Erik Johnson Film

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the manager of Magnum Global Media. We’re a hunting company, and we also do TV productions. We have two shows including True Magnum TV and Moment of Impact. True Magnum airs on the Outdoor Channel and is available on Amazon Prime. Meanwhile, Moment of Impact is on the Sportsman Channel.

What challenge were you trying to address with Erik Johnson Film?

We hired Erik to film and edit our TV shows.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Erik works on our shows as a videographer and editor, and he works with another editor. When he goes out into the field, it’s up to him to capture the footages we need. We typically give him the basic idea of what we want the show to look like. He’ll then go through the footage to find the rough aspects we’re looking for, and he’ll piece them together to create a TV episode. Usually, the biggest scenes in the shows are the ones when the hunter captures their animal.

He also includes graphics on our shows such as billboards, which he creates himself. On top of that, he incorporates our sponsor logos. In the end, we review Erik’s work and give him changes. After that, he re-edits our content until our producer is happy with it. We’ve also had him repurpose our TV show. He takes out all the commercials and changes the old billboards with new ones for Amazon Prime. He also does skits and overviews for us, using footages to make what are basically commercials for the TV show.

What is the team composition?

Erik is in charge of editing our TV show, and he’s been in charge of filming a couple of episodes. Internally, we have a producer and an associate producer.  

How did you come to work with Erik Johnson Film?

He was working with the company way before I started. I believe we got a referral from someone, and the producer that interviewed him was impressed with his portfolio.

How much have you invested with them?

We pay him around $10,000 CAD a year. The cost varies depending on the season and the show he’s editing.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Erik in May 2017, and it’s ongoing.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

Erik is always prompt when he delivers, and we’ve had a really positive experience with him. He organizes every piece of footage that he gets throughout the day, which makes things easier on our editors. Additionally, he works really well under pressure, he’s cordial to work with, and he gets along with everyone. A lot of editors get super sensitive when you critique their work, but we never get pushback from Erik. He always does what we ask, without questioning it.

When we sent him to film in Mongolia, customs detained all his camera equipment. The gentleman he was supposed to be filming was super impatient because he was out in the field with a client that was paying for the hunt. Despite that, Erik managed to get everything he needed in a quick amount of time and still did an amazing job with the filming.

How did Erik Johnson Film perform from a project management standpoint?

Everything he’s done for us has been delivered on time and the two exceptions have been our fault because we didn’t get footage to him. We typically tell him what we’re looking for through email, followed by quick conference calls. We also have a shared schedule, which gives him an idea of what we’re looking for, along with deadlines for rough drafts and final edits.

What did you find most impressive about them?

He’s easy to work with, and he brings a lot of creativity to the shows we have. We have to build our shows up to the climax, and he could piece things together to make them look intriguing.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I can’t say anything. Erik’s one of my best editors.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

As long as the client communicates what they need to Erik, he’ll get it done.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and president of a petroleum data technology company. We develop and sell software to some of the largest oil and gas companies.

What challenge were you trying to address with Erik Johnson Film?

We needed a video that introduces our company for our website and online campaigns. 

What was the scope of their involvement?

Erik has produced various videos for our website and landing pages. They have also made videos that we temporarily used on the site but ended up utilizing them for other campaigns. 

Erik handles all aspects of production, and they have their own equipment and studio. I’m less involved when they’re working on a video, and they only bring me in when we review deliverables and implement improvements. 

We constantly have work for Erik, and in fact, we have a new project that we’re about to bring to their team.

What is the team composition?

I have worked mostly with Erik (Owner), but I know other people assist him on our projects. 

How did you come to work with Erik Johnson Film?

Erik lived in the same community that we do. I had known about him through personal contacts, and I was aware of his passion for his business. 

How much have you invested with them?

We have spent less than $50,000 CAD (approximately $39,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in November 2011, and it’s ongoing. 

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

It’s difficult for us to measure metrics since we’ve just transitioned to a new website and we haven’t yet done any SEO. That said, we’ve received some positive comments about the video.

We’re happy with our partnership with Erik, mainly because of the relationship that’s been built through the years. They have the ability to understand what we need, and they have a process that extracts the proper information. 

We see no point in going to another vendor — Erik is good, and we’re happy working with him. We see our partnership continuing for as long as he wants to.

How did Erik Johnson Film perform from a project management standpoint?

We never have any issue with Erik’s project management. We communicate mostly over the phone, but if we need to review a video, we use GoToMeeting.

It’s easy to get communication campaigns wrong. If the vendor doesn’t ask the right questions and understand what you're trying to communicate, it's very easy to go off and develop a pretty video that doesn't hit the mark. However, Eric is extremely good at asking the right questions and understanding communication goals. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Erik is a talented young fellow. I put a lot of value on a person’s character, ethics, and ability to interact with others. Erik is probably among the best of the best. 

