Meet Chris Butler | Cinematographer & Editor

We had the good fortune of connecting with Chris Butler and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Chris, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?

Before starting CBCinematics, it felt completely foolish! Mainly because at the time, I was laid off from my IT day job. It felt very daunting and risky to start a business without any certainty of income for my family. I also did not know or understand the elements of what makes a successful business in 2020. I knew I would not only have to be an expert in the services that I offer, but I would also need to become a business professional too. I knew that becoming a business owner would require multiple hats until the company reached a certain profit margin in order for me to step back and hire others to help. I had no real experience with marketing, prospecting, billing, or sales! I also had no equipment, or connections in the industry to help me start! However, I viewed all of those challenges as hurdles. But a hurdle can be jumped! So I started with my weakest point which was learning business and how to secure revenue. As I learned new information, I put it into practice immediately.

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Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?

CBCinematics is more than just a video production company, and that alone is what sets us apart. We strive to make strong connections with businesses and individuals prior to working. We also only work with businesses that know exactly how to use the video to generate income. Our goal is for our video to make a company more money than the amount they spent on its production. We have refused jobs in the past because we found that the video would be a cost for a company and not an investment. We are in the business of helping businesses and individuals. And this alone is what sets us apart. And for weddings and individuals, we take an interest in the couple and bring to life the video they envision. So during the planning process, we allow for couples to share ideas from other videos online for us to implement on their wedding day. We also utilize personal electric vehicles onsite (such as Onewheels and EUCs) to move quickly and efficiently if the venue is large enough. This saves us time and allows for us to capture video in unique ways.

We’ve also found that understanding a business or person’s story is critical to the output we can create. Hence the name; “CBCinematics”. The 7 forms of art are; Painting, Sculpture, Architecture, Literature, Theatre, Music, and Cinema. However, Cinema combines all the art forms into a single entity. We paint/draw a storyboard in pre-production, we create sculptures digitally with Blender and 3D renders to composite into our corporate videos, we look for buildings and locations with modern designs or “leading lines” to feature in our projects, we tell a story that has elements of a literary work, and our actors are performing in front of the camera as if it’s a stage of a Theatre….Cinematography encompasses all art forms and knowing their story is the start to producing a good video for a client. And this is what excites us the most about video production; planning, pre-production, production, and post production editing to bring an idea to life!

However, we’ve faced many changes as a company; our main challenge was lack of equipment and lack of camera rental options in the area when starting out. However, we overcame that by taking on smaller jobs to build up to obtain better equipment. We also had the challenge of hardware, software, and storing client footage, however we solved that by investing in SSD drives of storage and cloud storage through google. We also faced the challenge of simply not creating what a client wants and revising the product to suit their need; we solved this by offering “Collaborative Editing” services, which allows the client to watch, monitor, and be involved in the editing process. We offer this service to be in person or remotely. We found that involving the client in the editing process solved many problems and while editing tends to take longer with this service, we found ourselves only editing once without ever having to revise the edit anymore. All of these services and elements of CBCinematics are what truly set us apart and we are not just a mom-and-pop business anymore, but we are a fully operational content creating machine!

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Some of my favorite spots to go and visit are places that inspire me but also help relieve the mind by taking it off of business! Places such as; Furman University are beautiful! I love the landscape, the atmosphere and it provides a feeling of “away” even though you’re just 15 minutes outside of the city! Next in line I would say Halls ChopHouse for a good meal! The BEST steak around and top notch quality at all times! They never fail to provide a great service, and since you’re downtown, you mind as well walk down to the river, connect with nature and the outdoors! Not to mention the  Bohemian Architecture nearby for inspiration and positive vibes! If you walk up the block on Main, you’ll find yourself near Camperdown! Which is where the best drinks in town are in the AC Hotels building upstairs in a bar called “Juniper”. There you can have a complete good time with entertainment, music, performances, food, ambience, and drinks!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?

I would like to thank all my friends and family for supporting this venture of video production. All the calls, talks and idea bouncing I’ve done with all of them has been invaluable. I would like to take a moment to recognize Cameron Jones. He has been an incredible asset to our team and is a critical piece to the growth of as a whole. He has gone above and beyond to ensure the success of our deliverables. Cameron has proved to be reliable, organized, and professional in every way at all times. He is a great representation of our company, fully capable of filming, directing and shooting projects single-handedly. This company is still standing today because of you. Additionally, I would like to give a special shoutout to Zarah Butler. Zarah is the greatest friend, wife, and support I could ever ask for. What people never realize is… Behind this business started with a great woman. Zarah was there when I thought this wouldn’t be impossible, or when it made no sense to start a video production company. However, she helped form the vision and without her, there would be no CBCinematics. Zarah has learned many digital art mediums such as photography, videography, post production editing and much more in such a short time. She has been able to grow and nurture relationships with customers in ways I never will. She has charm, talent, and a big heart… She has it all… She defines “all” for me and this business. It was always a dream to work alongside my wife doing something we both love. Today that dream is a reality.

Website: https://cbcinematics.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cbcinematics/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-b-64b87451/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CBCinematics

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMIa_GfdNyLb_daOnJdMdjQ

Image Credits
CBCinematics