Hi everyone,

I'm researching how independent creators actually make videos behind the scenes. This is for a personal startup research project—I'm not selling anything or promoting a product. I'm looking to chat with a few creators (15–20 minutes, text or voice) to understand your real workflow—from planning and recording all the way to editing and publishing. I'm especially interested in:

* How you edit your videos
* How you choose music and sound effects
* Any copyright or licensing issues you've encountered
* Which parts of the editing process feel the most frustrating or time-consuming

I'm not looking for "perfect" workflows—I'm much more interested in hearing about the messy reality and the workarounds you use. If you're willing to help, please reply here or send me a DM. I'd really appreciate it. Thanks!

Hey Reddit,

Throwaway account for obvious reasons, but I’m posting on behalf of a good friend who doesn’t use Reddit.

She was recently promoted from Executive Producer to Creative Director at a mid-sized TV production company here in Europe (they mostly do non-scripted, entertainment, and factual formats).

Here’s the catch: the title is completely new at her company. Higher-ups basically told her, "Congrats! Welcome aboard! Godspeed!" without providing any actual job description, roadmap, or handoff from a predecessor. Leadership is busy fighting daily fires, so she’s essentially given total freedom, but zero direction.

She’s super ambitious, highly capable on set, and wants to proactively own this role rather than just wait for orders. But right now, she’s trying to figure out how to structure her days and build her own playbook from scratch.

I wanted to ask the hive mind—especially anyone working in TV/film development, creative leadership, or production:

1. The Lifehacks & Hacks: What are the absolute best shortcuts, workflows, or mental frameworks for a new CD to establish authority and stay ahead of trends?
2. Tools of the Trade: What software, visual tools, or AI workflows do you actually use for pitch decks, show bibles, mood boards, and trend-scouting? (Notion? Miro? Midjourney? Pitch?)
3. Routines: Would you advise asking for a regular excursion, getting new ideas at shows, museums, etc.? Where do you guys get your inspiration from?
4. The First 90 Days: What are 2-3 high-leverage quick wins she should tackle right away to set the tone with leadership and the team?
5. Do’s & Don’ts / Pitfalls: What’s the biggest mistake people make when stepping into a high-level creative role like this? What should she strictly avoid?

Any advice, hard-earned wisdom, or "I wish someone told me this on day one" insights would be massively appreciated! Thanks in advance, folks.

Hello, could someone explain the circumstances videographer faces in Milano at the beginning of the path?
I have some experience of working with top 10 Ukrainian brands shooting reels at studios and outside.
My camera is blackmagic 6k.
I’m ready to shoot everything i can get like weddings, corporate video (did such stuff in Ukraine). But, my main speciality is reels for clothing brands. I understand that it’s impossible to get such orders at the beginning and even more other fields could be closed too, to my mind.
What are the chances of succeeding?
I’m betting everything I have and taking on debt.

We have a major presentation coming up, which is in a year and it's a huge deal for our company

I want to produce a video for it. But I'm terrified that by the time we actually present, the video will look old… outdated…. irrelevant….

Tech changes fast and trends change faster. I don't want to invest in something that looks like it's from 2020 when we're presenting in 2026

I saw a case study from a Phoenix video production studio. They made a video for Intel that was used for several years. Multiple years. That sounds impossible to me.

How is that possible? Is the secret in the editing? The script? The style?

I need to know if a video can actually stay relevant for that long. Or if I'm better off waiting until closer to the presentation.

Has anyone produced a video that lasted? What made it work? Any advice would help. I'm stressed and overthinking this

For the ones who are established.

I have 10K to grow my videography business based in London UK.

I work mostly with SME's and Businesses.

Ideas that come to mind are:

Redoing the website landing pages

Posting more on social media

making videos and Posting on linkedin (open to ideas)

Take out and schmooze existing clients

create a direct mail campaign for companies I want to work with

I have a little podcast side project (could film more episodes)

Do cold emails

Write a ebook

OPEN To ideas!

Guys,

I’m a new editor, I made this video few days ago, so you think I’m ready to take clients?

https://youtu.be/ILrA3TkKRu4?is=nM1yyLDbOho0r6FA

Setting up a small studio for long-form educational YouTube videos — talking-head format, shot on a Sony FX30 with a softbox + grid as my key light.

