Ep. 009 - CODA is Here! Uniting UK Wedding Videographers with Community Over Competition ft. Roo Films

In this episode, we sit down with Roo, the talented mind behind Roo Films. Recently crowned the UK's best videographer at TWIA (The Wedding Industry Awards), Roo is not only a master of his craft but also the co founder of CODA, the pioneering conference exclusively tailored for UK wedding videographers.

Our conversation delves into Roo's journey, from his flourishing career as a photographer to his seamless transition into the captivating world of videography. Roo shares insights on how embracing a sense of community has been instrumental in his professional evolution.

Central to our discussion is the mantra of "community over competition." Roo passionately emphasises the significance of fostering connections within the wedding videography sphere. By collaboratively supporting one another, we can collectively elevate the industry to new heights.

Tune in as Roo sheds light on the power of camaraderie and collaboration, and discover how cultivating meaningful relationships can propel your own videography business forward. Join us as we explore the invaluable role of community in driving mutual growth and success.

You all know this by now.... reviews mean the world to us! If you took anything away from this we'd love for you to leave one for us.

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https://www.instagram.com/thatweddingvideographerpodcast

Danny Rizzo
https://www.instagram.com/rizzo.films

Jase Hunter
https://www.instagram.com/afterglowweddings

Transcript

Roo (00:00:00):

And I was kind of pitching this idea of what I thought would be a great event, mainly to people in the hope that they'd put it on for me so I could attend it. And I was pitching out there and the feedback I was getting from most people was that the videography community aren't the same as, because there's lots of these events for photographers loads, but there's nothing for videographers, not specifically just videographers. Obviously videographers can go to the photo ones and things, but it's usually there's a token videographer there at these events talking rather than it all being dedicated to filmmaking. And

Danny (00:00:31):

Look at the response just button, but look at the response. I think that speaks wonders

Roo (00:00:36):

And sold

Danny (00:00:37):

Out in what

Roo (00:00:40):

I knew it would be, but at the same time, I didn't.

Danny (00:00:52):

Welcome to that Wedding Videographer podcast. I'm Danny.

Jase (00:00:54):

I'm Jace, and we have a very exciting episode today.

Danny (00:00:58):

We do our first guest on TWVP, which we're very, very excited about.

Jase (00:01:04):

Yeah, I didn't think anyone would want to come on. Neither did I. But we sent a couple phone messages out. No one got back to us, but this one did.

Danny (00:01:13):

Thank you very much. Our guest today is RU from RU Films. So Ruth, Steve, how are you Ru?

Roo (00:01:21):

I'm very well, thanks boys. Thanks for having me on.

Danny (00:01:23):

No, not at all. Thank you very much for coming on. We are mega, mega excited about our chat today. We've got so much to cover off. What a bit about you, the gear you use, what got you into it, and of course one of the more important things and then the hot topics right now is Coda. So yeah,

Jase (00:01:42):

Something we're all very, very excited for.

Danny (00:01:44):

I'm buzzing.

Jase (00:01:45):

Yeah, I mean if you're in the videographer world, you've heard about this. If you're a videographer in the uk, Coda has been everywhere over the last two weeks.

Danny (00:01:53):

Sure has.

Jase (00:01:55):

And I think the buzz around it is going to be, it has been amazing and I think it's going to be amazing going forward even throughout the year. But we're perhaps going to get into that.

Danny (00:02:02):

We will, we will. So first of all, Ru a little bit about you, if you don't mind. So what your business is called and yeah, just a little bit about you.

Roo (00:02:15):

Yeah, so my business is RU Films. Yeah, I'm a wedding filmmaker and I've been doing this since 2018 and before that I was actually a wedding photographer, so I moved over to the dark side,

Jase (00:02:30):

Scandalous

Roo (00:02:31):

And, and before that I was a graphic designer. So that's my journey really. Yeah.

Jase (00:02:35):

So you've always been in the creative field then? There's never really been a, did you start retail or anything? Or you just dived straight into the creative field

Roo (00:02:44):

Kind? Well I pushed trolleys at Asda for a while. I dunno back count. That counts as anything. By the

Jase (00:02:49):

Way, that's really difficult. I did it at Tesco for a bit of time and there was this always this challenge to try and get one more trolley on, one more trolley until it's like, oh no, it's going towards a car. Oh my God.

Roo (00:02:59):

Oh yeah, absolutely. Yeah. And I've famously managed to ride on a set of trolleys once along the car park, but it was the same day that a load of supervisors had turned up to the store to have a walk around. So they all came out to the front of fuck about

Jase (00:03:14):

You. Just

Roo (00:03:15):

Literally. Literally I

Jase (00:03:16):

Was, yeah. And the legend of Ru, this trolley surfer lives on in Birmingham. Yeah. So retail probably wasn't for me

Danny (00:03:22):

As that came to an end, forced into the creative fields to surfing. That's it. So a graphic designer. So did you go to uni and that for graphic design and stuff?

Roo (00:03:33):

No, I mean that's a whole story. My degree was in film production. Okay. So topic I guess makes sense. Eventually I've worked away there. Yeah, you got there eventually a

Danny (00:03:45):

Few years later.

Roo (00:03:46):

But my grand plan was to be, I wanted to be a film director and that's what I wanted to do. And out of uni I did a few jobs working for Sky, being a runner basically. And I dunno if you've ever done any work like that, but my word, they treat you like absolute scum is horrendous the way I was treated at those jobs. So I just realised this isn't for me. I don't want to be in this kind of environment. And I always had an interesting graphic design anyway and a graphic design job came up near me and I applied for it and I lied on my degree and said my degree was in graphic design. It wasn't at all, it just wasn't done a little bit some Photoshop when I was putting gigs on and stuff, I was putting gigs on locally and I was designing the flyers. So I thought I can do this. How hard can it be in a week on the job? I learned more than I ever would've done in a three year degree. I really did.

Jase (00:04:40):

So how did you go from graphic designing to photography?

Roo (00:04:45):

I think photography and graphic design just kind of comes in hand in hand, doesn't it? To be fair it you're a graphic designing, you've got a camera, it's just the way it works. And if you've got a camera, someone's eventually going to ask you to shoot their wedding. And so people used to ask me all the time to shoot weddings and I couldn't think of anything worse at the time I was like, there's no way I want to be shooting weddings and this is the photo people were asking for photo. But then when it came to my own wedding in 2014, the one job I was given was to find a photographer. I had an interest in photography in general and when I was doing that research, I saw this whole world of wedding photography that I didn't realise existed. I thought wedding photography was group shots outside of church, that kind of thing.

