Matt’s To-Do List:

• Follow your dreams.
• Inspire others to greatness.
• Combat the high level of negativity found in a lot of video entertainment.
• Develop superior communication skills
  

Matt Wassum decided that online video was the best way to accomplish the  goals he aspired to.  So Matt created DC Inspirations, an online video documentary project consisting of short, online video profiles of people with inspirational stories.  Not famous people or rich people necessarily, rather people whose life experiences embody the positive power of the human spirit.

Matt desires to capture that positive power on video and release it online to hopefully flourish as free viral videos that bring hope, strength and inspirational human bonding to cyberspace.

I doubt if there is a person alive who would disparage Matt and his dreams.  But I can hear the more cynical among us say, “Gee dude, cool idea but you have no money, you’ve never made a video in your life, so what ARE you thinking!?  Keep you day job at the accounting firm!”

Matt, I am pleased to say, maintained both his day job and his “can-do” outlook.  He got some encouragement from his friend, Tony Cord, and decided to go for it.  He bought a Flip camera for just over $200 at a local Best Buy store.  He got a cheap wireless at Radio Shack for about $50.   He found some used professional lights with umbrellas  on Ebay.  Matt did all the production work and Tony agreed to work as on-camera host.

Matt and all his low-cost video equipment.

He gathered up a few other cheap odds and ends.  (A complete list of equipment he uses is below.)  Matt said one of his challenges was to learn exactly what doo-dads he really needed and then remember to bring them all with him.  Exactly.  All videographers face that.  Solution is to get a doo-dad bag and keep it stocked with whatever plugs, adapters, extension cords, spare bulbs and other essentials you are going to need.

Matt found Video Production Tips online and began emailing me.    I was so dang impressed that not only did I encourage him and give him some tips for documentary making and shooting a great looking talking head, I also asked if I could do a blog post on his efforts.   I think Matt’s desire to reach out to the world in such a positive way with online video is magnificent.  It epitomizes the reasons why I write on this blog all the time!  I am thrilled to be able to share his story with all of you.  Matt’s biggest goal is to inspire people.  Well, he inspired me.  I know he will inspire you too!  Here is one of his first videos.  Below the video Matt explain in his own words what his journey has been like thus far.

Here, in Matt’s own words, he shares his journey.

Matt, how is all this being funded?

“I am paying for all of the costs of equipment and my friend and former boss Tony Cord and I are volunteering our time to do the project.  We are not receiving any money from anyone else.  I am not too worried about making money because I have several goals the project serves:

This project is helping me learn a powerful way of communicating through video that I think will help me in many aspects of my life (i.e. in my career, recording family memories, etc.)

I want to meet and become friends with people that took risks and are living their dreams.  I would like to be associated with these types of people and learn from them.

I want to play a part in inspiring at least a few people to rise above the mundane nature of daily life and work toward reaching their dreams.

Making money from the project would be a bonus because if that happened then it would only make reaching my other goals easier.  I would have more time to do it because I wouldn’t be as dependent on my day job.  So, I would welcome the opportunity to make money from the project one day, but that is not my focus now.

Here is the exact equipment I use:

1.  Kodak Zi8 camera for a little over $200; at Best Buy in Arlington, VA.  It can do HD quality.

2.  Light kit from ephotodiscounters off of ebay (about $60 and got 3 nice light bulbs (5500K, AC 110V-45W), 2 umbrellas, 2 light stands that extend to like 6 feet and one that is small, like 2 feet.

3.  Heavy duty 6 ft. extendable tripod for Kodak Zi8.  $37 bucks.  Also found on eBay

4.  Wireless mic set from Radio Shack for like $50

5.  Power strip to plug everything in.  (Essential!)

So, in all, everything cost me about $400 and I am satisfied with what I can do because I am mainly just doing video documentaries.  It would be kind of nice to be able to do a smooth zoom in with my camera but my camera does a choppy zooming in job so I just don’t zoom in.  What I would really like to have is a nice bag to carry it all around but I haven’t found one yet.”

Matt hopes to eventually have a total of one-hundred video profiles inside DC Inspirations.  He knows it could take years of effort to get there.  I know he will succeed.  What a treasured gift to humanity it will be!  Thanks Matt.

Thanks for reading VPT

Lorraine Grula