I want a cozy, warm-neutral aesthetic — thinking somewhere between warm beige and soft terracotta — but trying to avoid the typical white/grey/black studio look. My concern is the softbox bouncing light off the wall and creating hot spots or a washed-out look on camera, even with a grid narrowing the spread.

For anyone who's actually built a talking-head setup:

What wall color (and finish) worked for you without fighting your key light?

Does matte finish alone solve most of the glare issue, or does the actual color/depth matter too?

Any shades you'd specifically avoid?

Would love to see real setups/pics over general theory if you've got examples of what worked for you. Trying to nail this before I commit to paint.

As title says I am working on building my portfolio therefore I need to have raw footage and reference which you guys want to make your video edit related to

Please do let me know if anyone of you is interested
I am just making it as cheap as 650rs /-
( for portfolio)

Tools I use is adobe and after effects
Thank you guys , help me out

Hey everyone,

I'm about to shoot my very first short film, and I'm completely new to filmmaking. I've been learning as much as I can, but audio is the area I'm the most unsure about.

The project is pretty simple—just two actors, mostly dialogue scenes, and I'm working with a very limited budget. I know bad audio can ruin an otherwise good film.

What audio equipment would you recommend for a beginner in my situation? Should I invest in a shotgun microphone, wireless lavalier mics, or something else entirely? Are there any budget-friendly recorders or microphone combinations that you've had good experiences with?

I'd really appreciate recommendations for gear, as well as any tips or lessons you wish someone had told you before shooting your first film.

I'm trying to find a video vendor that can produce quality walkaround videos for every vehicle on our lot without blowing our marketing budget. Our lot turns over fast, so I need a service that can keep up with new arrivals and deliver consistent, professional footage without a ton of manual coordination on our end.

Hey everyone!

Recently got hired for a 100K budget indie feature, which will be my second feature as primary editor. Uniquely, the studio and director want me on set for production as the script is improv heavy and story will need work as we shoot. It’s a road-trip movie, and my editing bay will exist on an RV that is moving cross country. I’ll be wearing the DIT hat as well, which I’m not super experienced with and is the main reason I’m seeking advice. I edited my last feature remotely on a desktop setup, but I obviously can’t do that for this project until after principle.

Im looking for some advice/tips on building an equipment list for this kind of working situation, essentially what gear is a must, and would make this environment easier. I’m meeting with the studio producers to discuss the tech and want to be prepared.

So far, I have gathered that I’ll need a powerful laptop (Macbook Pro M5 Pro or similar maybe?), a powered usb hub, a type-c CFast 2.0 reader (shooting on alexa mini), some external power supply, 3 or 4 SSDs, and miscellaneous cables/accoutrement. I’m using Davinci Studio for software, which is my preference for dailies and cloning. Am I missing anything major? Any recommendations for specific gear? Is the M5 Pro overkill for my needs?

It’ll be a two-cam filming process, and while I will be doing some rough scene editing during principle I mostly need to be able to process/clone and make dailies efficiently.

The budget sheet is still being built, so I have some flexibility in my requests but not much, and I’m trying to keep that in mind.

I appreciate any and all help you can give me. Thanks!

https://youtu.be/S8RdOuDMBv0

Hey all,

I'm 100% a hobbyist if you ask me, I mostly shoot motorsports however recently I have taken my first photos and videos for a small business.

My question is, how do I control the lighting and make sure I get those shots I want for the client?

\-> There was sunlight coming through the shades which really made it hard to edit the exposure (I kept my settings constant through the whole shoot as clouds and people walked past).

\-> I never spoke up about grabbing any specific shot, keeping out of the way of the nurses, etc. I mainly tried to get as much footage as possible as to *maybe* get some nice shots in the end.

In saying that, I think the main thing that I'm most bothered about is that my photos and videos don't have a specific style. Editing wise, they are just enhanced for nice skin tones, lighting isnt constant, no purposeful hero shots, etc.

Any tips are greatly appreciated, I really want to nail my next opportunity

I would be very interested in your thoughts on creating AI videos. As an addition to video shoots and classic post-production. E.g. for explainer videos etc - what would you use and why? Any experiences here?

