Today we’d like to introduce you to Brad Davis.
Brad, before we jump into specific questions, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I’ve always been into entertainment, for years I was Biff at Sea World, or playing drums in a touring band called Reeve Oliver. I love art, comedy, music and childlike awe. In 2009, my band had broken up, and I made some new friends who were getting into video production. I mentioned to them that I had always wanted to make instructional drum videos that were funny, and wild. The drumming videos I grew up watching were great for information, but very dry when it came to personality. I wanted to change that. So my friends Nick, and Luke and I began filming and strategizing what would soon become “Adventure Drums” which is a YouTube Channel that pairs information, and my dumb sense of humor/love for weird & silly characters. We do different characters for different elements of drumming, Rodnel teaches basic rudiments, Biernt does product reviews, Tiff teaches you how to go fast, and Brad teaches you general drum lessons with a useless superiority complex. In the music realm, most people are communal and encouraging, and there are exceptions where people treat you like you’re their competition. So, I play that character as well.
For the next few years, we made a video every week building up our YouTube Subscriber base to over 50k, and over 75k across platform. It has been so fun, and it is what my wife says is “the true Brad”. The thing I hadn’t realized, is over the years of putting out that much content, I had written, directed and edited hundreds of videos, and learned how to use a green screen and some visual FX along the way. I had been seriously honing my craft while thinking I was just having a great time making something, I was excited about. That takes us to – AdventureVision Productions.
Since my days as a touring musician, I’ve met a TON of other bands, and somewhat kept in touch with them along the way. In early 2017, I partnered with Switchfoot to work on building up their YouTube activity. We worked with their amazing team and ended up doubling their subscribers in the next couple years. Then we worked on different promotional videos together for a while, and eventually, they asked me to make three music videos for their album Native Tongue. (the songs were “Native Tongue”, “Voices” and “All I Need”) Secretly, that was what I was hoping for when I started working with them.
I found myself being a full time freelance Director and Editor, making music videos for bands, promotional campaign videos for businesses and non-profits, Visual FX and motion design, visuals for live events, and so I founded AdventureVision Productions.
I have had the privilege of working on projects that I love, working with Salesforce, Switchfoot, LiveNation, San Diego Symphony, Drumeo, National Immigration Forum, Catholic Charities, Kings Kaleidoscope, The Global Immersion Project, Centricity music and more lovely friends!
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I am a pretty staunch optimist, and I try my best to allow it to run free. Sometimes that leads me to major disappointment, sometimes it leads me to opportunities I can’t believe I have.
One struggle that I still encounter is “impostor syndrome”. It’s a total jerk. It’s the internal voice that whispers all the reasons why you aren’t good enough or qualified enough to be where you are. I’m familiar with that voice now, and am pretty good at snubbing it, so that I can be super present and do my most excellent work.
I should add that anything good that I’ve ever accomplished is because of the wisdom and feedback of my partner, Hailey Mitsui. She has helped me infinitely, navigating the struggles, evaluating my approach, helping me calibrate the AdventureVision machine.
AdventureVision Productions – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
AdventureVision productions is a “full-service production company with an overactive imagination”. We make branded videos and films, visual FX and motion design, Music videos, and visuals for live events.
I’m most proud of the work we’ve done recently with Salesforce and Soledad O’Brien, the Music videos for Switchfoot, and the live visuals we did for Kings Kaleidoscope’s Zeal Tour last year. I’m also proud of our relationships with our clients/friends. A good experience is super important to us.
I believe what set us apart from others is our values of Quality, Memorability and Humor. We love giving people the warm fuzzies, making people laugh, or say “how did they do that?!”. We are creatives, and don’t want to do anything boring, ever. Another main strength of ours is having a small, scalable team. It makes it possible to keep prices down and leverage our network of the best creative professionals in San Diego.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
The piece of art that I’m most proud of is an album I released with my band The Eagle & Child last year, called Sight. This is an album that speaks to the current mess we are in as a country and world, and what the role of the Christian Church should be during this moment.
I think my greatest accomplishment is the number of friends I’ve made along the way. I have formed friendships with musicians from bands I have loved forever, or other creatives who inspire and challenge, or friends who are experts at one thing that can always help me come up with a solution to my impossible ideas. My friends make me proud to know them.
Contact Info:
- Website: Adventurevision.co
- Email: brad@adventurevision.co
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adventure_vision/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/adventurevisionn
Image Credit:
Erick Frost, Joseph Diaz, Dan Coronado, Lily Correa.
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