Erik is a real class act. He is ethical, flexible, and easy to communicate with — he’s very personable. His best quality is he’s honest, honorable, and hardworking. Obviously, he’s also very talented, but people can be talented yet incapable of making things work out well. Erik is just full of good qualities. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of any. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

If a customer is coming in not really knowing what they want to do, that's usually a very poor place to start. 

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m an area director for Young Life, a youth outreach nonprofit organization. I’m responsible for developing our teams and programs in a certain geographical area. That involves recruiting, training, managing, and supervising staff, volunteers, funds, and resources. Building partnerships with other organizations or community partners is also under my umbrella. 

What challenge were you trying to address with Erik Johnson Film?

We used Erik (Cinematographer) for a fundraising banquet where we wanted to tell our story to a large and diverse audience. We needed to impress upon them why they should financially support our organization. Through a 10-minute video, we wanted to convey the impact that people could have by partnering with us.

What was the scope of their involvement?

In the beginning, I explained to Erik my vision for the banquet. I wanted the audience to hear from different people and touch on a few points. For instance, the audience should hear something from people who graduated from our programs. Others would be the parents of teenagers involved with us. It would also include other people working with the youth in our community. 

Then, Erik came up with an idea on how to interview these people and piece the content together. Essentially, we wanted to weave their answers into a narrative that would introduce our organization. It would answer why our organization existed, who it was for, and what impact it had on teenagers and youth. Ultimately, the goal was to tie all those together in a coherent narrative. 

After the interviews, Erik sifted through the raw footage we collected until we had around 27 minutes of good footage. We had to get that down to 10 minutes. Given that, he sent me all the footage that had high quality. After that, we chose the most important things to say in the footage. Erik then helped me find one singular, direct, and super-focused message. During the editing process, we met several times. Erik sent me new drafts until the video came together. 

Since that project, we’ve been using Erik extensively. We haven’t been able to host banquets recently because of COVID-19 restrictions. Next year, however, we’ll do another video. While the world shut down, the restrictions have enabled us to pivot the organization in terms of youth outreach. To this end, Erik has helped us produce content we can either share online in small groups or on a screen. He’s also helped us find a digital platform that can be decentralized for us. In the process, a number of volunteers and staff have recorded messages and encouragements for the teenagers. 

What is the team composition?

I only work with Erik. 

How did you come to work with Erik Johnson Film?

Erik was familiar with the organization, and he’d been around with us for a while when we started this engagement. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between $5,000–$10,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in January 2016, and the engagement is ongoing.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

We’ve raised money in the first fundraiser banquet; we’ve set out to tell people a story to encourage them to partner with us financially, and it worked. The feedback we’ve received has been greatly positive, especially coming from people who have been in a lot of fundraisers. 

Moreover, we usually have many live presentations in banquets, and those are usually chaotic and unpredictable. By contrast, the video from Erik has made my team’s life easier because we know our message is rock-solid; it’s been prepared in advance. 

Overall, it’s nice to feel that I work with a professional telling me what to do. I trust him because he does it for a living, so I take his word for it. On top of that, he’s done a great job making people comfortable while coaching them on how to create little videos for the kids. 

How did Erik Johnson Film perform from a project management standpoint?

Erik has been on time for us. Even though I sometimes come to him on short notice, we’re never against the wire. On top of that, he’s always clear about what he needs from us or what we need to do; he’s good at ensuring everyone has what they need. Moreover, when we give each other feedback, he always refines his processes and storyboarding to make the project more efficient.  We communicated primarily via emails, phone calls, and texts.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Erik is personable, trustworthy, and competent. He’s friendly and tells everything as it is, so I know what I’m dealing with; there’s never any uncertainty. I don’t question if I’m spending too much or if I’m making my own decisions. From start to finish, Erik has my best interest in mind, and he knows how to get it. Overall, he’s trustworthy and competent from a business perspective; from a personal perspective, he’s fun and personable. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

Erik has young children, so he needs to get more sleep. Sometimes, he forgets something while we’re in the middle of working. I have a one-year-old of my own, so I have sympathy for that — kids are a wild ride. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Speak your mind. I know people who go into professional settings where they’re the customer, and they feel intimidated or nervous to say what they think or feel. They worry that the service provider will think they’re wrong. Instead of feeling like that, be direct and honest with Erik. 

You don’t have to act like you know what you’re doing or like you’re a cool person with a great idea. Simply tell Erik what you need to do, and follow his lead. That will make the process a lot more fun. Erik makes the process enjoyable and straightforward for whoever’s working with him.