Lights, camera, action: inside the Auto Trader video production team | EP 27 | Roadmap

In this episode, Pete speaks to our geniuses of video production, Tim, Jordan & Tom about how Auto Trader’s in house video production team has grown.

They also chat about their favourite films and share some hints and tips for getting into video production.

01:05 – What is our video production team? What do they do?
03:20 – Is it just being behind the camera?
07:30 – How did Tom and Jordan get into video production?
13:45 – Film inspirations
19:00 – Essential video equipment
24:40 – Favourite moments in video over the past year
28:20 – Hints and tips for getting into video production?

Welcome back to robot AR trer UK’s product and Tech podcasts and today we’ve got a behind the scenes episode so what the madness happens on the other side and we’re going to be chatting to the Geniuses as they call themselves of video production we got first up we got

Tim plat video production lead hello Timothy how do H then we got T Tom not Tim got Tom Wakefield Tom Tom Tom Tim Tom Wakefield video producer hey Tom hey B and last but not least we’ve got Jordan green also know as Jord and greenog for people that don’t have

Pronounce his name uh and Jord is a video production Apprentice hello Jordan not for much longer not for much longer oh congratulations congratulations uh yeah got of I did your green man to that so by um anyway right so I had no idea what video production was uh when Tom

Grabbing the office and said hey I work in video production dude did I say like that it was probably a bit cool like Yo dude probably yo dude with like a slanty beanie on like hey and he said yeah I work in video production do you want to come do some

Stuff and I’m like what is this video production I knew Tim ran around with the camera now and again but yes so what is it what is video production and especially art Trader I’m going to go to you first Tim as the um Elder Statesman in the

Team uh video production at AR Trader well put it it personally I think it’s the best job at AR tra yeah it seems a right good laugh it is it is um yeah we’re get involved with so much stuff but I think like from my perspective

It’s born from a lot of different things so it started off quite small the there wasn’t a video production team yeah um and then I just started doing a bit it grew legs yeah I think it was when we used to work together in cxr wasn’t it

That you you i’ see you out again camera stuff yeah yeah and i’ I’d never picked up a camera I was always interested in the media side but like uh yeah it was it was just I was given a bit of a ched a bit of an opportunity and run

With it and then it just grew legs from there and then it became this this kind of like thing thing yeah this team and uh so but like over over time it’s developed into kind of like serving our trade facing businesso business content uh things like road map for at

Life and our employee brand what’s that we’re getting two M as well as the fun stuff that we do internally which is which is great yeah um but that’s why it’s the best job at all trailer we get involved with so many different things hold on a

Sec yo what’s up 74.8% of people not subscribed you joking hold on right listen we’re going to get taken off air if you’re liking these podcasts remember to like And subscribe because we need to get these numbers up otherwise it’s time for the yeah and and is it I mean I’m

I’m probably not not being prous here but like I always see you3 in this room or all little things we do behind the camera but is it just about being behind the camera or is the other things that you do yeah no um you know there’s a lot that goes

Into uh the preparation before we actually even come to the point of bringing the cameras and putting up the lights you know we I think I think we’re given certainly in our role a great opportunity to to plan and to really strategize for quite high high levels of production um

You know recently we we just uh we we in the summer we did a shoot in the in Trafford studio for the product update um and that was like that was like a good couple months planning and you know sourcing the right people to that that

Were going to be on on the video and just really kind of going into the the kind of the nuts and of what we need to do to make this the the absolute best it can be so there’s a there’s a lot of work that we do before we even we even

Come here whether it’s storyboarding uh script writing down to even just like Risk assessments and so there’s kind of that’s why we have a we have a great team that can all kind of lean on and and and get it all sorted yeah and so like J like obviously you’re you’re is J

The newest are you the newest recruit no actually no we got another yeah keep L jaw right so how many’s in the team now then uh there’s six well if you include guy six yeah gu doing my I think is it is it five it’s five five in video can’t even count