(00:05:28):

Probably 1970s style photography. But when I saw the kind of candid and the documentary stuff, I thought, this is a bit of me, this is, I'd love to do that. And then on the day itself, Andy Gaines from Nine Dots was my photographer and the way he approached the day, I thought that he is genuinely enjoying this day. It looks fantastic. I imagined wanting to be this real stressful, horrible thing, but you could tell that he was enjoying it. And when we got the pictures back, they blew my mind and I thought is what I want to do. And one of my friends, Jonathan Coates, we've been friends since we were like 16, he was doing bit photography as well and we were like, you do that thing where if you're both into cameras, you'd end up chatting with each other about cameras and gear, don't you? And I, he mentioned that he wants to do weddings and I said, oh, I'm interested as well if you get a booking, I'd happily come along second shoot for you for free. And he was like, well why don't we just do it together? Let's just create a business and try and put weddings together. So we created a business called Stein Do Photography and we did really well. I mean we booked 13 weddings before we'd even shot one.

(00:06:40):

This was back in the day before style shoots were a thing. We did our own kind of style shoot to get some nice portfolio of images, create a website, and we thought we were honest with people. We said that we've not shot a wedding yet, but these are style shoots, this is how we'd approach it. But all those people that had been asking me to shoot their weddings, I just started saying yes to 'em. So a collection of those people and word of mouth we created that. We had a great first season really and and it just took off that the photography side of it. And we soon realised that we don't need two of us at a wedding

(00:07:11):

Photography, we just don't need it. And also we can make more money if we go out separately. We tried to do it under the one brand for a while, but then we realised it'd be better if we have our own brands then we could put our own stamp on it and we can take the business where we want. I really enjoyed my graphic design job and I didn't want to let it go if I was on. So I kept both for a while, whereas Jonathan wanted to go full time into it and I felt like I was holding him back a little bit. So we went separate for a while. We split the businesses up, still best mates, but the deal we had is if we are not available for a wedding, we'll be each other's first referral. So the work was getting past the amongst us as well.

(00:07:48):

Then both our business is doing phenomenally well. But every wedding I was at, because my background, my degree was in film production, I always had one eye on videography. And the way I shot photo as well was kind of, I used to deliver a slide show as well as the gallery. I'd deliver a slideshow, but whenever I was shooting the wedding, I was always focusing on the pictures to create the slideshow. So an establishing shot, take a wider room, but then close up details and things. So almost like a videographer's kind of approach to photography I guess. So it was always just the way I want you to put it together. And then I even started thinking like recording speeches and adding bits of the speeches to these slideshows. So bit by bit I was kind of moving my photo more towards a videography style I guess,

(00:08:36):

And every videographer, but every videographer worked with as well their style, the videos they delivered, I was like, I dunno, I thought there could be a different approach to it. I used to shoot 35 mil and 85 mil and my shots with the 85, the nice tight shots with lots of compression and lots of out focus areas thought it'd be really to shoot a wedding video with just an 85 mil lens. You don't have to have a wide shot of things. You can build the scene up with lots of tight shots. I thought it'd be interesting to shoot video like that. It'd be an interesting approach. So I was considering doing that, but the audio was such a stumbling block for me. So I'd quiz every videographer I ever met about audio and how they were doing it. And back then a lot of people were using the Zoom H ones. Can you remember them?

Jase (00:09:22):

Yeah, I still have one. What are folks still

Roo (00:09:23):

Using actually? And they're so clunky, they like these big massive things, trying to put 'em in pockets. I thought there's got to be an easier way than that. And the audio was what has put me off taking a step into it. And then one day it was a chance encounter where it was at a friend's house and we had a gathering of photographers and there was a chat there that I'd never met before and I got talking to him and he told me that he was a videographer. So I started quizzing him as I was quizzing every videographer at the time, so what do you shoot with? And he's like, oh, I shoot on an 85 mil all day. And I was like, Ooh, that's exactly what I was thinking. I was like, what do you do for audio? And he goes, I'll use these little Sony.

(00:09:59):

And he showed me what we know now as a TX six 50 and he is like, I just clicked these on, it's super easy. And I was like, wow, this approach sounds amazing. He went out the room for a bit and mate Johnny goes, do you know who that guy is? And I was like, no, his name's Phil White, you need to look at his work. And so I looked at his work and we know Phil White is like a god to us now. I didn't know who this fellow was. It's like this chill guy that was telling me how he shut. And I was like, not only is his approach exactly how I want to do it, but his work is phenomenal at the best wedding videography I'd ever seen in my life. And when he came back in, oh, I was on him again as of Mate, I need to learn from you. So I booked onto his course and I moved on very much from that style I would say. But his approach was the blueprint for how I started my videography business. And once I was in that mind frame, I knew I was going to switch. I knew I was going to move to video,

Speaker 4 (00:10:54):

So

Roo (00:10:55):

I asked a few of my photography friends, I was like, only you for me joining you on a wedding day. Oh shoot video obviously I'll stay out of your way. I know what you need. I won't be in your way or anything, but your couple will get a free film and if you need me to help with second shooting anything you need on one day, I'll help you. But I'll create them a film as well. And a couple of other friends, my friend Darren Ga, who's company's lasted Delight, he said, yeah. And he took me along to three of his weddings and I use those films to build my portfolio. Yeah, because I got a good community of photographers I was friends with. Then once I started, got my portfolio out there, they were all commending me to their couples and stuff. So the business took off quite quickly and I made the switch from the year I decided to move over to video. I'd just won twi, the regional. So my business was really starting to do well and then I just to left and moved over to video

Jase (00:11:55):

Instead. Do you find there's a completely different approach to the day? Obviously we know about the main parts where the portraits and the family portraits, that's usually controlled by the photographer, but other than that, is there a different approach than the day?

Roo (00:12:09):

When I first moved over to video, I was moving around way too much. I wasn't holding my shots long enough, so I have to be a lot more considered and a lot more controlled. But I would say for the most part, my styles for photo and video are very, very similar. And I do do courses in trying to teach photographers to move into how they can move into video. I think they've got the skill sets to move over quite easily. It is just a case of slowing down, but also you want to shoot in a bit of a tighter lens than you're used to because you're going to be that you can't be as in close with when you camera a photo, you can't dip in and dip out with a 35 mil lens with photo. You can get in there, get a shot, get out, but with video you've got there lighter there for six seconds or whatever. It can get bit

Jase (00:12:49):

Awkward. Good. I've seen some of this education that you've done and there was a great quote that you present and I think its one of my favourite quotes as to why it's important to have a videographer.

Roo (00:13:02):

Yeah. So I was looking for my grandparents wedding photographs and they've got, I dunno three, it might even be three or two of these photos. And remember looking at them and they looked incredible. And my grandma had ms, so she was in a wheelchair for my own entire, I'd never known her not be in a wheelchair basically. And to see her stood there stopped, right looking incredible. I was like, oh my word, this photo is amazing. I would love to see this in video. I would give anything to see a video from that wedding. I would much rather see the video than the photo to see her walk in, hear her talking. And I think for most people, especially for me, if you have the opportunity to, if you're given the option, you can look at the photos of your relatives or you can see videos of them. I'd always pick the video, always pick video. And it was that thought of that kind of, it was in my brain then I was like, I feel so passionate about video, I need to be creating this for people. So yeah, that's what tipped it over the edge once I knew how to do my audio.

