How do you become a videographer in the esports scene? And: Was that always your goal?
I never really had a goal back then. I just enjoyed watching YouTube videos and playing Call of Duty. I thought I'd like to do something like that myself, and above all, I wanted to produce videos that I would enjoy watching. Formats I'd seen from American YouTubers, for example, didn't really exist in the German-speaking world yet – the scene here was still pretty oldschool. So I decided to create those formats myself. Somehow one thing led to another: At school, for example, I had design and media technology, and in my spare time I made a lot of YouTube videos and just tried out new things. That's when it became clear to me that I wanted to do something with videography and work in the gaming/esports space.
Short version: You need a real passion for the medium of film/video and be a passionate fan of the esports scene.
Walk us through your history a bit: You produced YouTube videos actively for a while and were at uX for a long time – How did these experiences shape you?
I started with YouTube around 2012. At first I produced a lot of garbage, if I'm honest. I'd seen so many things and thought, I'll just give that a try too. Eventually my own style crystallized, and I was contacted by a friend I'd also met through YouTube. That's how I ended up at uX-Gaming. That was around 2014. Back then, very few esports organizations were active on YouTube. However, uX already had a vision around YouTube at that time, which is why they formed a content team that I became part of. The people I worked with became real friends of mine. It was our hobby and brought us very close together. Some of those people are still doing Call of Duty, YouTube, and gaming today – hobby turned profession, so to speak. That time shaped me incredibly as a person – on a creative level, but also on a personal one. I still meet up with those people from back then.
What is the most challenging about your work, and what fulfills you the most?
The most challenging part is living up to the expectations I set for myself when it comes to content. At BIG, we're naturally a smaller content team compared to other organizations, but we want to capture an incredible amount: We want to show BIG's story, tell the players' stories, really show viewers what they want to see, and get them excited. The various formats we try out and create along the way are very challenging, and you put a lot of pressure on yourself for them to turn out well. Time pressure also plays a role, because especially at a multi-day event, it's incredibly hard to edit and publish vlogs on the same day. What fulfills me the most, however, is when others recognize that dedication in the videos. Even if I sometimes sit on a video at an event until late at night, I'm thrilled afterward when the guys wake up the next day and say: "Hey, that's a really sick vlog!" The comments under the videos that appreciate the work also mean a lot to me.
How do you actually get better as a videographer? How do you keep developing? Where do you find inspiration?
I'd say you get better by just doing it and producing. I used to start thousands of Premiere projects and kept refining them. It's like in video games: You get better when you work on yourself and stick with it.
I also watch other videos and documentaries, of course, and I keep pulling out aspects that I want to implement myself and incorporate into our videos.
What do you enjoy more: filming (and possibly hosting) or post-production? Why?
I'd say I enjoy post-production the most. Filming is fun too, of course, but I especially like bringing out even more of what you captured on site through post-production. In post-production in particular, you have the opportunity to highlight the atmosphere that prevailed on site through music, effects, and so on, making it more accessible to viewers. Through editing, you can also convey an entire day full of emotions in ten minutes, for example. That's really cool.
Can you actually properly enjoy/experience the events you cover with your camera?
Through BIG I've already traveled all over the world: We were in Brazil, France, Denmark, Malta, … Of course it's exhausting, because during the day I not only have to try to capture the emotions on camera, but in the evenings I have to get to post-production, which takes a lot of love and work from me. But I'd say I can definitely enjoy the events. During off days, for example, you always have time to jump into the sea yourself, do something, and explore the surroundings. It's just a lot of fun to accompany the teams to events, because you also get to look behind the scenes and experience up close how the players interact with each other and deal with wins or losses.
What have been your highlights at BIG so far, and why?
My absolute highlight was the Major in Rio in 2022. Brazil is simply a country that feels like a completely different planet. The plants, the animals, the people – everything is different. It's incredibly fun to discover all of that. Accompanying our team there live was a big dream of mine that came true. It was a great event, BIG played really well, and I have so many great memories from it. To this day, I still love watching the vlogs from back then.
Anything else you'd like to get off your chest?
I'm glad to be doing exactly what I love at BIG. I'm already looking forward to driving to the office again tomorrow and telling BIG's next story. I'm very proud that I get to do all of this and of the team I work with. I'm very happy and excited about the future!