Anymore yeah because I’m being filmed I can’t count any he’s super weird can we just clarify like this is the first time we are all kind of this side of the camera so say this is what it feels like it’s awkward is it it’s a little strange

I’m not going to lie but yeah um yeah so in said so I think J I was going to ask you a question actually because we’ve been doing some internal stuff for some of the network so what’s this I had realized how much work went into post

Production as well so sure I get there because we’ve done a little bit of storyboard and a little bit of prep with Tim but it’s the whole I was amazed at how much afterwards I just thought like Boom video done post it on YouTube job’s

A good one oh we wish yeah um yeah it tends to be a lot of a longer Pro process and obviously we have quite a lot of projects on at one time so there’s a lot of uh kind of stakeholder management or finding out what’s the quickest priority um that goes around

That but I think the process of it is getting easier and easier I mean with you’re doing a podcast on AI and obviously that’s like a major thing in video production at the moment as well so we’re taking advantage of that and kind of speeding up the process where we

Can with different tools yeah yeah there is there is um a lot more thought now uh I mean I’ve been doing this since well it’s probably about 8 years now back then it was a bit more of a needs must there wasn’t really um an understanding at the time of just how

Much video content could achieve because a lot of the con a lot of if we did do something of a of a video content it was always at the time if I remember correctly Outsource to external agent external agencies um while when as this team has grown and

The expertise that have been brought into it there’s much more Specialists and it isn’t just the people who sit behind the camera hit and record there’s a lot more thought to the craft and the lasting impression that we want yeah people watching a video to leave with

Yeah rather than just oh we need to do a video about X hit record and it’s done there’s there’s much more thought you’ve got the design aspect behind it and and and bringing those people on board and and I think that has made such a massive difference to the quality of the

Output yeah um so it it definitely isn’t just the four walls of this team there’s lots of other inputs from designers creative other creative people so but and it’s funny because it has grown lows and I know Tim like we used to it together years and years ago but how did

You two Jordan Tom get into it I mean like I I met Jordan on his like that the Greenman induction which an at thing and and when he said I come yeah prce I’m like oh cool what in went video production like who and then you started

Talk about some stuff so I’m interested because you’ve both come in externally like Tim was already born and bred here the me was being here for like 55 years yeah so yeah start with you Tom how did you get into it and arrive here wow so yeah I’ll I’ll I’ll try and I’ll

Try and keep it brief but um plenty okay great um so I as as soon as I could I I was making videos really um I remember I had an iPhone 3GS that one of the first iPhones that you could actually download apps to edit your uh the videos you capture and

I was just yeah the the when I first I remember the first ever video I made it was it was like a stupid little bouncy ball video trying to trickshot them into bins and stuff but I just I just like the penny dropped when I realized I

Could take clips of footage splice them together and create uh essentially a bit of bit of content that other people could watch and enjoy and then from then on I was just really hooked and was had a YouTube channel and um during you know throughout the whole time I was at

School I was just making constant videos slight side note I remember actually the only time I ever got into trouble at school was when I did like a day in the life of of myself and I brought my phone into school and was like recording

Myself in school and uh and I was like this is me and math yeah I was like well I was there like I remember my mates coming out of class and I was like so how boring was that lesson and then yeah and then posted it posted it on YouTube

And then every everyone in school was watching the video and then the teachers got wind of it and then they were like this is a big no no from like you know all the kids in care and all this Tye of thing and yeah I got into a lot of

Trouble and that was when I was in like year nine but then I think you know that kind of that but I was just obsessed with making videos and then my mom I remember saying you know you’re going to go to college and you can actually study

This and and you know and go on to make a living from making videos I was like what I could actually I could actually get paid to do this I was like yeah so that kind of just set me on a on a course and then I went to University and

Studied for 3 years and that was unbelievable cuz I met so many like-minded people and learned so much from them and it was just a great threeyear crash course if you’re into film it was you know we were watching films every single week writing about them going out making them and um and

Yeah just it was just heaven to be honest and uh graduated in 2020 and into a pandemic uh which you know if you’re making films you have to go out to locations film people it was it was a real real challenging time and I had my own freelance um kind of business at