Danny (00:14:04):

Totally. But I think we all know that as videographers, and obviously it's not to not photo whatsoever, but it's that it's a different feeling with video you can hear, can see the movement and it's just, it's a little time capsule, isn't it? And I'm the saying, yeah,

Roo (00:14:21):

And it gets more valuable day on day, year on year. The films get more and more valuable. And I didn't have video at my wedding, we couldn't afford it. We tried to make it work, but we couldn't. But oh God, I wish I had just the change in our lives in terms of family members that we've lost since then. And after a while when you start to forget how they sound, that's the thing. But to have that captured forever, not only just captured but beautifully presented in this wonderful film that's got a narrative of that day. Yeah, what we do, it's such a privilege for what we do. We are well aware of that, aren't we? A hundred percent. But what we create is it's going to outlast us, man. Which that blows my mind.

Danny (00:15:08):

But watching some of your BTS stuff, which was really, really interesting, it does seem like you've got a reasonably kind of minimalist approach to a wedding. So yeah, if you can talk us through the kind of gear you use in that approach.

Roo (00:15:20):

Yeah, I do try and be minimal. I mean I'm still a three camera shooter for the Morty cams, but

(00:15:26):

So my main camera is the A seven S3, and I'm usually using my 55 mil on that because I did start off shooting 85 mil and that was my vision for wedding videography was 85. But I soon realised I can't keep that stable and I couldn't go around. I was a photographer as well before I couldn't go to suddenly shooting with a monopod attached all day. I couldn't get the angles I wanted, I couldn't get the framing. So I knew I needed to go handheld. So going for a 55 mil was that kind of compromise of getting that nice compression. Don't have to be as close as a photographer, but I can keep it steady. And then sometimes I that out for a 35 mil as well occasionally for those tighter spots. And then my B camera is the A seven, the Sony A seven four. And on that I've got the 24. Yeah, was it

Speaker 5 (00:16:19):

24 72

Roo (00:16:20):

0.8, the GM mark two, that's a phenomenal lens. That is absolutely phenomenal lens. And I used to have primes on those as well. I'm a b, C cam, but I've changed it to zooms now just to have the flexibility of changing to what I need. So for example, in the ceremony I'll be at the front with my A cam on the bride, and then on the opposite side to me will be my 24 to 70 as a wide shot of the room safety.

Speaker 4 (00:16:45):

But

Roo (00:16:45):

Then if vows happening, I'll go around to it and zoom in tighter on the groom to get his vows. So I've got the kind of opposing angles of the vows. And then at the back I've got my A seven C, which I do need to upgrade. To be fair, it can't do like 4K 50, it's just 25 p and I shoot 50 P all day. Even for the same speeches. Yeah, yeah. Even that just leave it. Yeah. Yeah. I conform it to 25 P. Yeah. But I've not seen any, I don't see need because I know if I change to 25, I'll end up, I'll end up not changing it back. And then when I want the slowmo stuff like, oh, I'm 10 25.

Danny (00:17:26):

And then for audio, so is it just

Roo (00:17:29):

Ts? Yeah, I mean I had a whole year where I dedicated the year to improving my audio and my plan was this year I'll do audio. Next year I'll improve. So I'll really deep dive into the options. So I experimented so much. I was hiding labs on grooms and stuff, so I was using the tick, I'm using it all at the same time to then check image the quality against each other. And I've found since they've released the voice isolation thing in Final Cut and also Adobe Podcasts that plugin, the Tick six fifties are more than adequate. They're amazing. And just the speed of putting 'em on them, especially when it comes to if attaching 'em to ladies as well with dresses, they're just so quick and easy. And trying to put a LA on a registrar, oh my word or a celebrant, it is so much f when, and that's the last thing you nearly have to do is you have to quite quickly.

Speaker 4 (00:18:25):

So

Roo (00:18:26):

Yeah, just tick 60 now, but I've got a zoom, is it the F three, like the 32 bit little, yeah. So I use that to go into the desk occasionally, but then even with a desk feed, I find it obviously it doesn't pick up the ambient of the room. So when people are applauding and clapping, that sounds weird. You hear the laughs. Whereas with the T six 50 could

Danny (00:18:48):

It's like cricket.

Roo (00:18:50):

Yeah, it is dead weird, isn't it? But with a T six 50, you could have it set. You can apply the kind of AI noise reduction to it, but then take it off for the applause. So you get the best of both worlds really. So yeah, so I'm dedicating my life to these chick cities now. I think they're great.

Danny (00:19:05):

I think there's something to be said for the running gun speed of use of them. Because as you know, you can get held up, you can get held up in the BRI of prep and you don't get to go down. It's like, oh, I just need to wait for my dad. Can I come in? And I'm like, I really need to go. And so just being able to go speak into whatever the wedding is and then just pop it on and then that show good to go instead of that faf. Don't me wrong, the Tasca sound brilliant.

Jase (00:19:29):

Yeah, I mean they're absolutely not the best option for quality. We all know that. But there is software there now that can enhance that. And if you are a solo shooter, you've got to look at all your options. Do you want to spend time making people uncomfortable with Labing? I think there's obviously an advantage to doing it, especially if you're outside and you want to get that block. But for the simple process of what you can do with these TXs, I think they're an absolute game changer for anyone who's just building up the confidence to improve their audio. These little things that they used to only be 80 quid a pop. Now they've doubled in price or whatever. But

Danny (00:20:02):

During Covid, did you try to buy one during Covid? They showed up to like 180 quid.

Roo (00:20:07):

Yeah, I mean they're not come too far down now, have they? 50 days is a

Jase (00:20:11):

Bargain between one, but that's a joke I actually was watching when you were behind the scenes things and you've got these little rubber pins or something on the back of them like

Danny (00:20:19):

That.

Jase (00:20:19):

Because sometimes when I'm putting it on, you do get that

Danny (00:20:22):

Rustle,

Jase (00:20:24):

That kind of nonsense stuff. So is that absolutely killing that?

Roo (00:20:29):

Yeah, I think so. Yeah. Unless it's just been a massive coincidence that I haven't had any rubbing since I've started cheese them. I mean, who knows, right? But yet, so they're basically little stickers that the stickers that you use to put on drawers, like kitchen drawers and that so they don't bang,

Danny (00:20:45):

Oh, Ikea and stuff. Are they like felty kind of thing?