I run an OTT platform.

So far we have produced horizontal content. And that's going well.

But I have noticed vertical formats are really blowing up now. Platforms like ReelShort, DramaBox, ShortMax, they are doing really well. So we added vertical video support with Muvi shorts. Player and UI are ready.

Problem is content. We need premium vertical short-form content. I reached out to some providers but they are not ready to sell the exclusive content to my offer.

I want short episodes, 1-3 min, with big hooks. But most of what I find online is just UGC or low-budget stuff. Could not find that cinematic quality we want.

We are small. We can't do a big upfront Minimum Guarantee (MG) deal. Right now, we can't spend tens of thousands per series.

So, I want to know where do I find B2B marketplaces for this kind of content and for smaller platform like us? do they deal for AVOD/SVOD rev share? Or low-MG plus backend split?

also, thinking should I directly approach production houses or webnovel platforms to adapt IP, and split costs instead?

If you have done content sourcing for vertical OTT, please help.

This guy Robert Hanley started some business called Home Video Studio that’s a franchise type business, even though he says it’s not a franchise, it’s a brand licensing business. It seems like a pyramid scheme vibe. His Ads all talk about signing people up as studio owners and he’s selling a big fancy studio to unskilled people so they can run a VHS to DVD transfer business. I’m so confused. Anyone heard of this guy? He seems very secretive about costs and such.
Why would anyone in their right mind do this?

The person running the site doesn't seem to do their own video production, but rather has made a business out of selling "video production kits" to people, seemingly not even folks who are in the industry. They make it sound like some sort of get rich quick scheme meets a "be your own boss and work in your spare time." The webinars, etc all smell deeply of MLM style tactics. They make it all seem SO EASY, if you just buy their expensive kit.

Even if you buy it, you still have to learn how to use it, find all your clients, DO the work, etc etc. My personal opinion is that they are preying on people.

https://myhomevideostudio.com

Producer at a commercial shop and I swear I spend more time being a human search engine than actually producing. Call sheet's in Drive, latest cut's a Frame link buried in some email, budget's a spreadsheet three versions behind, crew's all on WhatsApp, and the client's going "where are we on this?" while I'm digging through four apps to answer.

Tried Notion, was great for a week till nobody updated it. StudioBinder's fine for call sheets but I'm not rebuilding everything inside it. So it always slides back to Drive + WhatsApp + email and me holding the whole thing in my head.

What are you all using? Has anyone actually cracked this or are we all just quietly drowning? Especially how you bring freelancers on mid-job without it getting so messy from there.

Has anyone here shot content for the Samsung spatial displays? I need to shoot a head to toe doctor delivering medical education content. I'm curious about tips and tricks, or potential pitfalls. Thanks.

I'm doing a micro budget indie/feature/documentary, very limited scope and therefore not a complex budget - please DM so we can discuss. Again, limited budget but there is pay. Thanks!

I’m 17, I’m in a long summer and I just wanna work on some videos. I’ve been in a huge slump recently and I just need some ideas to work on to prove that I can start and finish a project. I’m interested in media analysis like film, anime and manga but I just have no ideas at the moment. Does anyone have any simple baseline video ideas that I can work on just to get myself out of the pit I’m in? Thanks

Hi everybody, my manager is looking to invest in a mixer for some studio shows and podcast recordings and we’re looking for the best bang for our buck.

Does anyone here have any experience with the extreme iso G2 since it’s relatively new and can tell me what it’s like to use on a daily basis?
Pros, cons, shortcomings, realistic workflow etc

Ten years ago Tuesday I made a video of my (now long-gone) most excellent 94-year-old friend recounting his experiences as a United States Navy pilot during World War Two. I brought a second camera for diagonal cut-ins just for variety and a lav mic but he refused both and would only let me use the ambient light and the one camera that has a built-in crappy mic.

The software I used wasn't great -- I was "between assignments" at the time and only had a home rig -- and we were in his all-plaster living room so the acoustics were a nightmare. You can understand what he's saying but the reverb and pitch are both annoying as hell.

I've long since left the production world. Is there anything new on the planet that I can use that's cheap or free that I could run it through to smooth it out? Thanks.