That at that point and uh I remember I had like three shoots booked and they all got cancelled because of because of covid restrictions and all my money dried up and I had to go get a job at Domino’s delivering pizzas and just making videos just on

The side for free um and I thought I just need a bit more security and I also miss working in a team um so I just yeah saw this job popped up online and I went yeah let’s go for it and then here we are today three years later almost yeah insan what

About yourself Jord I remember you talked a little bit about it yeah what was your journey into video production and soon to be a here a professional rather than a Apprentice soon um yeah so my journey was not too dissimilar but I kind of found a passion for film well I

Loved films but passion for film making later in life is after I went to University uh and I was studying maths and then I found out found out as soon as the math it’s not very interesting anymore um so yeah I dropped out not to the uh satisfaction of my

Parents but I kind of pursued film making and videography on the side whilst working full-time at Cinema which is quite cool three films yeah awesome um yeah so I I worked freelance uh I started my own little produ company started off doing videos for like thae restaurant around the corner and all

Sorts like small places and then actually started working with like some Veterinary franchises and stuff which is quite good but um this is all kind of during covid and it was still in that time where like you could be busy for one month and then really quiet for the

Next two and it’s not really enough that you could depend on it um and I think the key thing for me was I noticed that there was room for a lot of self-development and and I wanted to do it fulltime at the end of the day I was

Still working full-time um at a cinema and I want to work in video fulltime like how else would you kind of grow and get more experience and doing it day-to-day so uh yeah I looked out for opportunities saw the LinkedIn advert for all Trader and applied that Madness

So from just little uh timbo to the to the team but you’ve all mentioned film actually so I’m going to go totally off topic now but like you’ve said you like inspired like especially yourself talk I love films then going into it so is there a particular when you watch films

Of particular like producers directors or the areas you go it’s brilliant love that not the that’s what I want to film but the ones where you totally appreciate the craft I mean I’ve got like anything W Anderson like you know what I mean that Grant would a best

Hotel I could watch it out 50 times it’s just insane with the cartoon into them like film but he you got particular favorite films directors anything on that video production side that could inspire all the people’s highlight video too looking at you Tim first looking at you I do follow certain directors I’m

I’m very much of the all like you know I’m big Steven Spielberg fan right um got tattoos on my arm of Steven Spielberg films that I love have a look can’t get it out there I thought you could say you’ve got a tattoo of Steven spin yeah yeah yeah I love them

Pop culture type films you know back to the and all that I suppose for me it’s it’s what films there’s films in moments in time that are just you just know it’s like it will be on 100 movies to watch posters that you can scratch out the the good G like

Jurassic Park is one of them you can watch that it doesn’t really it’s it’s Timeless isn’t it a lot of the Rings mean you did a on marathon of the extended edition recently me and Tim went um to the cinema and lit I think it was from what like half half1 in the

Morning till midnight all three extended versions back to back I mean honestly yeah I thought it would be harder but it was honestly flew by didn’t it oh yeah so yeah that that that’s another set of films but then it’s just like more what film stand for like I love Disney but

The early Disney yeah where it’s that Innovation and looking ahead and evolving the the the craft of making films animation yeah I I love stuff like that anything Innovative yeah um what about yourself then Tom we’ve T Lord of the Rings is any any sure yeah yeah I

Know well I love Lord of the Rings I think that will always be the Pinnacle for me but um you secretly want to be a hobbit or something I did just just I want to live in rivendale or you know Gallop on horses in I think there’s

Nothing cooler but um yeah I I suppose when I went to University that’s when I really started to broaden my mind in terms of um techniques and and how film can evoke a response from an audience I just found that fascinating how a mixture of audio Yeah camera and story can really

Just you know have visceral responses because cineva has been you know Cinema goes back a long time and it and it’s and it’s an Escape for so many people that’s why I don’t think it can you know with the likes of streaming services you still see people flock to the cinemas

