Today we’d like to introduce you to Jake Kyman
Hi Jake, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Ever since I’ve been a kid I’ve loved TV and movies. The larger than life characters and rich stories gave me a sense of wonder and imagination that stuck with me forever. I grew up in an athletic household and neighborhood so sports were a big part of my life from the start. I grew up playing many sports but fell in love with basketball around 6th grade and that became my passion. I wanted to go to the NBA and grinded my whole life to get there and I ended up playing at UCLA on a full scholarship. My freshman year of college I went on and bought camera and some gear hoping to use it often, but with a D1 athletic schedule it was hard to make enough time for anything. Towards the end of college and playing basketball at an extremely high level, my dreams of the NBA started to change and shift. My head was pulling me another way and I wanted to start fully focusing on film and creating videos and rich stories to tell the world which always kept the child in me alive. Once I finished playing my senior year, I went all in on my own personal video production business and used all my knowledge I’ve gained over the years from classes in high school and college to YouTube videos to personal interest and passion for film. I knew it wouldn’t be easy but there was nothing more in this world I’d want to do than create emotional impactful stories for the world. I’ve been doing it full time for the past few months since I started and I’ve been putting one foot in front of the other trying to get better at my craft everyday while providing value for people, brands, businesses, and companies alike.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
The road has not always been smooth by any means. Everyday of late middle school and all of high school I grinded my tail off with blood, sweat, and tears just to be able to have a chance to play D1 basketball. I got up early before school and wouldn’t get home until late. My days were packed everyday with trainings, practices, workouts, school, homework, and friends and things I wanted to do when I could fit it in. My schedule was extremely busy but I would do it the same everyday all over again. Once I got to college it only got harder and my time to play on the court went down more than it ever has in my life. College was even harder than I expected when it came to keeping up with basketball and school because they both are full time jobs. I grinded my way through college with an amazing career, even going to the NCAA Final Four in 2021. When it came close to graduate I had to make a decision to keep playing pro in the NBA or elsewhere and my love for the game just wasn’t there anymore. My heart was pulling me to filmmaking and storytelling. I knew it wasn’t an easy path either but I know it’s the only thing I’ve ever wanted to do with my life. Once season was over I took all that gear that I owned and poured everything I had into my work. Everyday I just put one foot in front of the other doing the necessary steps to start my personal video production business. Doing this all on my own is not easy at all because I’m solely in charge of everything, can’t take any breaks, and have to work twice as hard to figure things out. I’ve been getting my foundation set around Knoxville now after moving a couple months ago and starting to pick up some business. It’s been a scary and humbling but also the biggest joy and rush of adrenaline creating things I love for people and myself. My work ethic and adaptability to grow and evolve is the reason I am where I am today and will be the reason of where I’m going to be in the future too.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am a filmmaker and videographer. I don’t specialize in one thing in particular but I would say I’m a storyteller. I like to tell stories emotionally grab the audience. That could be because of the music I choose, the aesthetic visuals, the story of someone’s life, etc. I try not to pick a specific niche and tie myself down when it comes to the type of industry. I want to be able to do a lot of types of opportunities and try new techniques and ideas so that I can learn and reach my maximum potential. I’ rather just use my vast film knowledge and plug it in to all aspects of filmmaking whether that be short films, documentaries, social media shorts, story based advertisements, long form interview sit downs and even capturing events. I’m most proud of documentary, “Beyond Business”, that is 30 minutes on YouTube and is about a friend’s business and lifestyle as an entrepreneur, social media influencer, and social media coach. What separates me from others is my work ethic and my approach to the medium. A lot of today’s videographers and filmmakers try to impress you with crazy edits and fast visuals to keep you watching but you don’t get anything out of the video. I approach all my videos and everything as art. I want to give businesses and the viewer value to what they’re watching and to be able to walk away with something.
In terms of your work and the industry, what are some of the changes you are expecting to see over the next five to ten years?
The video production industry is only going get bigger and bigger as time goes on. The reality we live in today is there is content everywhere you go and that content is being monetized every second possible with just your eyes. Cinema and TV will continue to grow but the opportunities for smaller movies and shows to come out will grow as well because the entry level to content is only getting easier and easier with the access to high production cameras like even your iPhone. Even if you don’t do anything but scroll for 30 minutes, you yourself just deposited money into those creators wallets just by scrolling through videos.
Pricing:
- Shooting rate: 100$/hr
- Editing rate: 75$/hr
Contact Info:
- Website: https://jakekyman.com
- Instagram: https://Instagram.com/jk.visions
- Facebook: https://Facebook.com/jk.visions
- Twitter: https://Twitter.com/jakekyman13
- Youtube: https://YouTube.com/@jk.visions13
- Other: https://TikTok.com/@jk.visions
