What We Know Now: Ben Eddings

At some point in our careers, we’ve all said “I wish I’d known this years ago.” It’s not that we should have been more prepared at the start but that we’ve learned so much since then. So we asked a few Hansonites to reflect back to the start of their careers and reveal some of the early surprises and lessons learned. We’ll be featuring their responses here as an occasional series – and to kick it off, we talked with Ben Eddings, video production specialist.

Mindy: What surprised you most about your career when you first started?

Ben: One thing that I quickly learned about video is that it is the behind the scenes people that matter the most.

Being “green” to the video production and post-production world a few years ago, it was amazing to see the level of effort, time, and thinking of every single person on set during production, and in the editing room during post-production. No matter what each individual role consisted of, everyone was in sync and working hard.

For one 10-second shot, there may be 10 to 15 people with unique roles – gathering props and wardrobes and makeup, packing all the gear and moving 50+ pounds of equipment around during a 10-12 hour shoot day, making sure there are snacks and cold beverages. Without these individuals, it would be chaos on the video shoot and later in the edit room. They may not get listed in the credits, but they make everyone’s lives easier.

And speaking of snacks…that’s another thing I learned right away. If Mr. Rerucha (Video Production Manager) did not have a snack by 10:30 and lunch by noon…

Mindy: Nice one! (And knowing Rerucha, I see a meme war coming….) What else would you say you know now that you wish you’d known at the beginning?