Redís DJ
and Creative Video Productions
Est. 1995
www.redsdj.com
My name is Justin
"Red" Sanders and I am the founding owner and director of this
multifaceted company that consists of a video production division and a disc
jockey and live event production division. Our DJ and live event production division provides
entertainment services for weddings, corporate functions, school dances, city
events, private parties, and other high profile occasions. Over the past nine years my scope has
expanded in video production to a global market by continually upgrading my
equipment, hiring and training employees, and educating myself to handle
increasingly challenging projects, such as nationally aired TV commercials, music
videos, TV segments, and short films.
COMPANY & FOUNDER HISTORY
I
founded the disc jockey side of my business, Redís DJ Company, in 1995 at the
ambitious age of twelve. I started
the endeavor to feed my love for music, technology, learning, and being
independent. I saved all my
profits from mowing lawns to buy my first piece of equipment, a Radio Shack
sound mixer. The rest of the set
up was a hodgepodge of home audio equipment I borrowed from my parents. My parents supported me with
motivation, but were not pushing me to start this business. My mother is a schoolteacher and my
father is a flight attendant for American Airlines.
I took my hobby to
the next level on September 7, 1995 when I volunteered to play music for my
school districtís employee luncheon.
I enjoyed seeing my music selections put the crowd in a good mood, and
found myself answering inquires from teachers and coaches about how much I
would charge to DJ for their events.
I left that day with over $800 worth of bookings for the next three
months. And thus the DJ business
had begun.
By
1997 I had added a second setup and hired an adult who worked in radio to run
that setup. This way I could take on two gigs at once. Up until that point I had been a
work-for-hire company, but in eighth grade I thought up another project. I asked fellow students at school if
they would be interested in coming to an all-district eighth grade dance. I found a huge demand, so I acted on
it. I rented out my schoolís gym
for $500 and posted signs at the three other schools to advertise. I had police to provide security for
free since I had donated my service for the DARE program. And I invited the student council to
sell concessions. This helped
lower my front-end investment risk.
My only other expense was $500 for event insurance. I charged $5 to get into the dance,
which also included a concert by two local bands. That night my overall gross was $2200, with a $1200 net.
Part
of my personal mission statement is to never stop reaching for my next
dream. In the summer after eighth
grade I branched my business out to video production. I started this service to offer videography of weddings. I had a unique position over my
competitors because I offered clients a package deal for DJ & video of weddings.
For
the next four years I expanded both the DJ and video services of my company
equally. I trained and employed
older students and young adults who displayed eagerness to learn, and would
maintain the integrity of my business.
I reinvested more money back into new video and DJ equipment, and music,
which enabled me to offer a better service.
Video
production services were expanded to projects such as local commercials, church
camp highlight videos, video-yearbooks, and product promotional videos. I purchased a computer and digital
editing software when it was first made available on the low-end professional
market. This increased my learning
curve because there were so many new skills to learn for the new digital world
of video production.
During
my junior year of high school, I was invited to intern at one of the most
coveted special effects studios in the region, Reel-FX. This is
a post-production facility that specializes in visual effects, animation,
graphics, and design. I was
privileged to intern under the founder and chief visioneer, Dale Carman. Every day I was in his office, seated
right next him, or behind the keys, learning priceless skills in the
post-production industry. Aside
from the technical seat, I was able to sit in with the creative teams from
corporations such as, Coke, American
Airlines, Gatorade, McDonalds, and
JC Penney. While at Reel-FX I assisted in editing and
creating effects for commercials that aired both nationally, regionally, and
even during the Super Bowl. It was
very inspirational to see work that I helped create on national
television. This experience
motivated me to expand my video production service to reach clients outside of
local markets. Dale is still one
of my mentors who I keep up with and seek advice for my new business ventures.
The
next year led me to Fellowship Church, which is, without a doubt, one of the
most technically advanced churches in the United States. Here I worked as a Production Manager
and Head Editor. In an average
week I was planning, producing, and editing at least four productions. My work was being seen by an average
crowd 20,000 people each week, and was broadcast on cable networks nationwide. The size of audiences motivated me to
learn more both technically and creatively. What I learned benefited my other clients because I gained
new creative tools to offer them.
During
my past four years in college the majority of our DJ gigs have been for large
format events. Our largest event
productions are for high school proms in which I package all that I can offer
from the DJ and event video services.
On top of a music and lighting extravaganza, we add music videos and
highlights of the prom, which are projected on two 14 feet screens. We also produce a senior video-yearbook
for the school to sell to raise money.
I set out in January 2002 to accomplish yet another goal.
This goal was to spend the semester sending out resumes, reels, and calling up
connections to land myself an internship in Los Angeles for the summer of 2002.
After many late nights, two flights to L.A., and numerous phone calls, I landed
myself two very interesting internships.
Miramax
Films was lower on my list of probable callbacks. This was mainly because other
student interns and industry workers had told me that the addresses for the
larger studios of this type get flooded with thousands of resumes each
semester. This made it all the more exciting when I did get a call back
conveying their interest. I worked on everything from editing on Avids, down to
the monotonous paper work filling. In my first week there I was put to work on
an Avid, editing behind-the-scene features for DVD. I continued throughout the summer working on feature
elements for the DVD releases, TV cuts, and cuts for airlines on films such as:
TADPOLE, BARAN, CINEMA PARADISO (Directors Cut), Soderburgs FULL FRONTAL,
HALLOWEEN RESURRECTION, THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST, and SPY KIDS 2. Over
the summer I gained priceless knowledge from working at Miramax and by learning
from the people I work with.
