Our eSports correspondent eDyaab Ryklief from Cape Town Youth Gaming caught up with Umar Bradlow a.k.a Mr.Production, who is an eSports content creator who specialises in cinematography.
Born and raised in Cape Town, Bradlow was a competitive b-boy who competed locally and abroad before finding his true calling in video content creation.
Mr.Production boasts a degree in history and politics, but it is his love for storytelling that set him on a new path and led him to working with big brands including Nike, Red Bull and various clients in the gaming industry such as Goliath Gaming.
"I used to shoot all our trailers for our b-boy crew and that's how I started into the content creation world," said Bradlow.
"I didn't study this, I just went on YouTube and just did a ton of tutorials until someone told me I should be doing this for a living," he said.
Bradlow is the co-founder of Ultimate Gaming Championships (@UGCZA) which is an eSports events company that live streams gaming but considers himself more of a cinematographer over everything else.
He says that being a cinematographer, you are able to shoot what you want to show which allows the creator to me more creative by perfecting aspects such as lighting, getting the right focus and composition to be able to tell the story.
With over 10 years of content creation experience, he shares five great tips for beginner gaming videographers and editors before they head out to their next event:
1) Be patient and your time will come
You need to be willing to work more than you worth at the beginning, there is a lot of stress, problem-solving, and patients.
2) Collaboration
Don't be to yourself, just try and collaborate because you can grow quicker, and be open with other creators.
3) Create a proper support structure
Have people in your life that will support what you are doing... not a lot of parents are going to understand what you are trying to do, so find a good support structure and friends that see your vision.
4) Learn from people in the industry
Go learn from people that know what they're doing and learn from them, the worst thing they can say is no... I'm always up for it, if people are keen to learn and I have a production coming up and if you want to learn that's cool, but know that you probably going to carry things and fetch coffee, but you be in an environment where you can learn.
5) Never stop learning
Watch countless tutorials online and practice in your editing software. A lot of the tutorials also give you the assets to download for free so it allows you to try it out yourself.
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