Jan 15, 2020
Brandon Battershell was born in 1982 in Jackson, TN.
Growing up, he traveled a great deal (his mother owned and operated a travel agency). Traveling is Brandon’s biggest joy – and his single most expensive hobby – because he values the experience and character building that comes along with exploring new cultures.
While working five years at Heavenly Ski Resort in Lake Tahoe, he was introduced to a GoPro and the world of filmmaking. And after moving back to Tennessee to help with the family travel agency, he found that his love of travel could be enhanced with the knowledge and skill of making video content.
It all went hand-in-hand.
Brandon also hosts and produces a local radio show with his family called The Bucket List Radio Show on Thomas Media’s Star 107.7 in Jackson, TN.
They have different vendors from skydiving, hot air balloon, swimming with manatees, and all kinds of trips from Carnival Cruise Lines, Delta Vacations, Amtrak and many other travel vendors who give away their products or services to the show’s listeners.
When possible, Brandon creates video content for the giveaways on their social media channels.
At a bridal show promoting honeymoons, Brandon met the good folks from Lynn Productions, a production company specializing in wedding films. He was practically hired on the spot.
Since then Brandon’s been working as a second shooter on the weekends for the past three years for Lynn Productions. This has helped him zero in on technical aspects of filmmaking and its many rules, which he often breaks.
“It has been a great experience working with such a passionate team,” Brandon writes, “where we push each other to grow as artists. Since then I have met and collaborated with so many other creatives to find where my direction is taking me.”
Subscribe to Brandon’s YouTube channel and stream his custom playlist.
Here’s our one-on-one with Brandon:
Soundstripe: What do you enjoy the most about filmmaking?
Brandon Battershell: What I like most about filmmaking is the ability to document a moment in time.
Unlike photography where one has to capture just a sliver of a moment with only one frame, which is very difficult to accomplish, filming lets you explore where visuals and audio converge.
Music can be powerful by itself but when it is artistically intertwined with motion in video, the harmony can resonate much stronger than each one by itself. And I am always thinking about how my films will last longer than me.
SS: How do you determine the music for the type of content you create?
BB: I try to get to know the music available to me by listening to Soundstripe’s catalog and creating playlists during my free time. And I actually like listening to the tracks on Soundstripe more than I do the radio.
More times than not, I find music that I like and want to use in a video and keep it in the back of my mind and try to make it work for upcoming projects. I have even made a video just because I wanted to use a specific track.
I don’t always get that luxury and have to search for music after filming a project, which can take up a lot of valuable time. However, at the end of my search I always ask myself: Does this music choice help tell the story that I am trying to convey?
SS: Where do you get your inspiration from when creating your films?
BB: The music that I choose gives me inspiration for the direction I want to follow when editing. Which is why choosing the right music is essential to my work.
It is nice when I already have the music picked out before shooting but most times I do not. And when deciding what to film on location I try to shoot the same thing in different ways so I have more freedom in post when I have the music picked out. And then I try to recreate, in my own style, what I have seen other filmmakers do that I have liked in the past.
But my favorite works are when I try to create something I have never seen done before and I try to go as far away from normal as possible.
SS: Any recommendations or tips you have for aspiring filmmakers?
BB: Collaborating with other creatives is my number one recommendation.
There is no final destination in the growth of your craft and there is no right or wrong when it comes to creativity. Everyone’s style is as unique as a fingerprint. Find out what makes your films different from others and be aware of what that is and work on that.
Working alongside others sometimes helps you see what that is a bit more clearly. However, I have noticed that my style is just a mix bag of what I liked from other filmmakers and incorporated it into my own vision.