Introducing Tuan Pham, videographer extraordinaire
Introducing our new videographer! Okay, okay, he’s not really that new, but we kept him a little under wraps because we wanted to reveal our new video services with a big bang!
I’d say welcome to the team, but we’ve been hanging out with Tuan for a while now. Who’s the man behind our T&S camera? Well, I’m glad you asked. Here’s a little Q&A to let you get to know him!
Tim: What made you want to get into doing videos?
Tuan: I started college as a photography major, but switched to business administration and marketing because it seemed like somewhat of a more stable career path (sorry, photographers!). But I continued to learn photography and film on my own outside of school because it’s always interested me.
A friend of mine, Qazi, introduced me to the world of film-making and I’ve just really enjoyed it. I enjoy the process, and the storytelling of film as a whole. I got a lot of my hands-on experience when I joined forces with Qazi at Imageline Studios, and we still get to work on some projects together, which is great.
Tim: What are some of your favorite video projects you’ve worked on?
Tuan: One of my favorite weddings that I’ve filmed was in Rye, Colorado. It was an incredible experience—it was a bit of a challenge to an extent, since the wedding was all outdoors, but it was just amazing visually. The wedding was at the foot of a mountain, and it’s one of my favorite on-location shoots that I’ve ever done.
You can find the video of Jordan and Lacey’s wedding here.
Another one of my favorites is a music video for Jabee. I’ve worked with him a few times with the Imageline team, and for this video, we shot in a laundromat. We took about half of a day to shoot this video, and it was just a ton of fun. Jabee was even able to get a DeLorean out for the video!
You can see the music video, “Penniless,” here.
Tim: Talk a bit about your philosophy when it comes to making videos.
Tuan: So what I try to think about when I create a video is, does it tell a story? The best thing is when you can get an idea of what the story’s about even without dialogue. There has to be good pacing—so things aren’t rushed. They need to happen at just the right time.
As far as cinematography itself? That’s kind of subjective. There’s all kinds of different ways to approach it, and sometimes it’s about what’s appropriate for the setting, but a lot of times it’s about what the videographer or the client prefers.
Tim: Do you ever want to be in front of the camera on a video?
Tuan: It depends! I could maybe share an opinion I have.
I mean, I’ve been in front of the camera before. It’s not the most pleasant experience for me, but it is always a learning experience. I’m happier behind the camera, though.
Tim: Weirdest thing you’ve done so far to capture the right shot?
Tuan: Well, filming in a working laundromat (for the Jabee music video) was one of them, for sure. I’ve had to do some creative things to get around lighting or sound challenges too, sometimes. Had to silence a loud vent with a pillow for one shoot…
Another time, I was filming at a wedding, and the bride and groom were in the backseat of a golf cart. To get the right shot of them, I had to get myself situated in the passenger seat, and lean really far out so I was hanging out the side of the golf cart—it wasn’t super dangerous, I guess, but I bet it was really funny looking. Pretty glad there isn’t any photo evidence of that, now that I think about it.