Meet John Craven of Visual Popcorn

Today we’d like to introduce you to John Craven.

Thanks for sharing your story with us John. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
When I was 15, I started making Rollerblade films of my friends and I. We would all go on road trips throughout the state of Florida meeting new people and seeing different areas. The films I created showed our adventures and our shenanigans. After spending months editing the footage, I would finally show my friends and family the final Rollerblade films. They would watch the films as if they were re-living that moment; laughing and talking about the moments like it was yesterday. Their reactions are what made me get hooked into Filmmaking and creating films for others. To this day we still watch these films again and again. Today, as an adult, when I show my clients their final films and they have that same excited reaction watching it, in a way, it brings me back to those times when I started making Rollerblade films.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Haha. No. Not at all. Being in the creative business I’ve always encountered failures. My biggest “failure” was making a feature film in my early 20’s. I spent years writing, producing, and editing this film. There were also a few other people that put their heart and 110% of their effort into making this film too. By the end of it, I lost 20 lbs, was completely burnt out, and, to top it off, it didn’t get any recognition. There were some really good moments in the film, but overall, to be honest, it wasn’t that good.

At the time, I felt I had the responsibility to get that recognition. So I was focusing more on the results than actually finding the joy in making it. But, what I learned in creating it, I still apply to my work today. I would not have learned these skills without going through the process. And it gave me a renewed appreciation for filmmaking, which taught me to enjoy the process.

I’ve really come to appreciate failure because failure builds grit and it separates the people from the ones who blame others for their problems versus the ones who own their problems and learn from them. Working as a freelancer showed me these different types of people. I would have business owners that would complain about their clients ALL THE TIME. But what these business owners didn’t realize is, the problem was in their own workflow and attitude, so they were attracting these types of issues. Today, I take pride in the fact I love working with my clients.

Please tell us about Visual Popcorn.
Visual Popcorn is a video creation agency that specializes in solutions that connect small businesses to their clients. Anyone can create a decent video, but we look at our clients’ business and strategize on what the best type of video or videos would be for the specific product or service. It is really about showing people fresh content.

I am proud anytime I put a team of good people together. When everyone is aligned on the same goal, to create a great final film, I am ecstatic and inspired. I had a small team cover an event while I was in Colombia with family. I usually am on the shoot, but this time I wasn’t. I had multiple pre-production meetings with my crew, so we were all aligned on the look we needed to achieve. The crew ended up getting fantastic content and the final film ended up winning an award for my client!

If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
Everyday is a new start. That’s how I look at that.

Contact Info:

• Website: visual-popcorn.com
• Phone: 7866003410
• Email: create@visual-popcorn.com

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