Roo (00:20:48):

They're more of like a silicon, like a little plastic. But I bought 'em from Amazon and I put money, I was finding the tick. The only problem I had with it was sometimes it was rubbing, but that gives that enough clearance that it keeps the microphone section away from any clothing. Yeah, it is worked wonderful me. And also I've got the tiny little covers, like wind covers that put over the one that I have that attaches to the microphone for the speeches, the microphone to hold in. That's made a massive difference to that because sometimes when they get it right close to the mouth and you hear the blowing of the air into it,

Jase (00:21:26):

The kit that you've got there that's quite minimal there. Did you kind of work your way down to that or is that come from your photography days?

Roo (00:21:32):

Yeah, so another part of me moving out of video, I need to be as free as I watch for photo or as close to as possible. So I always wanted to have minimum gear, but to be fair, I probably could easily shoot a wedding with just the two cameras. But I've always had the three though because there's those few times where that third angle has saved my ass and I can't be without it anymore. But sometimes when I do destinations, I'll do the two cameras when it's travelling and stuff and it's absolutely fine. But I just, yeah. So the three cameras is, it sounds like a lot, doesn't it? Three cameras I guess. But in terms of video,

Jase (00:22:09):

I've used more than that. There's definitely some people around here that will use five or six. I think my record was seven at one seven cameras that

Danny (00:22:16):

It was over. It was far too much. It was overkill.

Jase (00:22:17):

Just because the Mac can do eight streams of 4K doesn't mean you have to do eight

Danny (00:22:20):

Streams, 4K. You need to test these things to make sure the chips are doing what they're telling you they're doing. So typically, how many weddings are you generally booking per year and your can start and price it?

Roo (00:22:32):

The previous years I've been doing 40 odd weddings and it's just kind of like the back end of covid and stuff. My years was rammed with weddings from moving them and stuff like that. But my ideal is 30, I think this year I'm doing 32 and my starting price is it's 3000 pounds. And for that I'm delivering a three to five minute highlight film. And the speech is in full and the serum full.

(00:23:00):

And then my second package is 3,500. And it's the same as the first package, but with an additional film. So you get an additional 10 film without my extended film. And I found originally I did do a kind of LA car situation where they can pick and choose what they want and the bare minimum is the five minute film. And then you can add on the speeches and ceremony. But I found that the fact that I deliver the speeches and ceremony in full means you don't get people asking for a certain reading or a bit of a speech to be added to the films.

Speaker 4 (00:23:28):

So it

Roo (00:23:28):

Gives me a lot more control as I thought. And I have to multi came on, edit them anyway, I need it for the films. I thought if I'm doing it, I might as well add it as part of the package. I'm fascinated by the whole kind of psychology behind pricing and things like that. But basically what my aim, my overall aim is, is to be shooting less weddings so that not only I've got more time to spend with family, but I've got more time to spend on those films to create better films. If the years where I've been doing 40 plus, you

Danny (00:23:55):

Can't give it the same time,

Roo (00:23:57):

Can't. You've got to get 'em out the door. I don't ever want to rush my films, but then there's a limit. I can't be spending more than five days on a film, on a whole film package. So when you charge more means your couples get a better quality of final film, they've got more time spent on it, allow yourself to do that basically.

Danny (00:24:17):

So I guess that brings us on quite nicely to be honest too. The topic of Coda.

Roo (00:24:23):

Yes.

Danny (00:24:23):

So how did you come up with the idea? Let's start from there.

Roo (00:24:28):

Yeah, so I guess it goes back to my photo days. I went to Nine Dots and Nine Dots is it's a two day long, I think it might even be three day long event for photographers predominantly where they've got lots of speakers on, lots of different kind of practical things going on, but a great community vibe there as well. And when I was there I met loads of really, really, really great people and we formed our own little community from that. So there's a few of us that live local to me and people that we've gathered from all over the country, kind of that people that are on the same vibe finding these big Facebook groups. I dunno man, I really just don't like 'em. You always scared to put things out there. People are asking for advice and just get shut down and things like that. So we went to go the opposite. We wanted to build a little community ourselves. So we got all these photographers from everywhere and what we do every year is before the wedding season starts, we'd all get together, rent an Airbnb, and we kind of do our own little workshops with each other, learning from each other. People would get volunteer to,

Danny (00:25:40):

That's awesome.

Roo (00:25:42):

People would volunteer each members if there's something that they're do and that we really like what they're doing, oh, can you talk to the group about it? Show us how you do it. And it could be anything like marketing, how they shoot, whatever. And we bought this little community that and the level of all of us raised up so fast because we're all there helping each other and supporting each other. But when I moved over to video, I wanted the exact same thing, but all my friends were photographers at the time. So I set out Seeking

Speaker 4 (00:26:08):

You, the group

Roo (00:26:10):

Getting gone. But I set out seeking videographers that I really admired and the ones I've worked with. And the main thing was I wasn't bothered about the work, it was more the people. I wanted to be on the same vibe kind of we can get on while you trust their opinions and that kind of thing. So gathered all these people together and then we got a group, it's called Film Folk and there's a core, the Facebook group isn't very active, but we got every year we do the same thing. We do the retreat. So we rent an Airbnb, we get together, we do a bit where we talk about how the previous year went, what we want going forward, what our goals are. So mainly so we can keep track of each other, but also if we can help each other with our goals and things throughout the year.

Speaker 4 (00:26:58):

But

Roo (00:26:58):

We also do a thing where we have to pick a rubbish film from last year and our worst film from last year and our best film from last year. And we do a roulette spin it to see if you have to show your best one or your worst one. And then we all critique and it's like, yeah, it is a great environ to be in is good form, but also we're all getting better. Yeah, it's a safe space for each other. We're all getting better from each other. The level of everyone is shot up because you almost feel responsible because each year you're going to be showing your films. You want to make sure you're the top of your game.

(00:27:33):

And from our couples, we're always getting love bombed by 'em, right? They love their films as it's the main thing we do this job is we want to create great films for them. But having other peers that will critique you properly and nicely with your improvement in mind is it makes you such a better videographer. And then it was from that little community, I thought the whole videography world needs this. We all need this kind of community. And it was almost kind of trying to scale up the retreat that we do. It was like, wouldn't it be good if we could get some of the people that we admire, get them in to do talks, but then getting them in cost money. So you all have to chip in, but if we get more people we can chip in more to get better speakers. So the idea was just there.

