Our super shooter Ollie was 13 years old when he asked for a camera for his birthday and that was the start of his love of the lens! Ollie took his camera everywhere and started capturing the action around him. Fast forward and Ollie is now a university student and works part-time for The OTC, filming and editing products, insta reels, product reviews and action shots of our Team. When he isn’t using his camera, surfing is Ollie’s thing with K-Bay his preferred spot. In his spare time you’ll find Ollie camera in hand taking shots of super cars. Ollie’s talented eye for the creative angle and capturing that perfect image is sensational, his ability to edit a reel in a slick and engaging way is phenomenal, a real up and coming star behind the lens! Welcome to the team!
By Emma Nicholson.
I started off asking Ollie when did he start working at The OTC, he said: "I began working for The OTC around May time 2022, before this I had been working as a lifeguard, full time student and beside this I was doing freelance work for a variety of companies just so I could start to grow my portfolio. My lifeguard season came to an end and felt it was time to part ways as I would not be returning. I felt I was gaining some good traction with my freelance and had customers returning which helped tide me over until Scotty asked If I was looking for a job. To my surprise The OTC was on the look for a videographer. This opportunity came at the perfect time as I really wanted to direct all my work effort based around the things I love."
"My favourite day must have been when we had Armie Armstrong the founder of Armstrong Foils down for the day."
Ollie said: "My job role at The OTC is Film/Photo content creator, this includes filming all sorts from Instagram reels, full feature product videos, promo videos and many more. I decided to come to the OTC as I have good mates who work here, I also did a few sessions when I was younger, even just came to my friends trailer in the summer to go fishing and mess about. It’s always looked like a fun, action packed place to work. I had just finished with my part time job and was looking to find somewhere that would take me on as a videographer as up popped the OTC."
Ollie said: "Working at The OTC is nothing like I’ve ever done before, my past jobs have been the same old every day, hot sweaty and intense labour. Here at The OTC, I am treated as an important part of the team and have my own and tasks to get done throughout the week. The team is great to work with, very happy and appreciative of the opportunity."
Ollie said: "In my spare time, when the swells up I’ll be out in the surf. My favourite local spot must be Kimmeridge Bay, otherwise I’ll be down Cornwall or Wales chasing the swell. I am planning to get into winging as we’re kind of in the hot spot for windsurfing and winging so why not give it a go when the wind is on, and the swell isn’t. If I’m not surfing, I will most probably be in the garage with my mates tampering around or filming some supercars."
Ollie said: "I usually start my day by going to Lidl’s to grab my pastries, then arrive to work. During the morning I will either carry on with editing work from the previous day or plan something with scotty to film. Plan in the morning, film after lunch then editing the next morning Is the usual. During the summer and towards the end of the summer this would usually be the same however most recently as there hasn’t been all that much wind and being very cold I have been using the morning time to create mini reels for Facebook and Instagram such as winter deals, bundle deals etc."
"I just enjoy the whole process of being able to capture the moment."
Ollie said: "My favourite day must have been when we had Armie Armstrong the founder of Armstrong Foils down for the day, the whole team went out for a wing session out around Portland, I was in the boat with Tris and captured some awesome footage, some footage from that day is by far my favourite, the team was doing airs left right and centre as well as some sick carves and manoeuvres. I did get hit by a few waves and got some kit soaking which gave me a bit of a scare but all in all was a blast of a day and was great to see everyone shredding."
Ollie said: "I thoroughly enjoy the whole process of creating film, the production from start to finish. Filming is a great way to portray how I view things so being able to film all these edits and being able to say I took that video is great. I especially enjoy the editing process because this is where I get to be super creative. Seeing a production go from one clip to a whole timeline of effects, colour correction and transitions is awesome. After a video is complete, I feel a great deal of accomplishment. Overall, I just enjoy the whole process of being able to capture the moment, portray it as I want and recently can really see my style of video and to be able to keep these videos for ever is awesome."
"Filming is a great way to portray how I view things."
Ollie said: "I am currently working at The OTC from Monday to Wednesday then studying at Weymouth College (Plymouth Uni) in Film and TV Thursdays and Fridays. I was studying at Weymouth college beforehand doing the Level 3 Diploma. I had the idea of finishing at college then going travelling and filming alongside to pay for my travel however, covid hit around this time. I decided that I may as well go onto do the University Degree so that once I had finished that, I could go travelling and would have a few more grades under my belt."
Ollie said: "Now I’m working here at The OTC which is going well and loving the work. Doing both Uni and Work both in the same work genre of filming I do have a lot of projects going at the same time which can get challenging. Most of the time at Uni I’ll have two-three projects going on at the same time then doing my projects at work I can often get overwhelmed however I feel it’s all worth it in the end. Nevertheless, love what we’re doing here at The OTC."
"I especially enjoy the editing process because this is where I get to be super creative."
Ollie said: "I think my main inspirations is Jon Olssens YouTube channel, and his work partner Benjamin Ortega, his film producer. Jon is a professional Ski racer sponsored by Red Bull however his YouTube channel is based around his brand, supercars, superyachts and houses and many cool activities but it’s the style of his videos is the reason I watch him. Ben, Jon’s Filmer has a super distinct way of filming and editing, and you may see some similarity in my work as I’ve grown to use his style with my own twist which works well for my kind of filming."
Ollie said: "In the future I hope to still be holding a camera in one hand and a surfboard in the other. I do plan to travel and film the experiences and possibly work at the same time at some point in the future however, working here is amazing and I feel the work were doing is going to take off so either way I’m buzzing."
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