"I aspire to create commercials that make an impact and make viewers smile.” – Vy Nguyen
My next interview for my revived #inspirations4aspirations series is videographer, filmmaker and producer @Vynguyenfilms
Vy was born and raised in Panama City, FL. He has been making a living in video production for about 10 years and making videos unprofessionally for 18 years. He co-founded the Florida based full service video production company, @orangevideo.co where he works as a producer
I first met Vy about 5 years ago through events hosted by AIGA Tallahassee (now known as @CreativeCollectiveTLH ). I had the pleasure of first interviewing him back in 2020 as part of the ADDY-award winning virtual event Design Week Tally.
In addition to being very knowledgeable about filmmaking, Vy is one of the nicest people you will ever meet.
My camera with the eye in the lens illustration pays homage to the poster for "Man with a Movie Camera" directed by Dziga Vertov, a 1929 film documenting real life through innovative shots. The general typography is inspired by vintage movie posters.
I chose to recontextualize the idea of old "v for victory" war posters into Vy's first name, incorporating video and light imagery. While Vy and the Orange Video team film digitally, I could not help but include film strips in the typography.
1) Why do you create?
To pay the bills, but to also work alongside so many talented filmmakers that are so good at what they do.
We’re so lucky to be doing what we love and to get paid to do it.
2) When life gets you down, what inspires you to get back up?
I have such a great support network from my team, who I see on a daily basis, but also a great wife, Samantha, who supports me whenever I’m down or need a sounding board to bounce ideas or to vent my frustrations.
Her constant and consistent support is the reason why I gained the confidence to take the leap to freelancing and eventually starting my own production company.
3) How do you make a commercial or branded content feel authentic and emotionally engaging?
I don’t think there’s a magic formula or step by step process to ensure authenticity or emotionally engaging commercials, but I really think that to make something that gets close, you have to first understand your client’s story and then secondly understand who you are speaking to in the film.
It’s easy to miss the target on either of these and create something that just doesn’t spark interest or emotion in the viewers’ mind. Don’t be afraid to ask others’ opinions as you create concepts or ideas, especially the opinions of the specific demographic you are trying to speak to.
3.5) What’s your process for understanding the essence of a company or organization and translating that into film?
I like to start with a conversation from the leaders or representatives of the company that are the most passionate about what they do. This initial conversation helps me understand the company’s goals, who their main competitors are, how they want to be seen, and how they don’t want to be seen.
This conversation based research paired with online factual research helps me paint a picture of their organization and helps me come up with my educated understanding of their company. It’s also my job to communicate how I see their company early on to make sure I’m on the same page with them and their communication goals.
4) As a videographer and producer, how do you stay creatively motivated when working on multiple projects for different clients?
This can be difficult sometimes, and I won’t lie — I can easily lose momentum from a project when another bright or shiny project comes up.
To avoid this, I try to be very systematic when it comes to motivation because my job as producer can’t rely on me waiting for creative motivation, it requires a relentless approach to project management, organization, and communication to both the creative team, and the clients.
My favorite tool that helps me with all of this is, Notion, a database project management tool to help me stay motivated to follow through on projects and keep track of all of the daily tasks that’s required of us.
4.5) How has your approach to creative problem-solving changed going from being a freelancer to co-leading a production company?
One of the biggest changes I’ve seen is being able to trust other people to help me with difficult problems and be in a place now where there’s a budget to seek out highly specialized creatives who can help me with creative problems where I’m not the expert in.
Other than that, I think that both my business partner, Ethan, and I, still approach projects with the same scrappiness and tenacity as we did when we were both freelancing. We are always trying to help our clients stretch their budgets by pushing the boundaries of creativity and finding ways to do things more efficiently while paying ourselves, our crew, and talent what they deserve.
It’s always going to be a fine balance between art vs commercial.
Many thanks to my inspiration and aspiration, Vy Nyguyen. I’m John Lhotka, wishing you a nice day, and all that jazz.