(00:28:21):

I wanted just to enlarge this retreat. So it's a big event, people giving great speaks, but not just people talking at you about philosophy and mindset, which are cool things. I want practical takeaways. I want people to delve into the settings. And I'm a bit nerdy like that. I like to know what kind of gear people are using. I know people say it's not about the gear, but sometimes it really is about the gear. I want to know, I want to know. And I was kind of pitching this idea of what I thought would be a great event mainly to people in the hope that they'd put it on for me so I could attend it. And I was pitching out there and the feedback I was getting from most people was that the videographer community aren't the same as because there's lots of these events for photographers loads, but there's nothing for videographers, not specifically just videographers. Obviously videographers can go to the photo ones and things, but it's usually there's a token videographer there. These events talking rather than it all being dedicated to filmmaking and

Danny (00:29:16):

Look at the response just a about, but look at the response. I think that speaks wonders

Roo (00:29:22):

And sold

Danny (00:29:23):

Out in what

Roo (00:29:25):

I knew it, I knew it would be, but at the same time I didn't that you to. Yeah. And when people were telling me, oh, don't think they'll be into it. But I had this idea of it and I was talking to Andy Gaines who's one of the co-founders of Nine Dots and he is also the guy who shut my wedding. And I was talking to him about, I'm trying to move into a lot more of the education things at minute. So I was getting some advice from him and I just kind of pitched the idea to him. I kind of in the hope that maybe non ducks will put one on and he's like, yes, this is awesome. We'll help you. We'll help do it. Let's go do it. I was like, what? So it's was very, I wanted

Danny (00:30:00):

You to do it for me.

Roo (00:30:01):

I

Danny (00:30:01):

Didn't want the headache.

Roo (00:30:03):

But then the kind of with him being on board, it was kind like, right, I need to get in gear and put this together. So I had a list of speakers that I wanted and I contacted them and they always said yes. And I was like, oh my words, I can't believe this is going to happen. So basically the idea started in March in terms of, well the idea for me started a long time before that. But in terms of, right, we're doing this, let's work on making it happen was only in March and originally we were going to do it smaller scale and launch it in April

(00:30:34):

As a kind of testing the water event. But we just expanded a little bit on the ideas of it and we put it out there and the way we'd set it up was kind of we set it up, we thought this is going to be the first time we do this. It might be that their response isn't amazing the first time round. So maybe if we have a venue that could be a bit smaller, but then we've got option of a second venue to scale up to if we need to. But the response was absolutely phenomenal and we sold out within 72 hours, which we totally weren't expecting. But the lineup as you know right, is phenomenal, isn't it? I can't believe we managed to get those guys to come along and speak for us. But

Jase (00:31:13):

Just to get an idea and scale, obviously you sold out how many tickets were available? 130. 130 videographers within 72 hours in the uk.

Danny (00:31:22):

And I know that there's people that are gutted that they missed it.

Jase (00:31:25):

I was thinking, oh, Scott has taken the majority of that because there was load of us that did it. But that's actually fraction of 130, which I just think is fantastic. I've had this background of following American education, following American educators, going to workshops in America. There was nothing here. And it's so relatable and I think we've spoken about the fact that there is this change in the UK of educators coming out and some people wanting to make a change in our industry. I think a lot of people like you were thinking some people might just not be into it. There's definitely a change of mindset where no, we want to bear ourselves. We want to make this community come closer together and teach us just how to make the best of this amazing business that we're in.

Danny (00:32:11):

And I think it is the relatability factor that I'm really most excited about because I think it can be quite difficult when you are, because obviously as we know, the American and the Oz markets are so different to us and it can be quite hard to relate when they're talking about 30, $40,000 weddings and stuff and you're like, if you're somebody just starting out and you're like, I can't even charge 600 pounds at the moment and it can be quite hard to relate. So I think that me, and obviously I know Russell in the rest and core, not charging 600 pound, but there's a relatability factor there just in terms of, because they're still operating in this market.

Jase (00:32:48):

We've all started from the same space, we've all gone through the venues that we've had to do. We've all had to kind of work our way up through different markets and different kind of clientele. There's a relatability that just you can't get anywhere else unless you're in this market. And to have something like this, especially with that many people, that's an amazing number.

Danny (00:33:10):

Well done and thank you very much. Thank you. Thank

Roo (00:33:13):

Yous guy. I mean the most important part of it is I really want that community. I want the videography community to get together. I don't feel that we are together yet. I know there's pockets of us, but I think we all need to get together in a room because usually we have to work so hard in terms of editing throughout the year. Once we get into that dark hole of editing, we're stuck in it until April. So getting out there and we will all get better if we get together, share ideas, help motivate each other. And Facebook groups are not the way for me these big Facebook groups, it's all about getting face-to-face with people, chatting, making those connections and then working together that way. So yeah, I'm still excited for us all together. Together.

Jase (00:34:00):

I think when obviously you say Facebook, the entry level to a Facebook group is free. So it's someone who doesn't necessarily believe in the idea of growing together. A lot of people do go there to look for that. But when you find people who are willing to invest and go to an event like this, that's when you're going to be surrounded with people who all have the same mindset with who all want that kind of growth and want to challenge people and be challenged themselves. That's where the benefit of going to something like this really, really helps. Having beaten to some conferences before, that's the main benefit I got. I'm so excited to see who turns up and what our community is going to be like.

Danny (00:34:36):

No, totally. I mean I've had loads of folk messages just from people down south that I've maybe met through TWE and stuff because obviously Scotland now has, twe now has a Scotland category where they didn't have before. So I had to get lumped into the northwest and I'm like, oh, who up against Adam Wing? Brilliant, thanks very much mate. That's great.

Roo (00:34:59):

Northwest is such a brutal area isn't it as well. Isn't that

Danny (00:35:02):

It's annoying. Yeah, that James, Tracy and that as well. But I got at the time I got, I won best newcomer. But that also actually just brings us onto a subject that we haven't covered off yet. And we'll go back slightly to, so you won twe, the regional as a photographer and then you go, yeah, I'm going to move over to the dark side. I've done with photo, I've completed, I've completed it mate, I've completed photography. Let's go over here. And not only do you win the regional, but you win the national.

Roo (00:35:31):

Yeah,

Danny (00:35:32):

You must be one very proud man.

Roo (00:35:33):

Oh man. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Can't, winning a national was one of those kind of a goal eventually I think maybe one day, right? Maybe one day. And I did not expect it at all. The West Midlands. If you look at the West Midlands region, it's insane. It's very slight northwest as well. It's insane. You got, there's lot

Danny (00:35:53):

Of talent.

Roo (00:35:54):

Yeah, you got Christopher James, you've got Ry, Mobley Z, cross chapter and verse band. Phenomenal talent. So to win the region anyway, Phil was a big enough achievement. But then I did not expect to go and win the national. But when we went to national, we contact all of us. Allie from East Midlands is a good friend of mine and Dan, what's her name? Is it Dan Northeast I think maybe Or Yorkshire. Yorkshire one I'm, we went down together, but we contacted all the other videographers that were finalists as well. And we all got together before the event and hung out. That's

Speaker 4 (00:36:28):

Cool.

Roo (00:36:28):

And the best thing about that night was their reaction afterwards to me winning. They were kind

Speaker 4 (00:36:33):

Of

Roo (00:36:35):

So it just felt like that I had their complete support and that the, I dunno in a way when you win something right, you feel a little bit embarrassed in a way. It was this very British feeling. You feel kind of like guilty, I can't explain it, but the way they were so chuffed for me and kind of parted the night away with me, it just made the whole experience just absolutely phenomenal. And that's it. The communities are there, it's waiting. The geography community, it's waiting for us to kind of unlock it and get it living.