Because it’s because you you are so dialed in and you and you’ve got no distractions and film that’s what film can do and it can take you to a place that you know for me is just just I just love it it’s just um but in terms of

Like films um I mean I Look to uh when I saw parasite for the first time uh came out in 2019 and kind of swept the Oscars this Korean film um and I genuinely went into the cinema kind of not knowing anything about it and was just blown

Away from the the pure Brilliance for me it is the perfect film because it is just the perfect Synergy of Storytelling cinematography audio design and acting it was just it was almost like and and I went back and watched the other direct films as almost how like I I compare it

To how the Swiss make watches just when everything is just so mechanically in harmony it’s just that’s that’s the comparison I would make with this film but yeah just when when when all the elements combine it’s just yeah it just brings me a lot of lot of satisfaction

And joy so you what you mean I mean like I’ve got a memory from when I was like I don’t know I must have been about maybe 18 went dad meet me mate in London and we went to just a c is it the Prince of Wales Cinema just sou Wester square and

Launched Apocalypse Now a Full Metal Jacket there was hardly anybody in the cinema and it just me there’s like maybe 10 people but actually with the sound and everything and had seen them before like hinding you see yeah for like and he’s like you come out I think he was

Only about 8:00 in the evening we come out he’s still light it was summer and I’m like what just happened I know it’s insane yeah it’s incredible what about yourself J obviously working in a cinema you probably got to see loads oh I did yeah oh I could go all day with

Different directors and I love cinematography as well dops shout out to them um I think recent times maybe I’m going to butcher his name Denny vainu did June Blade Runner yeah prisoners yeah he probably my favorite director at the moment um but yeah I think sometimes

It’s when you go in blind like you did with parasite that’s like the best experience and one of the recent ones for them also did well the Oscars was uh everything everywhere all at once that was an levil yeah you watched that didn’t you Tim yeah I mean it’s so

Original I mean I that film’s amazing because I remember it came out the same time as Dr strange the Multiverse of Madness film and they were both Multiverse films but one had a 100 million pound budget and one had just a fraction of that and it was just so

Original the editing was just so on point it just almost felt like you were you were listening to a song it was just the rhythm of the film just the pacing was just perfect and and yeah you can just really I think anyone can appreciate film you don’t have to have

Gone and study film that’s the beauty of it as well it’s so sub people can take what they want from it yeah so when they come back into a trade now cuz I mean like could talk yeah we could just talk so actually like equipment wise this is something me and

Tom have talked about like we were talk about the mics when we were like starting to create Road M like these mics or these headphones or this particular like mix of Kit you got so have you got like in your day-to-day job any particular items or kit or things

Within the all Trader building you absolutely love things that you talk to your you know your video mates about not like a VHS camera on your shoulder with a big tape in it like what is your favorite equipment that you go can’t can’t live without that or on you want

To go this is what we’ve got it’s brilliant for me it’s a weird one and like I think we we all work with autonomy on the team and give a bit of context so I I don’t see myself as NE well I’m top down management yeah but to

Be crude about it and this is going to sound cheesy my to Kit is the team no it might have I know I get you mean there might have been a time where or you know because I’ve I’ve my my background to this has always been I love telling

Stories uh you know I’ve come from a performance Used To Tread the boards at amram and went to drama so I’m very much from that angle of the performance and the the story telling I had to learn the the video production side and wasn’t always great quality I’ll be honest

Either resource or knowledge but now the team where is at where it is and the expertise that we’ve got my favorite tool is the team because each one of them will bring a different thing and a different spin on a video or a different quality and that that’s allowing us to create the

Content that we’re doing at the moment so to send a bit cheese makes you a bit con that that is yeah remember you shatting on we’re doing a couple of shoots outside different like I’m going to use this lens on I think from this angle it was just fascinating watching

The conversation yeah and we have good creative debates as well yeah we do yeah and and we challenge each other and I think that’s that’s a good culture to have really like no one’s aair of going I don’t like that idea you know and and

We we talk it through so you two can’t say people now because Tim’s covered that when we come to no get in there was going to be more I was just going to say a light no um I think when I came to the

