Self-employed videographer says work is around the clock

Claflin alum Prestine Manderville conducted a master class on Oct. 9.

Claflin University on Oct. 9 held a master class on fundamentals of the DSLR camera and Adobe Premier editing software with special guest Prestine Manderville Jr.

Before cracking down the basic steps of using the media equipment, Manderville broke the ice with students by introducing himself.

“I have never done public speaking before, especially for films,” the senior Claflin mass communications major said. “I’ve done it on different sites where I can open information and people can learn things online. However, this is in my element, so I feel confident.”

Manderville recounted how he became interested in media on the way to being a videographer.

 “I was mostly self-taught. My sister had this hunky camera, and when I was 15 years old, and my sister left to attend Georgia Southern, I just started playing with it inside her closet,” Manderville said. “I took it to a track meet and what I did with the footage, I put Marvel comic music underneath it and that just blew my mind. From there I was sold on being a videographer and learning more about media.”

Manderville discussed his projects, booked deals and upcoming ventures.

“I’m fully self-employed since 2015. I do anything from weddings, to live events, commercials. I also do live streaming, and I recently just signed a contract with John C. Smith to film their basketball, volleyball and football season.”

Although Manderville prefers being his own boss, he stressed to students that the income from being self-employed is not as mesmerizing as it seems and self-employment is not for everyone. He uses his extra time to develop more opportunities for himself and his company.

“It’s always important to have those guaranteed funds coming in therefore you can start using other creative time on other projects,” Mandeville said. “For example, I’m currently creating a documentary that will premiere on Netflix next year. It’s called ‘For the Love of Money.’

“It’s about relationships, and how some woman are becoming lead-front towards making money, which is creating some type of confusion for some, and if men feel inferior to the fact that a woman can take care of herself.”

Manderville also told students that being self-employed and employed with a media company are two different jobs. The work, drive and environment are dissimilar.

“Being self-employed in this industry is difficult because if you work in a business from 9 to 5, all the paperwork is there, everything is signed, everything is already negotiated, and you can do your job and not have to talk to a single person. When it comes to being self-employed, you’re basically open 24/7,” Manderville said.

“I’ll get a text 10 o’clock at night,” he said. “I'll have to deliver the same customer service that they would get at a Wendy’s late-night drive-through. So regardless of whatever, you have to be the full overall structure of your business.”