Danny (00:37:02):

Oh no. 1000%. I think certainly in the groups that we are in, I think something like this, we've been yearning for it for a while and it was much the same reason why we started the podcast. It was to try and bring people together, connect. And I think the amount of feedback that we've had, even just with starting the podcast, the voice notes that we've had in just the general feedback from not even just videographers but photographers as well. It has been amazing. So I'm really excited to see for instance, where you take Coda and where the podcast goes in terms of just building that community because that's what it's all about. That's what it's about.

Jase (00:37:43):

I think a lot of people can doubt the work themselves and t we seems to be this authentic competition to have your content judged. What is your experience with Tia and do you give anyone any advice for entering?

Roo (00:37:58):

Yeah, I mean I've won the national, so I obviously think it's the greatest thing that's ever existed in the world. And I think think most people are on the same page here. That it's the awards, it's the one that holds the weight, it's the one. And there's a few reasons for that. The main one is initially, so you have to get all the couples that you shot their wedding for that previous year. I think it's between October and October or something like that.

(00:38:21):

You have to get all of them or as many as possible to vote for you. And they're not just voting and it's not just a popularity competition, it is basically they have to, then there's a questionnaire they're given which goes is not just a final film, it's about the whole client journey and how you have served them as a company basically. So winning TWI is not just about having the best films, that's a big part of it as well. You've got to be good from start to finish. The whole business has to be really well-rounded. And so the couples vote for you in the first instance and then if your marks you're judged out of 70 I think it is, there's seven questions marked out of 10. The highest percentages in your region go through to the regional finals and then it's given to a panel of judges who you submit your films to. But they also have access to all the feedback from all your clients. So they get to see that client journey as well. And they're judging your whole business. And it's that kind of like you get some awards where basically you get nominated and then you have to get as many people to vote for you as possible. Cause that's just a popularity comment test.

(00:39:31):

Even with twi, even though you have to get all the people that you've shot. So if you've shot 50 weddings, that's no better than if you're someone that's only shot 12. You have to get the highest percentage of the people that you've shot for to vote for you. So it is based on the average, it's not actually 50, not better than 20. If you only shop 20, that's fine. It is based on the average of it. So yeah, I think it's just a very thorough, very well thought out process and the fact that it's not just films that have been judged it's entire business model and how you're able to serve your couples. Which yeah, that's why I absolutely love it. And I, funny enough, last year was the first year in a while I wasn't actually going to enter. I decided, I thought, I'm not going to enter this year. I'm going just, yeah, I dunno why I maybe thought, I dunno. I dunno why I thought I wasn't going to enter. But it was a last minute decision that I went in for it. I thought I've got no chance of winning. Why am I doing this? My region is way too strong. And then, yeah, thank goodness I did. Right.

Jase (00:40:34):

Have you found there a different marketing wise or have you seen the benefit of being a winner? What's it like being the national champ?

Roo (00:40:45):

Yeah, the woman who runs a chip shop near me is not early the end of it from me. That's national chap coming through Champion playing. Yeah, I'm kind of a big deal. It's me. I think it's helped a lot with Coder in terms of putting coder on. I'm not just some ran. Did you get the, it's opened doors for me in that respect and it is been interesting seeing how, I dunno got little, I think my name's got that a little bit more value than probably it did before. I dunno, maybe that's just me think. But from booking's point of view, there's two bookings I've had that are definitely a hundred percent come because of that. And they've actually said, we found you because of the awards. The main thing I've found is kind of random people that I know come up and tell me about it go, oh you did really well at those awards didn't you?

(00:41:39):

People who've got nothing to do with the wedding industry whatsoever, but they start talking about you and they get their name out there more. But yeah, when I won the regionals, I've won that twice. I've won it once before, twice in total. I didn't notice much of a difference in terms of business from that point from when I won that. The main thing I saw was couples that had already booked me absolutely loved it and they loved talking about it, which in a way maybe did get my name out there more. But doing the national was, it feels different. To be fair. It feels, there's been a few occasions where opportunities have opened themselves to me, which I dunno if that would been the case before. But yeah, it's been an incredible experience really so far. But yeah, I mean this year with Coda launching as well, it is been a great year for great year. My career I guess

Danny (00:42:32):

Great year for RU Films. What year? Year it's all coming up. I mean what way to start the year? January as well. Just January off

Roo (00:42:41):

The

Danny (00:42:41):

Year of ru.

Roo (00:42:41):

But I love wedding films and I love the particular kind of sets of restrictions that we have on us and how people go about creating beautiful films in really unusual circumstances on a one-off chance that is so unique. And I just seeing how people approach it,

Jase (00:42:56):

It's amazing when you know what a wedding day's like, seeing how people have come up with what they've come up with, you're like, damn that it's difficult.

Danny (00:43:06):

And the thing I actually love about it, one of the things I love most about it is there's like 101 way skin cut for instance. You have these folk that go out and it's always two shooters and they have seven cameras and they make an epic film. And then obviously like yourself, that's going out basically solo guy, three cams, but I guess mainly one with a couple of lens changes and also makes it equally epic film. There's just so many different ways on how to do it, which I think is so interesting. And our approach differs. I think it's just super, super cool. Yeah, there's there's no real book, there's no playbook or to go, this is how you do it because it's like these are the fundamentals. You go and figure out how you want to put your stamp on it

Roo (00:43:51):

And that's the fun bit. It is going out there and I love learning from people and that's kind of why I drowned myself in any behind the scenes videos I saw online previously. But once you're out there and then you're working your own way, that's the real beauty isn't it? Finding out what doesn't work for you as well as what does work for you. Yeah, I absolutely

Danny (00:44:14):

That. Oh yeah, that is it. It's trial. It's trial and error. True. Jason and I had watched on your YouTube channel some of your BTS stuff, which we found. That's obviously how we found out about the TX six sixties with the little pins and stuff like that. But that was awesome. Going back to just trying to see into the lens of somebody else at wedding. So what was your end goal with creating those types of videos on the YouTube channel?

Roo (00:44:48):

I wanted to make steps more into the educational field. I'm always thinking how long can I physically shoot weddings for? I feel great now and I absolutely love going to them, but

Speaker 4 (00:44:57):

How

Roo (00:44:58):

Much longer will couples want me there? So I wanted to take steps into the educational field and make moves there and I thought, and basically I love behind the scenes videos, but there's only Adam Wing who's kind of a UK one that was doing it, that weddings that I can actually relate to because these American ones where they've got a DJ doing the sound forum, they're putting up lights during the speeches and stuff in, you put lights, we can light speeches in the uk but predominantly are, they're not going to be stood against the wall, the top table reach against

Danny (00:45:32):

The wall. They're not always at the same podium. And a lot of the time, I dunno about you, but sometimes when I put lights up and if I get Guess your sun key, turn that light off.

