We were lucky to catch up with Jason De Leon recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Jason, thanks for joining us today. Before we talk about all of your success, let’s start with a story of failure. Can you open up about a time when you’ve failed?

I would say one of the biggest failures I have endured is deciding to things by myself. From 2021 to 2022, I struggled with asking help. I developed this mindset that I will compete with everyone, that I am better; developing some sort of ‘evil arc’. I soon realized two things: 1. I was progressing at a certain rate, but not as much as my peers due to a lack of critique and support from others. And 2. I was tremendously lonely. This creative industry, and even other mediums along the creative side, calls for collaboration. Because if not, we are just stuck & isolated in our own heads, not knowing what is right or wrong. It wasn’t until I actually started surrounding myself with people who pushed me to grow, and to continue learning and improving my work, was when I began to start seeing actual progress. But even more so, made this whole journey less daunting because I knew I had like-minded people right by my side.

Jason, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I started this career/journey back in 2020, when COVID just hit. Before starting my first year at PSU to pursue Film, I was originally planning to pursue Engineering. But after a lot of thought and realization that I didn’t want to do calculus for the rest of my life, I would end up making the jump.

It wasn’t until 2022 when I worked on a project for the PSU Cross Country team in the fall, my first hype video (I technically made one earlier that year but it was really bad lol). One of the scenes we shot, we went out to a beautiful part of Portland, Sauvie Island. It was sunset, and we were going to shoot just a simple running scene with the athletes. I remember thinking and laughing to myself, the fact that I am out here, shooting at this beautiful time, convincing a group of athletes to help me with this idea that they have never seen before, with no doubt at all… made me realize I wanted to do this career forever.

Now, it’s 2024, and I am trying to work on bigger and better things. I mainly focus on Commercial, Sports and Weddings, working with a lot of people orientated clients and/or products. I provide services that help market other people in a way that is unique and more intimate/personal. My main goal in the end of the day, is to create something that feels like a movie. I love to romanticize everything, so the goal would be to have that portrayed through my work, making something that may be deemed as small, a lot bigger than originally perceived as.

Any advice for managing a team?

My best advice that I have learned when it comes to maintaining high morale is coming prepared myself, and to communicate that clearly. In doing so results in full trust on both sides. Whoever is leading needs to be the most prepared. If that means do9ing immense amount of pre production, meetings before the shoot, etc etc; whatever it takes to be prepared. I’ve learned that doing so invites a more controlled. and efficient atmosphere, thus allowing everyone else on crew to perform their specific role at the highest ability.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

The most crucial moment for me, when I started creating my audience on social media occurred back in 2022. I was at NCAA Indoor Nationals for PSU, we had one athlete who had made it. I remember advice from my friend back at home was to go and shoot other things beyond just our one athlete, go practice. You have some of the greatest athletes here around the world. Use that moment.

So, I ended up making a video called “The Sound of Indoors” or whatever it is specifically called. This wasn’t a video I have ever seen before, especially with the music choice. Majority of the time, videos were supped to be more hype and intense for track & field, but I wanted something slower. I wouldn’t say this was an original idea, but it was for sure something that catered to my liking than what the average viewer would be expecting. The release of this video that I didn’t think would blow up, would eventually blow up to my standards at the time, helping me create a more specific audience and even help finding me my first few online friends (love you Sam Su).

Contact Info:

• Website: https://dlvisualz.myportfolio.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dlvisualz/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dlv03/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfcmC2mbTLboAogc4Xx9Obg