Another look into how we do things at JECP These days we're rocking some pretty nice gear, have a solid team, and stretching our creativity further than I ever imagined. None of this is our selling point, though. I remember early on being questioned on what camera and resolution we would film in or elaborating on what lighting we would rent. I still love gear and find it essential in executing our creative treatments, but I also know it doesn't communicate our value. Our valu

Our production with ZoneZero If you've been along for the ride with JECP for any amount of time, you've heard us preach the importance of relationships (Impact of Relationships Blog HERE). This isn't just some random buzzword focus for our marketing. It's a huge core value and stems back from our origination as a brand. We are a people-focused company internally and externally, understanding that the best relationships allow for more trust and long-term quality building. This

A look at the Softspoken Campaign We're going to dive into the Softspoken campaign we produced in 2020 and the obstacles and rewards we found in the project. Producing music videos are a lot of fun and a ton of hard work, and over time we start feeling pretty drain. Being on the grind, sometimes with tight budgets and big ideas, you realize it can be difficult to bear. Inevitably you hit walls and start burning out for one reason or another. Leading up to the Softspoken proje

A blog about our production partner, Ohio HD entry no. 32 Over the years, I've learned how dangerous assumptions can be. Being direct, precise, and well-intentioned goes a long way. This starts by understanding that clients hire you to be their expert, even if they don't always treat you that way. It's easy to assume they know you're high quality, but I work to educate and help breakdown each project, setting proper expectations. For years, I have been questioned in one area

Being grateful, finding ourselves and highlighting our year entry no. 31 As I'm sure this year has been a whirlwind for many, we're most grateful we survived, and sometimes that's enough. This isn't the first, or the last time we'll face hardship, but what helps us push forward is ingesting the information and deciding what to do with it. 2020 had plenty of small to large setbacks, but we were lucky enough to still grow along the way. Being a creative is so much more than jus

why the LMTF project was so rewarding for us entry no. 29 We get asked a lot why we don't work with labels all that often. There are many reasons, but the most prominent is that the alignment of values rarely exists. We value personal relationships, and for some reason, this never seems to be prioritized with labels. Truthfully it feels like a race to the bottom with money as the primary focus. We get it, you're a business, but for us, it's crucial to create work that feels e

a strong client relationship turns to alignment entry no. 27 I think all of us creatives who offer a service find ourselves thinking about financial opportunities and how that impacts creativity. Still, looking back over the years, we've realized what impacts creative outcomes are how aligned we are with our clients. In short, this approach is valuing the relationship we build together more than the ticket value of a project. Not to neglect how much money is available, but we

nothing beats being prepared for a project entry no. 26 For many years I dreamed about having $10k, $50k, or even $100k project budgets. It's exciting to think about the creative things we could do with bigger budgets. Money grants us the ability to solve a lot of problems, but it also increases the stakes. What if, when I get one of those opportunities, I'm not prepared to handle it or worse, I get one, and it doesn't look any different than what I've already done. Maybe th

providing clarity to an unseen stage of projects entry no. 23 It's easy to look at a final project and see it as great, but how did it get there? As video producers, we understand how easy it is for our clients to get excited about and value our work on set. Clients get excited about this stage because they physically see the work and can validate the money they are investing in us. I think we need to be working to show more work in other aspects of projects like pre-producti

building a repeatable process to earn trust entry no. 21 THE PROBLEM As creatives, I think we've all felt anxiety or burned attempting collecting payments from clients. It's easy to complain and blame the client, but what if we're in our own way? Prepare for a very dry, non-creative discussion, but I think it contains tons of value. It's time collecting payments works for us instead of against us. The reality is most creatives are wired to create, and collecting payment is fa

a how-to in the lighting department entry no. 20 Music videos come in many shapes and forms. Honestly, it’s one of the most creative and unlimited formats of film. You typically have a few minutes to communicate some sort of idea, feeling and establish character. This allows them to be less linear, highlight the best visual aspects and often times be more effective with limited budgets. NYA was directed our way by a past client and friend. She did her research before even con

LDD case study: preparation meets execution entry no. 19 Every project we do feels like the next evolution in work. I think as creatives, we all feel this way. I guess with the Gossip project; it feels this way because we worked in new territory and succeeded. It's just a great feeling seeing our team work hard, to be appreciated, work with great talent, and to see it all composed together into a film we're incredibly proud of. ​ In this project, the overall goal was to showc

what we learned and where we're going in 2020 entry no. 18 In wrapping up the decade and leading into 2020, we wanted to take some time a reflect on what this year has been for us. This year has been full of learning, transitions, and focusing ideas for who we are and what we aspire to accomplish in the future. Our work didn’t drastically change, but its purpose became clear and focused this year. ​ In short, we are here to create the best experiences possible for our artists

Feverwar case study: Permanent Fix music video entry no. 17 Long-time friends, Feverwar, trust us when it comes to our strategy, abilities, and approach to projects. With that, it makes the whole process smooth, more effective and collaborative. That's the real benefit of working with a band for four years and knowing their needs. So with creating the "Flu" we naturally made that happen with ease. With their EP, Piss Poor, it deals with addiction, working through those strugg

The Creative Process for STS Everything Music Video entry no. 13 In pre-production, we decided to plan this project to be less about a scene by scene narrative, and tell the story instead, through metaphor, art, and light. Ross (Director), had a short story pre-written, that oddly fed great into what was needed for the B-roll of this video, so we decided to adapt it into a more simple direction for the video. We played with lighting to represent emotions, built a futuristic s

midwest weather project entry no. 11 Expression of art meets depression. Many artists can relate with the experience of feeling a sense of high after creating something, only to find themselves on a low when things aren’t actively happening. We painted a picture of Midwest Weather as a character through Jordan and Tizzer’s physical representations. Jordan’s character is dealing with the stressors of being an artist and not finding satisfaction, while Tizzer is the vision most

Lave Project Highlight entry no. 10 Have a look into our underwater adventure for LAVE's track, Seafoam. The film was completed with the Canon 5dmkiv and Canon t3i. ​ CREW Josh Emerick | Cinematographer, Editor and Art Ross Theisen | Director + Art Gage Green | AC Drew Hiles | PA Powered by Ohio HD Use the Promo Code: TCP for 50% off #storytelling #trust #buildingbetterartists #marketing #musicvideo #branding #ohiohd #kinoflo #canon1dxii

Finding art direction to symbolize deep meaning entry no. 09 When A Liar's Eyes initially discussed this project, they wanted to be sure we could create something a wide audience could enjoy, but also keep a specific message to the track. Separate deals with death and it’s mental stressors. At conception of this project we knew it was important to showcase this idea while also introducing the members. As ALE's very first music video, we needed it to look of quality and be a g

Borrowing inspiration from other genres entry no. 08 The approach of this project was to create a music video that had hardcore elements with a touch of hip-hop. Our overall goal, was to showcase energy and have fans wanting to come back and view over and over. We mixed performance in studio with slow motion and singular shots with heavy red saturation to break the film up. This all mixed together created a dynamic viewing experience. The first thing we considered after getti

Managing time and power entry no. 07 "Subjective Morality" is a heavy hitter track. From the start we knew the edit needed to carry an immense amount of energy. Designing the look, we created an edgy, dark and energetic performance to lay the ground work and mixed in subliminal messaging. While all of this happened, we had two big production challenges to overcome. We had a short timeline with only having the night to film and NO ACTIVE POWER to the location. ​ Lighting was t