Roo (00:45:41):

Yeah, I don't really, exactly. And it's just not

Danny (00:45:47):

The norm. I think that's the thing. It is not the standard here.

Roo (00:45:53):

Whereas Americans all seem to be incredible public speakers and are looking forward to doing a speech where we are given three people sit for a speech that just would rather do anything else than this speech right now. So then smash a light on them and you

Danny (00:46:05):

Into the groom and you're like, how are you feeling about this piece of shit in myself, Nate? Yeah,

Roo (00:46:10):

It's just a completely different environment, isn't it? And I wanted there to be more content out there. I basically wanted to create the content that I wanted when I was starting out.

Jase (00:46:18):

Definitely value in one-to-one mentorship. You can kind of get that right. Yeah. Seeing the BTS, that's what he's talking about. I want to ask these specific questions. There's definitely more in that. But I think for me, BTS is so interesting. I've wanted to do it for so long. I've started doing it with, by putting a 360 on the cap, getting that it's nowhere near as good as

Danny (00:46:40):

Is having another filmmaker

Jase (00:46:41):

As having another. So what's it like for the couple, having someone shoot you on the day

Danny (00:46:48):

And also how does that work? Do you give them a discount or something? Or do you do something to sweeten the so that they're not

Roo (00:46:56):

Yeah, so that was my biggest point of the reason that was stopped. I wanted to do it for a long time. I wanted that content out there, but I also then want you to be able to draw people into the educational side of it. But the one thing that was stopping me was how is it going to work for couple? Because it then makes it about me, right on the day. It's got to be about them. But what it was, I'd contact them all and say, I'm looking at doing this if you are up for it. Then I chose people that had chose my basic package and then it was kind of like, if you do that, if you allow me to have this second videographer there, I'll upgrade your package for you. So every person that took part in it had an upgrade on their package.

Speaker 4 (00:47:37):

Fair enough.

Roo (00:47:41):

But honestly, I even forgot the behind the scenes person was there most of the time on a day. There was one point Ali who was shooting it for me, he was like, dude, you got to come and do some more talking to the camera. You need to do some more speaking. I was like, I'll voice it over later, I'll voice.

(00:47:55):

But yeah, the way they were there is quite descript. They also, for one of them, I actually got, there were certain points where I got them to shoot second angles for me where it would be really helpful because you think if I've got a second shooter here, I should at least be making use of them. But at the same time I wanted to behind the scenes videos to be all a hundred percent solo shooter. So the stuff in the highlight films that you see were all me, but on their longer films, they had a second angle from my behind the scenes shooter. So joined the vows and the ceremony, there was a second angle and doing the first look with the dad and stuff. So I was making sure my couples got value from it as well. It wasn't just me hijacking their wedding. They were getting a better package, but they're also getting extra footage and stuff like that.

Jase (00:48:38):

And what's the brief that you gave your BTS shirt? What's their expectation on day?

Roo (00:48:46):

So its case, I want to be able to give a full overview of the wedding day, but I want 'em to capture how I'm communicating with people on the wedding day. So you can see how I work with people, how I work with the bride, how am I, but also the kind of subtle stuff that I'm doing that couples won't realise I'm doing, but manipulating the day to get great footage. That sounds a bad word. Manipulating. No, no,

Danny (00:49:08):

No, I know what you mean. Bringing the groom over to the window light or unbutton that. So we'll it up because I'm with you. I am watching your BTS thing. I think when you were in the room and you had the groom, you were like, this is probably one of the only things I really manufacture. But because the boys as we know get ready. I was at one a couple of months ago and I arrived, it was quarter to 10 and the guy was in, he's full kil, and I'm like, whatcha are you doing, man? The's not till two.

Jase (00:49:39):

It's definitely something that I personally want to do as well, not necessarily just to get in the education space. It's the content I wanted

Speaker 4 (00:49:46):

To

Jase (00:49:46):

See. I was obsessed with watching the Americans do it, and I'm like, there's not many people over here. We've obviously got Greg Berna is doing edgy from GB wedding films. He's doing quite a bit of it now as well. I love watching that. I think there was this fear of like, oh, does this come across? I'm full of myself or something, but it's genuinely, this is an experience that you only get better at by

(00:50:06):

Doing it. I've been doing this for years. I do know what I'm talking about. I do have value to give, and I think if more people do kind of put their perspective out there, then the market will elevate. I think it's just entertaining because this is the job that you can go home to your spouse and then talk about and they'll be like, oh yes, you stop talking. We love it. It's what we do. You're behind the scenes shooter, obviously. Are they going to be following you behind your back or have they got a longer lens to capture across the room? Obviously you wear a microphone, I think. Is that a road I take it that sinks into the camera?

Roo (00:50:41):

Yeah, it's a road wireless that's going straight into the camera feed. Yeah. I want them to shoot as wide as possible because I want their view to almost be like CCTV, so you see the whole environment I'm in. So then it gives a bit more impact when you see what's coming through my camera, what I'm seeing in that room in terms of what I'm exposing for, what my framing is. I want there to be a big contrast between the two. So for them it's almost documenting big, wide screen, everything that's happening around me and what I focus in and zoning in on. And I do quite like it when it's behind me getting the kind of third person view

Danny (00:51:17):

Shit. Someone. Yeah. Yeah, I like that.

Roo (00:51:18):

Yeah.

Danny (00:51:19):

People view it and

Roo (00:51:20):

I want them to kind of capture lots of the interactions with the people as well. Quite, I think how you deal with people on a day is very, very important and I want you to be able to, and that's a hard thing to teach, but if you've got video of it, that's so much easier to get across to people.

Danny (00:51:35):

Yeah. Russell put a quote, reshared it the other day, I think it was on threads and it was like people don't really maybe talk so much about the psychology of shooting weddings. It's such a fundamental part of it about how you interact with people, the way that you can read a room, keeping the energy going, and it is, it's quite hard to teach. A lot of it is, I mean, it can be learned, but I think a lot of it is just general personality traits and I think is another reason why generally as in creatives are generally extroverts. Not everybody, but the majority of people are quite extroverted,

Jase (00:52:07):

At least while you're at the wedding, until you get home and you just go,

Danny (00:52:11):

I've spent all my extroverted pennies today, I need to go and sleep and recharge. Yep. Your biggest balls up. What's your biggest balls up?

Roo (00:52:21):

Okay, right. Yeah. With this job, there's a few, isn't there? I've never had touch wood, never had anything absolutely catastrophic, but probably my biggest one. It's a couple of years ago now, and it was a wedding down in London and what started off, I always find mindset is quite important with videography, isn't it? You need to be, you're in the zone. And not long before I shot this wedding, I'd lent one of my cameras to a friend and when I got the camera back, I made sure that all the settings are right on it. You can imagine you've been changing things.

