We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jordan Gibson. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jordan below.

Jordan, appreciate you joining us today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

I grew up with my family being heavily involved in creative arts. My dad has worked in video production my entire life and also has a passion (and talent) for music production, special effects makeup, painting & sculpting, writing, set design, and the list goes on. I remember as a kid visiting him at work when he was a Switchboard Director for a music programming show in the DMV area and being blown away by the sets and coordination and musical talent that came through. Another memory was going along with him to meet a horror movie director whom my dad was drawing storyboards for. I had never been introduced to that side of production and seeing the medium of sketching communicate something to the cast and crew about the vision of something yet to be made really stuck with me. My dad also has written, directed, and produced his own feature films which I was fortunate enough to see make happen. Additionally, my mom was a painter in college and majored in English so I grew up appreciating what made a good story and was introduced to old movies and books that were super foundational for me. My grandfather on my mom’s side was an Emmy-award winning host of a television show geared towards the deaf community and was also a playwright.

So it seems pretty natural that I would fall into some sort of creative field but I wasn’t sure what that might be. I was all over the place. Leading up to my work in video, I had a lot of different interests in a lot of different industries that I thought were going to be my calling. I’ve always had an interest in graphic design and photography and enjoyed understanding how music videos and movies were made from seeing my dad do so many but I think I maybe shied away from the possibility of doing anything video-related as a way to kind of forge my own path. In college I studied Psychology and Philosophy thinking I would set myself on a track for grad school (ha!). In my junior year I got a part time editing job with my dad who was working in the communications department at the school I was going to. I learned a bit more about shooting, directing & editing from him and the department there and had the realization that this was something I really enjoyed independent of anyone influencing me. In my senior year I took as many film classes as I could to learn theory and application to integrate my love of arts & creation with my love of psychology. It was kind of that experimenting with different hobbies and studies that led me to video and I’m so glad to have discovered my passion. If I could change one thing in retrospect it would be to open myself up to more interests and avenues at an earlier age and pay more attention to the things I found myself being inspired by—I think pulling a variety of inspiration in as many disciplines as possible is what makes a strong creative and the density of that inspiration makes a successful storyteller.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I currently own Odyssey Narratives, a Video Production company in Raleigh/Durham, and serve as Creative Director and Cinematographer. My business model is a bit niche as I often simultaneously wear multiple (if not all) hats on the productions I do: writer, producer, director, cinematographer/camera operator, editor, colorist, and distribution advisor. My bread and butter is clients looking for crews of 2 or 3 people who can work on tight schedules and bring heavy creative to those environments. This primarily lends itself to music video and brand-centric content. And because I have a background in effectively completing most projects solo, larger production companies in the area will also contact me to come in as a multi-discipline role to not only fill technical roles on their team but to assist with creative oversight of production and post. On the more traditional freelance side of things, I also work as a director, cinematographer, camera operator, director, editor, and colorist for teams looking to fill singular positions. I love the variety of this line of work in which I can independently produce an eccentric music video one day and then switch gears to collaborate with a team of a dozen people who are creating a piece to serve an objective in the community.

Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?

Note taking! And in a way that complements your creative structure and workflow. That may seem obvious but I relied way too much on my ability to remember ideas. I always told myself “if it’s a good idea, I’ll remember it again”. Huge mistake man. if I had an incomplete funny idea for a short or a camera movement for a scene that I couldn’t contextualize just yet, I wouldn’t write it down. I had a practical education in writing that was geared around narrative structure and arc and if you didn’t have an outline you didn’t have anything. So I would discourage myself from writing random ideas down that didn’t have any motivation or story attached to them. Looking back on things now I wish I wrote down everything the way I do now: write down that random lighting scheme that I don’t have the budget for or that character for the dramatic short I will never make that I thought of while taking a walk. Then when I’m creatively blocked I read these random segments and get a flood of inspiration.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

Talk to every single person relevant to your industry and connect with them empathically and artistically. This has not only made me a better creative and human being, but people in my industry want to work with people they enjoy being around and your business will thank you. Then when I land a job with someone (even if I’ve worked with them a dozen times) I put every ounce of what I can into the shoot. I try not to let any job feel monotonous or cookie cutter no matter what the project is or who the client is. Even if I’m shooting 20 educational videos in one sitting with a single camera on a tripod because the product needs to be information-focused, I will push myself to play with a new lighting technique that I’ve not done before to feel like I’m still growing and getting better (while honoring the aesthetic requests of the client, of course). Teams and clients pick up on this and really appreciate the dedication. So in sum, being genuine, friendly, and passionate has been my strategy. This has gotten me more referrals and connections than marketing, drip campaigns, etc.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.odysseynarratives.com
• Instagram: @jordhavemercy | @odysseynarratives
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordan-c-gibson/