Team um it was just um JT we should also mention who isn’t here right now but um is a core member of our team uh and when I first came in the it it was just after covid so the equipment wasn’t quite up to what it is today um so we’ve kind of

Slowly added to our list to and then the content has just you know elevated from from kind of the equipment we’ve been adding um but yeah I I I love the the light that’s lighting us right now CU you could just use that in so many different feeling so warm under it and

All that U but yeah you could just use it in so many different ways and it just um you can just get so many different looks and effects that you want and you know equipment’s great I mean I love it we all geek out over equipment you know

We wouldn’t be in our job if we didn’t but it’s like it’s just the story is the the most important thing and all this equipment is doing is just adding to the story yeah um so yeah I’ll probably save the light to answer your question awesome and what about yourself J oh

It’s stol on my light now so uh about to think of something new I think um if we’re thinking about equipment that we’ve got that other people might be jealous of uh We’ve recently got the motorized slider which you probably see an action who’s that’s the six member of

The team the auto we’ve got a robot that’s uh just slightly it’s not it’s not super cool is it I don’t really look at it ever but it’s like when you just catch in your eye there it goes yeah feel like go on BBC sport that’s it yeah

It definitely have to be that or the cameras we use I think even in like the just over a year of been here the equipment we use has just gone skyrocketed production quality just crazy now and Tim can talk I mean that’s I think that’s Testament to the work

We’ve been putting out because you know we the business has put a lot of faith in in our team and is given us a budget to go and you know spend 25 Grand on on all these cameras and and lenses and lights to because obviously they see

Value in in in the content that we put out Road mapap being an example yeah it been my GoPro 9 I think last time we were out Tim didn’t you you lost a GoPro didn’t you I didn’t loseing Pete got Rob lost it you were gut it was oh he he was

Gutted it was it was all I think it was like goo GoPro 4 or something yeah yeah I mean that’s a you can get the footage from it either somewhere on the Hulk of mos maybe one day we’ll find it someone’s going to edit this fot you

Know someone was going to uncover this GoPro I think he was brilliant footage I mean I do love me GoPro I mean like I I love it they’re great yeah they’re really good yeah but then it so leads me into then like cuz we’ve Al all had our

Own little interactions with stuff like little stories where it’s being really funny uh and I’ve I’ve chuckled even when we’re were doing one of the internal ones uh me and Jordan recently and he just uh Jordan setting up and he was he had me in stitches because he’s

Like you know we’re balancing everything on but have you got particular like moments where you think back over last year of like your favorite moments of being a video production video producer or trade like or any of the funny outakes type stories whether it’d be like me and Tom I think running across

Uh Junction and I’m like the lights are going the lights are coming on green lights green just keep going just keep going and then you just about within the health and safety brief just about so that’s probably we might need to edit that out no we’re not going to edit it so is

There any favor favorites doesn’t have to be this year whenever oh I’ve got I’ve got a few I’ve been very privilege actually going to rolls rice filming the to be released Phantom 8 W and and the thing is I love about that not in disappointment but like I always

Look like if I could have had the team that I had now to film that because it really was just me with with this crappy camera that we had at the time you know like uh so there was that funny moments it was more circum I’ve I’ve turned up a

Few places and not charge batteries and then I to have not it record that’s a bad one that actually happens is that is you know I’m sure there’s lots of videographers watching yet that’s you have to say like that was good but we need to do that take exactly

You got it ex got it you could be a video produc it’s always there for you know and then the I think the were to tell a quick story I think the worst circumstances around the shoot was I was going filming our then CEO Trevor down in London and a train from Manchester

Was at 7 and I woke up overslept at quarter to 7 oh and anyone who over sleeps it’s happened to you he’ll probably tell that story in a minute I it wouldn’t come up it’s that heart and mouth thing the only thing that saved me was the the

Trains were cancelled because of an incident or whatever and I never made it down there anyway so bit of my Saving Grace and I don’t think Trevor made it up at the tight so but yeah that when you’re filming the CEO you don’t want to let that person down do you yeah

