SMACK HAPPY BLOG

Team Spotlight: Alexis Keenan, Authentic Storyteller

Let’s take a moment to talk about one of our matchless content creators, Alexis Keenan. Her video production work is exceptional because she consistently integrates her up-to-date video production technology expertise and on-brand authentic storytelling. Recently we sat down and spoke with Alexis so that we can tell her veritable story.   From pre-production to…

Let’s take a moment to talk about one of our matchless content creators, Alexis Keenan. Her video production work is exceptional because she consistently integrates her up-to-date video production technology expertise and on-brand authentic storytelling. Recently we sat down and spoke with Alexis so that we can tell her veritable story.

Team spotlight: alexis keenan, authentic storyteller 1
 

From pre-production to editing, Alexis enjoys and excels in video production. She takes anyone’s story to where it needs to be

Said Alexis, “I’m just doing what I do!”

We know there’s more to it than that. Alexis goes above and beyond completing her projects. She puts her heart into every step so that the completed product is what it needs to be, captivating its viewers by telling a wholly thrilling and authentic story.

A Lifelong Self-Motivated Creator

Alexis was always creating one way or another. Her focus began in drawing, but then about halfway through college she dove into film theory, and then she began hands-on video work. She got her own camera and quickly got to work.

Alexis shared, “I’m an impatient person and I didn’t really want to wait for 10 years for some senior editor somewhere to decide to give me a shot, so I got my own camera and started making my own footage.”

The Importance of Film as Content

We appreciate her work, knowing how well-produced video content works hand-in-hand with static website content. Alexis knows this, and it shows in her work.

“A book is 600 pages, right, and you can make an hour and a half film out of a 600-page book just… representing the book visually. So, you can have pages and pages of copy on a website, but a 90-second video could sum up all of that really quickly. And somebody could watch it, see those visuals, understand what you’re doing, and then also get to meet you in person, hear you talk, hear your tones, all of that, and then it just makes things a little more personal.”

People Are What Inspire Her to Create

And how does she put together those visuals? Again, she just does it! That’s her answer, and we love that answer, as it makes the process sound so simple. But we know that alongside her hard work, she really has a knack for taking in people’s passions and creating just the right stories for them.

“I just watch and observe. And in terms of how I work with my clients, I get my inspiration from them because they’re excited about their work, which rubs off on me, which makes me passionate about their work, and then I’m looking for the best way to show and share what they are trying to do.”

And this is what she’d tell aspiring video producers, to just create all that you can create. And, almost as importantly, don’t compare your work to others.

“I like shooting and I like going out and doing all of these things, but if I spend too much time going out and looking at all of these people doing really awesome camera work and things like that, then I spend half of my time worrying about what camera I should buy, when I can create really good stuff with what I have now.”

“I mean, it’s been said by tons of people who are in video production, but just do it, [laughs] go out and do it because, I mean, you have to be persistent and don’t listen to the naysayers and just go and make it happen, basically. And yeah, definitely, get inspired by people as much as you can, but don’t spend your time looking at other people and thinking oh, I can’t do that, so I guess I won’t. That’s not helpful.”

Her favorite video production technology, as of late, is drones. She shared, “There’s a lot of cool things that you can do with a drone that aren’t just, you know, overhead shots. I could basically use it as a crane, going from high to low. Every day is different.”

Humbly describing what she does, Alexis exudes inspiration, a hard-working creative nature, and honesty. Her talent goes unmatched in sharing people’s authentic stories and helping brands express all that they can provide, and we thank her.

Nicole Hanusek

Nicole Hanusek

Nikki Stormborn of the House Smack Happy, First of her Name, the Custom Coded, Queen of the Designs and the First Website, Nichole of the Great List of Typos, Breaker of Rules, and Mother of Puppies.

I've been designing and coding websites since 1998. Yep, that's before the Internet was popular! I currently live in San Francisco, but I started out in Cleveland, OH. In college my major was illustration and one day I was working in the computer lab and my colleague was looking for jobs in our industry. I thought to myself, "I should probably do that too!" So I sent my resume to every place that offered graphic design positions in my area. I interviewed at a web consulting company, and the owner asked me why I wanted the job. I didn't even know what the job was! He hired me anyway, and on the first day, the Art Director handed me a thick book and said, "here, learn HTML." And so I did, and here we are. I'm hooked.

What I like most about building websites is that I get to be creative visually and solve problems. Growing up, I was a huge fan of math and science, so the coding part of the job scratches that logic and trouble-shooting itch. I get to partake in the artsy side and analytical side - the best of both worlds!

My goal is to help make everyone's life easier. By building easy-to-use websites, I can help my clients, as well as their clients.