David Pritchard
I’ve been in the video production business for 13 years now, starting my journey in Phuket and it has taken me all over Asia on various shooting projects.
To date I’ve shot for the BBC, Amazon, Zdf, Bo Travail, UFC and honestly too many to remember over the years and generally I’m shooting as cameraman and sometimes director such as some recent show’s I directed/shot for the UFC involving Petr Yan vs Jose Aldo.
My entire journey began within a few months of coming to Thailand, having finished my time living the student life where I was focused on internet computing and computer science; I was running various online business’s, the biggest being an online game with quarter of a million players but the lure of Thailand was making me feel there was more to life than what I was doing.
I was introduced by a friend I’d made to the owner of a Muay Thai gym in Rawai called Sinbi Muay Thai. The gym had great potential but needed some help with their marketing… Fast forward five years later and I’d been running their online presence while owning the skills for a passion I’d unleashed that happened to benefit marketing greatly… photography and video production!
With an unquenchable thirst to get better and better at the new love of my life, I fast made connections and increased my skills to the point of which I was soon working with film crews traveling Thailand shooting various projects…
Video production as a career is an amazing set of life experiences, if you are passionate and can stand out from the crowds to get asked to work on the good experiences. The industry is highly competitive with many obsessed and highly talented people, Phuket alone has many talented videographers rising up through the ranks.
I’ve been asked many times over the years if I’d recommend they come out to work in Phuket and unfortunately I do have to tell them the answer is no… It’s indeed a great industry to be in for a small number of people but for every successful videographer, there have been a lot more trying to sell the expensive equipment they bought on Facebook market place as it’s a highly competitive island and more and more companies are using in-house teams to create the content.
The business model of my company Imageforge is now more geared towards our monthly managed digital marketing clients. We create package deals that offer our video production and photography services for unbeatable prices, packaged together with marketing to cover almost all the needs of our clients. My level of video production and photography, paired with a background in internet marketing has turned out to be a magical mix for the current landscape of running a business in Thailand or anywhere for that matter.
If you want to get into a career in video production I’d recommend investing in a 2nd hand camera, some cheap lighting from Lazada and a clip on mic or shotgun depending on what you want to create. Learn the basics through trial and error and a lot of reading! You will have to work very cheap as you’re starting out, potentially even producing video for free until your skills are getting towards a professional level.
I’ve shot hundreds of videos over the years and these days I like to keep the passion alive and strong, working on many more fun projects such as short films for Phuket Empire and the odd Tv production that falls onto my lap.
If you are interested in video production for your own business or a career in the industry, feel free to head over to Imageforge and send an email with your questions.
Be sure to checkout our specific guide on becoming an amazing landscape photographer with a few basic tips and some practice, a lot of the skills pass over into all areas of photography, and photography skills are essential to become good at video production.