Yeah um I mean I’ve had loads of crazy experiences outside of work working on short films and stuff um but the I would say one of the one of the like the pinch me moments I had recently was we went down to film at the houses of

Parliament um and place yeah yeah cuz we were Auto Trader was uh hosting um ethnicity payame yeah Y and yeah so we went down and there were a few MPS but we got like special passes to go through into these private rooms and you know

There was like a big event out on like on the on the banks of the temps and it was yeah that was uh you know like oh look where we are now you know I just started making YouTube videos of bouncy balls and here we are so yeah that was a

Good that was definitely a highlight yeah looking at you J oh fun moments uh even yesterday we did some filming yesterday yeah that was really cool that was a fun morning we’ve never used like batd drops before they’ve got revealed this fabric batd drop it’s not

Cut to size so it’s a bit of a problem solving session for a couple hours um but no I think most shoots were on it’s it’s always fun asn’t it’s never at all day in our team yeah yeah that’s Mega that’s absolutely Mega so right we’re

Going to close in a minute because I know we’re starting to run and we got another chew to do and you know it’s a crazy day today so if then you could um if you could give any advice anybody want to into video production because I

Know like I know s cheese with my kids think they do GoPro bids of bount biking and I think they’re there like you know you’ve got like 10 views uh I mean we’ve only got 276 subscribers so far I’m going to keep plugging that 276 subscribers yeah actually if you’re

Watching this right now please can you subscribe cuz you know we put a lot of effort into it yeah I mean look it helps the channel out a lot yeah and J’s now because of this is now going to be professional oh yeah yeah so like do it

For Jord that’s s new think do it for Jord but yeah so anyone want like could just give him campaign just subscribe do but yeah H serious not if you wanted to get into video production because obviously I know like we’re we’re not a massive team but if there’s something

You could say these are hints and tips if you’re really passionate about video things to look out for yeah I don’t mind saying um I I honestly my advice to anyone getting into it would just be just start making content I mean it’s it’s anyone can make a film

You we all have smartphones you know that are you know really high quality so there’s there’s literally no excuse like if you’re really passionate about film making and and and storytelling in general it you will just want to make videos and films so that’s probably the

Best way to just just start making um you know in your spare time it as I said is is super accessible there’s there’s so much content out there on YouTube you know you don’t need to go to film School you you can YouTube can be your film

School so tap into all those resources and and yeah just be generally really open and and and connect with people that are that are out there making a living from it cuz um I feel like there is a really good culture within the community of of video makers and film

Makers that want to help people and give them experience so yeah anything to add from you J uh yeah I agree obviously experience is top but also building a network like you said uh if you haven’t gone to film school or anything I made a

Bit of a priority to reach out to people in the area production companies yeah uh work with them made short films of all sorts of people and I’ve got quite a good external network without having ever really done any courses or anything beforehand anything from you

Timbe um I would just say be Fearless be curious try stuff you know you look at all the the directors and filmmakers that you that that you admire and aspire to be they all did their first one you know whether it’s t doing that video for

YouTube saying how bad his class was or the ball you know the the the what the stuff that uh Jordan did with we’ve all done our first one haven’t we and it’s all come from a sense of curiosity and just for the passion and never never lose that always be your own filmmaker

And get out there and do it do your first one and that’s that’s get the ball rolling yeah yeah sounds BR I mean I love working with you guys I mean it’s like not not is so good fun yeah so I presume you all accessible on LinkedIn

If anyone is interested in this you’re brilliant so well that’s that’s our time up we have to get on with like doing another one maybe not as uh not as off piece topic so thanks to Tom J because we really want to get j keep J here yeah yeah please subscribe for sub

Otherwise he’s leaving we leaving he’s got two months otherwise he’s gone but yeah please like And subscribe on YouTube hit the notification button so you never miss an episode and follow us on Spotify by an apple podcast and don’t worry J yeah he’s not leaving that was a

Joke but please subscribe anyway catch you soon see you later