Behind the Scenes with Short Stop Video
Can you take the skills you already have and use them to align your vegan passion with how you make a living?
Damian from Short Stop Video shares with Lisa how a significant health scare led to him reconsider the direction of his business.
See Damian’s website at:
www.shortstopvideo.com
Filmmaking has been a really powerful tool for the vegan movement. How much has your own vegan journey contributed to wanting to use that skillset for good?
Being vegan has increased my compassion for nature and motivated me to explore what else I can do to help create change for a better future. Video can be a powerful tool in breaking down the disconnect people have with their food sources and highlighting the alternatives that benefit both our health and planet’s future! I am not a traditional activist, but I can use my skillset to support the changemakers of tomorrow. I am determined to give a voice to those who do not have one, to help end this unnecessary suffering.
Your life took a very unexpected turn last year when you were diagnosed with bowel cancer. Now you’ve had the all-clear, has that influenced what you spend your time working on?
Whilst recovering from life-changing surgery and during all my treatment, I had a lot of time to think and I re-evaluated everything! During this time I reconsidered a lot of my life choices, as many people did through the first lockdown, and realised I needed to make some changes.
I had been vegan for two and a half years back then, and driven by my love and compassion for animals I decided that I needed to align my business ethics with my personal views. But I knew there would have to be a transitional period as I needed my business to survive through what was already an extremely challenging time.
After investing in some studio lighting and doing numerous tests, I started filming product videos from my home remotely. Not only did this suit covid restrictions and allow me to create whilst recovering, but it also helped lower my carbon footprint when I started working again. I am very grateful to several existing clients who supported me throughout my treatment (interestingly enough, they were the ones who were vegetarian and vegan!) and asked me to create content for them once I was well enough. Through this process I learned quickly and started producing some eye-catching results, and this is now one of the main services I specialise in!
Going forward with a positive prognosis, I can now fulfil my ambition during that dark time in my life – being an openly vegan business, building like-minded relationships, supporting ethical businesses, and not working with any organisations which use animals or their by-products.
A lot of your past video work has been for businesses and organisations. Do you think you’d ever like to create a film that is purely campaign-led, such as a documentary?
I love giving people a platform to tell their story and as this part of my craft grows, I hope to be involved in campaign-led filmmaking in the future!
I began refining my documentary filmmaking at the start of the year and invested in a cinema camera. Not only is this giving me the chance to develop another skill, but it’s also helping raise awareness and promote some great initiatives in the meantime. Alongside my commercial studio work, I’m really enjoying working on projects within my local community; supporting some incredible CICs and an inspirational local animal sanctuary.
Being vegan has increased my compassion for nature and motivated me to explore what else I can do to help create change for a better future.
I am not a traditional activist, but I can use my skillset to support the changemakers of tomorrow.
Many ethical businesses don’t have a huge budget, and those that have the budget for filmmaking aren’t always ethical! How are you managing to square that circle?
It certainly can be tricky to navigate, and it has meant that some of my existing business relationships have suffered. I never like to turn work away, but it is liberating to know that I am not involved in the exploitation of animals. There are businesses and products that are “accidentally green”, which I am of course happy to work with and encourage the practice of, and there are many smaller, up-and-coming businesses that I offer additional support to by providing a ‘green discount’. I am also currently developing a ‘community pot’ concept where a small percentage of my fees from corporate contracts go towards sustaining ethical projects and empowering community support initiatives.
You’ve already produced work for some great businesses and products, but who would be your dream business or organisation to help tell their story through film?
I would love to get the chance to create product videos for any of the leading vegan brands, who wouldn’t?! As I specialise in table-top production, food and beverages are something I’d like to focus on more, as I have a bit of a reputation for making inanimate objects come to life! Confectionary is also fun and I love finding creative ways to produce engaging visuals to represent brands and help them reach existing and new customers.
In the near future, it would be really exciting to work with some of these incredibly innovative plant-based companies who are utilising alternative, unusual and often-overlooked sources for their products; sharing their vision and passion through dynamic film.
If anyone else was not sure if they should lead with their ethics when setting up a business, what advice would you give them?
Business is always a risk. I was fortunate to have the opportunity to adjust at a time the whole world also did (although it has not been without its challenges!). I would encourage business owners to not just think of profit, but the way the profit is made and what is involved in the process.
Listen to your conscience – you already know what the right thing to do is, but like all change it takes courage. Be patient, collaborate and talk to your business network; or better still, join a vegan one!
As consumers make better choices for themselves, the animals and the planet, I believe now is the time to be at the forefront of that movement. Running an ethically-led business will help create a new much-needed standard, setting a great example for the business owners of the future.
Learn more about Short Stop Video at their website: www.shortstopvideo.com
Lisa Fox says:
Damian’s journey has made him realise that you don’t have to be out on the streets with signs to be a vegan activist – you can be an activist through the work you do too. By leading with his ethics, Damien has attracted other businesses that share the same mission and has been able to use his skills to amplify that change.
