Conversations with Ky Hanchett

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ky Hanchett.

Hi Ky, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Like all young kids, my brother and I played pretend, often either with toys or playing in the yard. Sometimes we even put on plays and puppet shows. Then we heard about a stop motion animation kit with everything you need to make your own little movies. A little camera, basic editing software, the whole nine. After saving our allowances for many months to buy it together, we spent countless hours making some of the most confusing, random, fever-dreams of movies you could fathom. I guess because we needed lots of practice. Also, we were ten. But we didn’t care how bad they were because it was fun!

After making movies didn’t lose its appeal to me after several years of practice, I felt quite confident that this was what I wanted my future to look be. I took every opportunity to practice video, whether it was a Boy Scout merit badge, electives in school, or anything I could do to learn. While filmmaking with friends was fun, it wasn’t exactly lucrative. I eventually found opportunities to create some promotional videos for my place of work at the time, which quickly caught the attention of the leadership and affiliated marketing department, which landed me my first contract as a videographer! I was ecstatic, even more so, when several other organizations who’d heard of my work offered contracting opportunities, as this allowed me to quite my day job and pursue video production full-time.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I feel extremely blessed that my dream work is in high demand today as technology and marketing grow more aggressively. Leading up to this point, however, wasn’t always smooth. Trying to learn how to be a filmmaker as a ten-year-old boy, I didn’t feel like I had many opportunities to grow. It’s not like learning filmmaking today. People now ask, “Well couldn’t you learn on YouTube?” Nope. That didn’t exist yet. “Why not get a cheap digital camera or use a smartphone?” Again, no. None of that was around. While practice helped me learn a lot, how do you learn pro techniques if you don’t know any pros? Resources weren’t the only problem. Filmmaking is typically considered an “art” and therefore, an unconventional and unwise career to pursue, according to many around me. Occasionally I was interrogated by religious leaders where I attended church. “Do you really want to work in a field with so much wickedness?” Give me a break. Persistence and a desire to learn and improve make all the difference. I learned I could keep improving if I took whatever opportunities I could, read the books, and practice, practice, practice.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Today I’m a content creator for a handful of fantastic clients, ranging from the U.S. Army to several national corporations to local non-profits. I love the unique challenge of sitting with clients to determine their voice, their brand, their objectives and needs, then help build something new to effectively communicate with their target demographics. I get to be a part of the whole creation process of making something new out of nothing, from pre-production concepts to capturing the content to those final polishing edits. The types of video content I create depends on the needs of the client. Sometimes it’s my job to make big community events look absolutely epic to promote them for the next year. Sometimes I shoot business promos and sometimes, I shoot independent films for myself and others. My favorite work, however, is creating narrative ads for clients. It’s just like making a movie! Only it’s bite-sized. I also get to challenge myself by working within the parameters of the message or story that needs telling and do it in a way that reflects the organization. Oh, and it pays. I guess that helps too.

We’d love to hear about any fond memories you have from when you were growing up?
My favorite childhood memory has to be when my friends and I made a little movie on our middle-school running track. It made no sense, but when we showed it at a party that night, everyone was raving about it! No pity-points. Just real, authentic laughter and interest. For an insecure, young creative, there’s no better feeling in the world.

Contact Info:

• Email: Kyle@hanchettmedia.com
• Website: Hanchettmedia.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ky_hanchett/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/khanchett2/