
How does one become a better cinematographer, you ask? Well, do it, grab your phone for starters, and keep on practicing. Try to find jobs within your inner circle. You must learn a lot. After that, you can start building up your portfolio.
Everything is a learning process
Jake Venom
Jake was very clear about this; Do not instantly quit your job. Before becoming a full-time cinematographer, you should start by improving yourself every day and do it. Start by watching a lot of YouTube videos, tutorials, and practice. Watch a lot of videos and read some articles. For example, try it out yourself with a small project about camera movements.
Managing your time
Time management is critical. Jake worked for 36-40 hours a week initially and started to downscale it to 32 hours a week. That gave him time to practice cinematography one day per week without getting distracted. Because he always had one free day, he could plan things out nicely. According to Jake, you should plan only things that you enjoy things in the beginning. Later on, you can extend it with things do, like doing less.
It is vital to motivate yourself in the beginning. Not only for a cinematographer. For instance, if you don’t do it, you will feel regret. Procrastinating is a terrible habit. But, it shouldn’t drag you down either; see regrets as minor mistakes that you can learn from for yourself. It is all about reframing things.
Start by writing everything down that you want to do on that day. You can always scrap stuff on the day itself. You must plan for two days. Lazy, relaxing times are critical too, but not for too long. Longer than two days might cause you to fall back into that lethargic state.
Every YouTuber is one’s role model
When Vasquez asked Jake who his role models were, cinematographer Jake replied ‘all YouTube.’ That is because they do it and make the video. Earlier on, they didn’t care about money or how their videos looked. Some of the earlier videos were awful, yet they keep them online. It takes a lot of hours for something to grow like that.
To what extent are you experiencing the Sine Wave Syndrome in your daily life? It would be wonderful to hear your thoughts on this podcast. Feel free to send me an email or join the discussion below. Don’t hesitate to ask questions that you would love to have answered or discussed during the podcast. You can also just say hi. Whatever feels most comfortable.