Had a great time chatting with Terrance of Lighting Films! You can tell instantly tell that he is a down to earth, genuine guy, that loves what he does! The guy knows his way around the camera, as you can see by his work! If you have a need for ANYTHING video, he is your guy! Check out the interview we had with him below the video![/dt_quote]
Tell me your name, your business name, and the best way for people to contact you.
my name is Terrence Lighten. My business name is Lighten Films. My best contact information is my email LightenFilms@gmail.com or Terrence@LightenFilms.com.
What is it that you do, what’s your company about?
Lighten Films mainly focus on doing wedding cinematography and videography. We document couples’ weddings and make feature films out of them. We also do parties and events but we mainly focus on weddings across the country not just locally. Most of it locally but we also have done weddings in Florida, in Ohio and other places across the country.
Tell me a little bit about how long have you been in the industry? How long have you been in business?
we’ve been in business now for 12 years. My wife is also a photographer. She does wedding photography. She started in 2005, the end of 2005 and then I joined in at like mid-2006. It’s been about 12 years now. We love what we do. Couples getting married and celebrating their day, one of the happiest day of their lives probably besides their children being born. It’s a wonderful occasion.
Why this particular business made you want to start this?
what drew me in was my wife because she started a wedding photography. I was one that wanted to do more about filmmaking and doing movies. That is why I went to college for it and got an education for but nothing was really working out in that field. When my wife started doing photography I jumped in and I saw that there wasn’t really any good wedding cinematographers or videographers out there so I jumped in that market to give couples something really nice besides something that looks like Uncle Bob filmed a video per se.
What was the toughest thing you went through when opening?
there were a few things but one of the toughest things I would say is promotion. When I first started I only did weddings at probably three or four locations mostly. That was because we built a track record there but as far as advertising no one else really knew me at that point when we first started until a few years later. I would say that was the most difficult thing, not getting our name out there when starting.
If you had to start over from day 1 what would you have done differently?
that is a good question. What I would have done differently is I probably would have focused on photography myself as well when my wife was starting. We could have had not just videography as the main source of income but photography as well. Also I would say probably spend more money on advertising or going to different places to advertise myself or networking events. We didn’t start really doing that until after three years that we were in business.
What is the toughest part about having a business in2017?
specifically in my market it was the saturation of our competition and the numerous newcomers and trying to stay above the pack as technology advance it’s harder and harder to separate yourself in this market. I would think that as well as the new generation, the millennials with the Instagrams, mainly Instagram because now even Facebook is considered an old person’s social media. Kind of connect with the millennials and getting involved in all of these social media platforms like Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook over the past couple of years. Last year mainly Instagram. That as well as the saturation of the market due to better quality technology at a lower price point was what is the most difficult things for 2017.
If a customer were to choose between your business and 3 others just like it what makes you different that sets you apart?
most couples that book me that tell me that what separates me apart from others that they’ve looked at is my editing, the way that I tell a story. There are several other companies who our work is comparable as far as quality and look but then you look past that okay, everyone is the same. What is the next layer? The next layer is what couples connect with. I’ve heard some couples say that other companies seem like reality TV shows. Some companies seem like they’re too much of trying to be like a movie with the cinematic music. They like my style because it’s more of a storytelling basis. I would think that separates me from others as well as editing to the music. I would say I do a pretty good job of feeling the music and connecting that with the emotions of the shots that I film on their wedding day.
What is the number one way that you’re currently bringing in new customers?
the number one way right now I would say is word of mouth. I’m doing a lot of weddings especially this past year. We slipped on our SEO a little bit. We’re working on that because we know that is a big part of our business. We gained a lot of business with that over the years. Due to kids and other things in our lives we kind of slipped off of that. We’re working on that. I would say for 2017 and probably like the year before. It’s more word of mouth, getting referrals from wedding planners or photographers or other weddings that we filmed. I filmed a lot of couples like brothers, little brothers and little sisters and cousins and friends of previous clients that were getting married last year and they went with me again because they loved their family members or their friends’ wedding video.
Has the internet played a big role in your business as it become more prevalent?
it has. Not just with the SEO. There are also other websites that you can market in like Wedding Wire or The Knot and then there’s Yelp. There’s so many different websites and social media platforms that you can advertise on that impacts your business a lot. We haven’t taken advantage of it as much as we should have and we’re heading in that direction to do so but it has impacted a lot and even over the years when we would get clients like back in 2010, 2011 after we were kind of pretty well established with our business when we were on top of the Google search engine as well as Wedding Wire and platforms like. We were getting a large amount of business during that time.
If you were to have a crystal ball and you can look 6 months to a year into the future, where would you like to see your business?
I would like to see where I’m at a point financially where I would only have to do around 10 or less weddings a year charging enough to bring in that income as well as having a second team or two or three teams that I’ve trained that also film for me at a lower price point and having more of a business relinquishing the artist that I’ve been. My business has been built around my artistry for the past 10 years and relinquishing more of that and catering more towards people that I train and having more of a quality type of booking process if that makes sense.
Any other facts or information you wanna share that you want people to know about you’re in the business?
Just that if you’re getting married and you’re looking for awesome wedding video just look up Lighten Film.
Owner: Terrence Lighten
Lighten Films
702.266.6226
www.lightenfilms.com