Adam King is a highly experienced and creative videographer and video editor. 

Having worked in the film industry since 2013, Adam has worked in a variety of roles across a range of projects, including feature films, music videos and commercials.​ 

In this article, Adam recounts his freelance journey to date - from falling into the industry at 19, to working on impactful projects during the pandemic and collaborating with countless freelancers along the way. 

Whether you’ve worked as a freelancer for a long time or you’re new to the game, you’ll most definitely gleam some really valuable insights from Adam’s story.

A Passionate Start

Since his teenage years, Adam has had a strong interest in working in the film industry and at 19, he threw himself into an array of film jobs to make contacts, develop much needed skills and put himself in a position to collaborate with other creatives.

“Ever since I left school, I wanted to be involved in the film industry, so I reached out to various people online and began collaborating on a variety of short films, making friends with fellow filmmakers and we each took part in different roles learning the craft.”

Each job led to new connections and more learning opportunities until eventually, Adam found himself working on feature film sets. 

“As I branched out more, I gained contacts that eventually got me onto feature film sets, where I worked as a camera assistant, starting on very low budget feature films. However, the budgets grew bigger and bigger and before I knew it I was working with high end professional digital cinema equipment.”

Adam soon realised that he’d need to take on some freelance work to enable him to continue developing his filmmaking skills. 

“I knew I needed to be flexible to be able to continue my career in filmmaking and as I wanted to grow as a director, I decided to take a step back from working on film sets and began freelancing on commercial and corporate jobs which allowed me to earn a living and take time to produce my own work and take on passion projects.”

Videography Showreel 2021 by Adam King

Learning Through Collaboration

Since he first began pursuing a career in filmmaking, Adam has worked on projects with lots of different creatives. These collaborative experiences have allowed him to create strong relationships with a variety of individuals who he still works with to this day.  

“I'd say that collaborating with other freelancers can be very beneficial to growing your career. I'm still very good friends with the people I collaborated with at the start of my career, and together we've learnt and grown as filmmakers. I occasionally still work with some of my early collaborators on bigger projects, which is so great!”

Being friends with your collaborators can often take your projects to new levels. You know how your friends work, they know how you work. In short, things often just “click” and this connection can have a really positive impact on a project. 

Project Highlights

“All of my short film work has been collaborations with friends, all of which I'm proud of for various reasons,” explains Adam. 

“To highlight one particular project it would be Othello, as I'm proud of its perceived scale. It features a variety of set builds, locations, costumes, props, and brilliant actors, so when it's all put together and you watch the finished film you could be forgiven for thinking it's part of a bigger budget feature film.”

Adam has also worked alongside other creatives to make impactful commercial content like 

The Shard Films - "Thank You NHS" and "Season's Greetings", which were created during some of the toughest periods in the pandemic. 

Videographer/editor: Adam King

As these commercials had to be shot in a short space of time, Adam and the rest of the project crew had to work together as a team to bring the client's creative brief to light.  

“To shoot those commercials we had to squeeze a variety of different scenes into a few intense night shoots. A small crew of us walked around the streets of Central London in the early hours of the morning getting shots of the Shard while it played through different light sequences. It was well worth the effort as we made something of a high standard which was seen by many people.”

Key Portfolio Advice

Adam is very mindful of the work he includes in his portfolio and has some great advice for freelancers who may be putting together their portfolios for the first time. 

Firstly, Adam believes that the work a freelancer puts forward should clearly reflect their full potential. 

“It's important to have a strong portfolio to back you up, to show your potential clients what you're capable of,” he explains.

Adam also feels that a strong portfolio can help to build a freelancer's self-esteem overtime. 

“It also helps build self-confidence, if you've got a portfolio that you're relatively proud of, you can approach any inquiry you get with a little confidence boost knowing that they've approached you because of the strength of your portfolio.”

Editor Showreel 2021 by Adam King.

Give Yourself a Chance

Sometimes putting yourself forward for a test shoot or a freelance event might feel a bit like going on a date. 

The butterflies come out in full force and it’s all too easy to come up with a fast excuse to stay at home.

Adam has some great advice to help counteract these nervous feelings.

“Be open minded and be yourself! Sounds like dating advice but I think this applies here. If you're going along to these events and test shoots in part to meet and connect with like-minded individuals, I find it's best to be open minded and to speak honestly.” 

“I think you're most likely to connect with people who have similar tastes and interests as you, so if you let people know who you are, what you do and what you want to do you're more likely to find those people who vibe with you. Collaboration is key to a lot of projects coming together, especially creative projects, and it's so great having collaborators to bounce ideas off and to help create work you can all be proud of.”

In short, you’ve got absolutely nothing to lose by going to freelance events or test shoots!

Fueled by his passion for filmmaking, Adam has developed his skill sets to date by working on a wide range of projects and collaborating with lots of different freelancers. 

It’s no surprise then, that when asked what videographers he looks up to, he immediately proffered the videographers he has worked with since entering the industry at 19.

“The videographers I most admire are people I've worked with over the years, and it's either because of their attitude to their craft, their care for detail, work ethic or just their general approach to filmmaking and videography.”

What’s next for Adam?  

“I'm always looking out for collaborations. I'm currently working on a script for a concept film and I'm in the process of pre-production for that project,” he explains.

Does this sound like a project that you could add creative value to? Do you have another project in mind that you’d like to work on with Adam? Why not reach out to Adam here. 

The future certainly looks bright for Adam and we’re excited to see what he and his fellow collaborators create next!

Currently working in the film industry? Interested in getting into the film industry? Looking for videographer work or video editing work? Start your freelance journey by reading FREELANCE RATES FOR VIDEOGRAPHERS AND VIDEO PRODUCERS 2021.