Born in East Flatbush, educated at Brooklyn College, and based in Williamsburg, Trevor Bayack has lived and worked in Brooklyn his entire life. Currently, Trevz is living his dream – he works full-time as a videographer. Trevz has been doing this in some capacity for about ten years, and his experience has imbued him with a lot of wisdom and industry savvy. Though making it in the highly competitive world of new media is difficult, Trevor Bayack makes it a little bit easier with his video series and companion handbook, The Videographers Guide.
The Videographers Guide is a multimedia production. The guide started out as a 19-part series on Trevor’s blog, The New Pop, called “The Videographer’s Guide to Not Falling on Your New Media Face.” The idea stuck with Trevor, and he decided to make a video series. Episode 1 is a beautiful short film focusing on music videos. He interviews some of the industry’s most respected directors–Kinga Burza, BB Gun, and Warren Fu–who have directed the likes of Katy Perry, Swedish House Mafia, and Daft Punk. Their interviews are inspiring, and their advice is invaluable to young filmmakers.
I asked Trevor if his aim was to make an inspirational short film. “For Episode 1, my goal specifically was to tell the story of these directors that don’t get to shine.” The video started out trying to tell the story of a breed of directors that had sort of fallen from grace, but as the episode rolled on, these interviews changed tone. “The music video directors who used to really be in the forefront in the 90’s […] were the big-shots, and now they’re back to the independent grind, scramblin’ and hustlin’.” Trevor’s small crew of independent filmmakers realized, “Wow, these guys are saying some really profound stuff.” Trevz had the flexibility to recognize the power of the footage he had. The man behind the guide is incredibly humble about his prowess as a filmmaker. His attitude was “It’s really my ball to drop. If I can’t convey how inspiring these [directors] are, then it’s my mistake.”
The brilliance of Episode 1 is how masterfully Trevor weaves the stories and the wisdom of the established directors over behind-the-scenes footage of a young director like Nasa Hadizadeh. When the viewer hears Kinga Burza say that it is “really hard” for young directors, nothing emphasizes the point quite like Nasa brushing her hair back during a shoot for the Queens based July Edition’s forthcoming video for their song “Lopez.” Trevor says he got lucky with how well the sound bite lined up with that shot, but I know that it had nothing to do with luck. Trevor has an eye that can only come from spending lifetimes in an editing room. He has learned lessons that come from working in the business for so long. Luckily, he is willing to share much of what he has learned.
According to Trevor, “the handbook is […] about the philosophy more than the technical aspects” of filmmaking. He wants to “lift the veil” of new media, specifically video. The 47-page manual is full of the sort of insight that comes from conversations between old colleagues. He broke the guide down into five different sections based on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and superimposed chapter titles that outline the various needs of a budding videographer. So instead of Maslow’s basic physiological needs like food, water, and sex, the videographer’s physiological needs are things like equipment, workspace, and a portfolio. For the safety section, Trevor outlines how to get paid and the new media ad model. The guide examines various aspects of a videographer’s needs all the way up through self-actualization.
You’ll have to buy the book (a steal at $7.99, you can find it any of the locations listed below) in order to reach videographer nirvana. But if you’re wondering where Trevz gets off telling you what you need, Episode 1 should serve as credentials enough.
Spoonbill & Sugartown Booksellers
218 Bedford Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11211
Bluestockings Bookstores
172 Allen Street between Stanton and Rivington
New York, NY 10002
Desert Island
540 Metropolitan Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11211
The Videographers Guide Ep. 1 – The Music Video from Hypebeast on Vimeo.