(00:52:59):

Everything was fine. I get to the wedding and it was one in London. Do you know when you're travelling with the bride or whatever to get, because travel is a nightmare. So it was basically, I was turning up to the venue with her. I had to then run in, get set up, but it wasn't even, they had a friend was running the celebration as well, so it wasn't like we're waiting for a registrar interview, it was going to be straight into it. So I had to get in and quickly get set up and I went to go get my B camera set up and my tripod plate was from the bottom, but the way my cameras are, I have my spider holster on there and then the tripod plate underneath, so when you glance, you can't tell it's not there. So I was like, and it put me into a real spin. I was like, how on earth am I going to make this camera stay, fix that? I was trying to think, can I gaff tape? And in the end I just took them out off and I just had it. I put my A cam flat on my monopod, so I didn't have any adjustment on it. It was just flat and then I put the adjustment on my B cam,

(00:53:53):

But just that got me panicking and I got my head and then the whole day was so chaotic that I always felt a couple of steps behind.

Speaker 4 (00:53:59):

But

Roo (00:54:00):

The cock up happened, the speeches were happening in this room, but there was no real plan. They were just going to happen at some point, and I like to know exactly when speeches are happening. I want my mor can set up.

Speaker 4 (00:54:12):

Of course.

Roo (00:54:12):

So I was asking the groom, I was like, so when are these going to happen? Then he goes, oh, they'll happen. They'll happen soon. And it got to the point where I was annoying myself with how much I was asking him. I kept asking him, are they going to sheet the GA sheet?

Danny (00:54:23):

Are we there yet?

Roo (00:54:24):

Are we there yet? I thought I am ruining, I'm probably going to ruin this guy's day if I keep asking him, so I'm just going to stay prepared and be ready for it. But then they obviously just popped up out of the blue. So I was then quickly setting my cameras up and I went for, we were in this big open room bride and groom was stood in one corner and the speech was happening in the other, and I got them to stand kind of where I wanted the people giving a speech. So I had a tight shot on the people giving the speech. It was two bridesmaids and then the reaction shot was shooting a different direction of the bride and groom.

(00:54:57):

I could only get the two cameras set up and I was starting recording, I was filming it, and then I needed to get closer, but I couldn't physically move. So I stopped the recording and then punched in I going into crop mode, but I have to stop recording to go into the crop mode go again. So I had a nice tighter shot, bridesmaids finished doing their speech. I looked at my camera and I was like, oh, that's a great speech. And it wasn't recording. And basically when I'd punched in, I'd thought I'd pressed record, but I just hadn't. And my B cam was literally just a solo shot at the bride and groom. So there was nothing, there was no footage of the bridesmaids giving a reading at all, giving a speech, and it was incredible speech.

Speaker 4 (00:55:40):

It

Roo (00:55:40):

Was one of those ones when they're doing it, you're like, oh, this is so much great content. And I was freaking out, but it was such a stupid mistake to make as well. And then my head was, had been spinning that day and my way around it was, luckily the wedding breakfast happened in a different room downstairs. When everyone moved down there, I went down to the bride, the bridesmaids, and when they first started doing a speech, the room was, because it happened out of the blue loads of people were still talking. And I said to them, I was like, when you did your speech, the audio was quite bad, people were talking, would you mind coming back up to that room and I can record it again so I can get it nice and clean for the bride and groom? They're like, yeah, yeah, absolutely. So I took them back up to this room, put them in the exact spot where they were, filmed it again, and they were incredible. When the bridesmaid was even kind of at certain points was like as if she was nodding into the crowd and stuff and reacting to laugh, she put on an Oscar winning performance for me and it was stunning. And then I just edited that.

(00:56:41):

They'd never known. It was kind of seamless, but my word that was,

Danny (00:56:45):

These things are so easy to happen and I think you're right with that. Something goes wrong and it can send your head in a bit of a spin. But yeah, nice, safe,

Roo (00:56:52):

Nice, safe.

Danny (00:56:53):

That's very safe.

Roo (00:56:54):

Yeah, I was so pleased myself then. But the thing is that they bought the raw footage after, oh God. So they found out then, but by then that it's about problem solving for 'em. Isn't mistakes happen, but I went out my way to correct it for 'em, and they got that. Yeah, so they got this raw footage and kind of just them talking in this empty room. Amazing, amazing. But yeah.

Jase (00:57:19):

Oh man. I guess there'd just be one little more question in terms of if you were to give anyone advice, it's just starting out, there's a load of people coming into this industry, what would your advice to them be?

Roo (00:57:32):

So I keep banging on about this, but community is so key in terms of finding people that are doing this job and creating friendships so you can grow together. If you're coming in fresh, you've never shot anything before that thing. I also feel like you can't just go in and demand things from people, you have to have something on offer, but just getting out saying, if you get in contact with it, say if I was going to move to Glasgow now and I hadn't shot Wendy's before and I've got no friends up there, I would be looking for the videographers in that area and I'd message you and I'd be like, this is what I'm looking to do. Can I buy you a drink and have a chat with you just because it's something I'm looking for? And that'd be my way in. And to try and make connections with people to just getting in that way, just face-to-face with people, but not just trying to take stuff from people. I'd be like, I'll come along to you. I, I wouldn't even have to bring a camera. I would literally carry your bags. I would bring your water whenever you need it, anything I can offer them just to give me that experience. But yeah, building a community around you and making human connections in real life is massive and that'd be my approach now to try and yeah, if I had to do it all again.

Danny (00:58:51):

Well Ru thank you so much for your time on the podcast today. I've loved every minute. It's been awesome. Awesome. It's been so, so good.

Roo (00:58:58):

Thank you so much guys. I've loved it. I've absolutely loved it. Thank you. It's great. Just to chat

Jase (00:59:03):

Shop Rob, how can people find more information about you and Coda?

Roo (00:59:09):

So yeah, so Ru Films is ru films.com and I think it's Ru Films for Instagram and Coda is coda conference.com. We're sold out this year, so no one else can come now, I'm afraid you could do

Danny (00:59:25):

Late, you missed the boat.

Roo (00:59:26):

That's it. Yeah,

Danny (00:59:27):

Next year we're coming back harder, better, fast, stronger we

Roo (00:59:31):

To Exactly. We hope to do more and yeah, we're up to build a phenomenal community and raise the level of UK winning filmmaking basically. So yeah, even if you can't come to the conference, join the main of this so we can inform you all of things that we'll be doing to get in-person meetups and build a fantastic community.

Jase (00:59:52):

Amazing.

Danny (00:59:53):

Love that. Great. Thanks so much Ru, and we will see you on the next one.

Roo (00:59:59):

My pleasure. Thanks.

Danny (01:00:00):

I've been Danny and have thanks for listening. That's been Ru.