But I am the type
of person who is rarely content, and with Miramax set in place, I began to see
what else I might do to make the most of my time. I faxed out my resume to
independent films in production, and within twelve hours I already had a response
offering me a spot as a second-second assistant director (a glamorized way of
saying key production assistant). The film was called EL PADRINO, written and
directed by Damian Chapa, and staring Gary Busey and Faye Dunaway. It was a
month long shoot in which every day offered a textbook of learning. I learned,
among many things, how to check the gate, load 35mm film and even how to
operate real cinema cameras. I assisted both the A.D. and Producer, and was
able to float around and learn from the lighting and camera crews. Both of
these summer internships were truly an amazing blessing and I am so thankful to
know that I had the support of my school behind me.
I hope you enjoyed my compressed life story and feel my
desire to persistently expand my entrepreneurship. I have included my DVD portfolio reel. It will bring life to the words on this
paper. The opener is a must
see! Subsequent chapters include
TV spots, corporate videos, animation examples, and TV segments. To see one of my newest music videos
please visit [www.arthurnix.com].
Thank you in advance for your consideration of Redís DJ & Creative
Video for your production.
RECENT
PRODUCTIONS/CLIENTS
If you made it through the history
chapter of my resume, youíve only seen the half of it. Some of my most high
concept and big name productions have come in the past two years. To not bore
you with details, this section will summarize my recent video productions and
clients. (Please see the attached letters from clients.)
2003
June - MTV: Scouted for bands in London to be
featured on a MTV pilot.
July - FOX
Searchlight Films: "Delusion" 35mm Short Film (LA)
Boom Operator & Assistant to the Producer Email me
to receive a recommendation letter from this client. red@redsdj.com
August - JUPITER
SUNRISE: "Arthur Nix" Music Video (LA, NY, Dallas)
Director,
Producer, & Editor of this music video for the LA based rock band
September -
PHILLIPS ELECTRONICS: "Senseo" International TV Spot (Hollywood)
Boom Operator
October - Thermo Designs (Texas)
Director, Producer, & Editor for this international
promo spot for medical braces
Email me to receive a recommendation letter from this
client. red@redsdj.com
2004
January -
TCU: NEELY ENTREPRENEURSHIP PROGRAM (Ft Worth)
Director, Producer, & Editor of TV segment video
showcasing the TX Youth Entrepreneur of the year award.
February - ISLAND RECORDS: live shoot of
KEANE (London)
Camera Operator for handheld camera on stage. This was
released on DVD, and was used to help promote the band.
February - WHITE HOUSE PICTURES and CDUK (London)
Editor for special cut of
KEANEís "Somewhere Only We Know" for executives at CDUK.
March -
Nominated for the Global Student Entrepreneur of the year Award
Nominated by David Minor, founder of TCU's Entrepreneurship
program. Email me to receive a recommendation letter from this client.
red@redsdj.com
March -
AWARE RECORDS: (Division of Columbia), Band: WHEAT (Chicago)
We were asked to submit a music video treatment for their
new up-and-coming hit song "I Met a Girl". We also completed an
interview with the band in November for promotional use and a DVD bonus
feature.
April -
COCA-COLA: "Cow Town Open" (North Texas Region)
CCE called on us to produce, direct, and edit a 10min
corporate video to showcase an innovative new program that was stimulating
their teams and therefore sales. The spot is called "Cow Town Open".
Video played for other North America CCE division executives. Email me to
receive a recommendation letter from this client. red@redsdj.com
April - The Andy GRIFFITH Show: Testimonial
video about Richard O. Linke
Mr. Linke was the
co-creator and producer of "The Andy Griffth Show", who has been
inducted into the Ohio Communication Hall of Fame. This video was for that
induction.
May - TCU: TV Commercial Shoot (London)
Shot at TCUís London
Center and with students at landmarks to be used in their national TV
commercial.
May -
KEANE: Record Release at Virgin Record Store (London)
Shot at the midnight release of "Hopes &
Dreams" for PR use, and at interviews.
May -
KEANE: Record Release Show at FORUM Theatre (London)
Camera operator on this six-camera shoot of their largest
show to-date, video for PR use, record went #1 in its first week.
June -
TCU: Neeley Entrepreneurship Program (Ft Worth)
Produced, Directed, and Edited video to create awareness of
the Neeley Entrepreneurship Program (ranked in the top 2 percent in the nation
by Entrepreneur
magazine and is listed among the Top 20 undergraduate entrepreneurship programs
in America by U.S. News & World Report magazine)
June -
JUPITER SUNRISE: "Kaye"
Music Video
(Dallas)
Director, Producer, & Editor of this music video for the
LA based rock band.
July - COCA-COLA:
"Cow Town Open-II"
Again CCE came back to us,
however this time we werenít working for the North Texas Division, this came by
personal request from the head of CCE worldwide. The video was used at their
international annual meeting to again showcase this innovative new program that
was stimulating their teams.
July - TCU:
National TV Commercial (Aired on ESPN, FOX Sports, ESPN2)
We produced, directed, and edited this commercial to be
aired nationally during the TCU football games to attract new students and
alumni donations.