Jeven Dovey, adventure filmmaker & YouTuber

With almost 50K subscribers on YouTube, Jeven Dovey and his wife Rachel have been able to fulfill a dream many have: to be able to travel, film and make a living. How? By sticking to doing what you love, but most of all, by sharing what you know.

Jeven’s tutorials on filmmaking are an excellent resource for anyone that wants to get more out of a camera, trips, or both:

Jeven: “I started making video when I was a kid, way before high school, with my parents HI-8 camcorder. After graduating from film school in LA, I met Rachel who had a fitness background & we combined forces to create a fitness video production company, FitLife Productions. For over five years, our company has produced high-end fitness & sports media for companies like Red Bull, Xbox & Bowflex.

And then there are my social media channels. I started out documenting my travels just for fun. Because of my production background, I began to create video tutorials about filmmaking. Through these tutorials, I have been able to build an organic following and become a resource for amateur filmmakers.”

Multicam Workouts

“In LA, we shoot commercials & follow-along workouts for worldwide companies. During our multi-cam productions, we shoot as if we are filming a live event. Just like a concert, you don’t want just one camera angle. Things can get quite boring when it’s an hour long single-cam shoot. That’s why in our productions we use 5-cameras and always shoot in 4k.

There’s always a wide camera, which acts as my safety; I’m on a camera that’s punching in for close-ups or a gimbal; we also have a jib that’s flying around for getting those awesome sweeping shots. Not only do multi-camera shoots create a dynamic look but since our talent is working out so hard, our MO is that we never ask them to redo something unless they completely blow it.”

Family Affair

“Being a great producer, Rachel handles the business side & communication for FitLife, which allows me to focus on shooting & editing the actual content. Sure, there’s hick-ups here and there, but we have very separate roles, and I think that’s what keeps our business strong. She’s good at talking to clients and keeping it all organized. I’m good at making the content, making sure it’s all there with the look and feel that’s required. To a degree, it’s the same when we travel.

My parents raised me traveling the world; it’s something I’ve always done. When I noticed that people were using social media as an outlet to share their experiences I decided to share mine. As influencers began to pop up, I thought “Well, I already shoot everything and I travel, so I should make something out of this.”

Rachel and I began by branding ourselves as Wanderworx, but recently we’ve started to move towards personal brands. When we started out, having the joint travel brand helped us grow faster and it was easier to explain to customers that we are a production company. However, now that our social media channels are getting bigger and bigger, we realized that personal brands are even stronger. We say to brands, “Look, we’re two influencers, and we have a video production company as well.” As a husband & wife team with separate skill sets, people relate more to me as Jeven Dovey for my filmmaking and Rachel Dovey for her fitness.

Since we made that switch, I’ve seen my YouTube channel grow exponentially. People feel more connected to me. I’m gaining more subscribers per day and my videos are getting more views. My followers want to connect with me as an individual through my social media. They’re getting to know me versus talking to a company.”

Avoiding Stress

“I have always had a camera with me wherever I go, so I started out shooting travel vlogs. The filmmaking tutorials came naturally after my followers started asking about how I create my content. Something that I built out of my passion has become a second business; one that’s helping me produce my personal projects. I have the opportunity to create more than just videos for our FitLife clients. It is tough to juggle both, but I have the freedom to create anything I want while running a successful business.

The hardest thing when you get into YouTube is the feeling that you need to be creating all the time. In reality, it doesn’t matter, it’s your thing. When I tried to produce travel content every day it didn’t work. It’s too much time and stress to be a daily vlogger, and it’s not much fun either. Now, I only shoot what feels right. I found a rhythm of when I should be shooting and when I should put the camera down so that I can enjoy the experience. As filmmakers and photographers, we sometimes forget that there is more to life than the images we capture. We need to step out from behind our viewfinder and see the world with our own two eyes.”

Check out Jeven’s videos on YouTube or follow him on Twitter, Instagram or Kit.com

This interview is part of a series with Hedge users. Want to read more? Check our Medium publication 🗞