Rising Stars: Meet Chase Alexander of Santa Monica

Today we’d like to introduce you to Chase Alexander

Chase, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I started like a lot of young creative kids with a skateboard and a camera. My friends and I were just messing around, making skate videos for fun. Little did I know that would be my ticket to Hollywood… sort of.
I landed one big videography gig back home in Minnesota, then used the money to buy a car and packed up my dreams and whatever would fit in that tin can and headed to Los Angeles. At first it was a huge a culture shock – and a bank account shock. Those first six months, I was basically a walking around asking neighbors ‘Need a video? I’m your guy!’ I think I filmed a guy’s dog for money once.
Once my gluten intolerance started eating up the rest of my money, I figured it was time for Plan B. Landed an editing gig at an ad agency called “space150” – they must’ve sensed my desperation because they hired me on the spot. For two years, I was cutting Nike ads and learning on the fly. It was like film school, except I was getting paid and there were a lot more swooshes involved. The creatives there were incredible and are still some of my best friends today.
Eventually, I felt the itch to get back behind the camera. These days, I’m shooting and directing medium budget car commercials. It’s a bit like making skate videos, just with bigger toys and smaller odds of breaking bones.
Somewhere along the way, my roommates at the time and I started ‘The 505 Podcast’. It’s all about photography and filmmaking – basically I just try to sneak in jokes the whole time. It’s been a rollercoaster ride, but I’m happy with how much I’ve gotten to learn about my craft.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Money and community were the biggest obstacles when I first moved out here. One of those Venice parking tickets would basically sink my budget for the week. And with my ADHD those parking tickets came frequently. I was fortunate enough to have two friends I knew from school that were from LA, so that helped at first but working alone all day in my room definitely made me very lonely at times. I guess if I had more friends to do stuff with I probably would’ve ran out of money quicker, so maybe that was a savior in the end.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
Shooting and directing car ads is my main gig. For smaller budget spots I get to direct and shoot – which are my favorite, perfectly hectic, days. On big-budget broadcast spots, I lead the B-unit, capturing supplementary and sometimes experimental B-roll, and social breakout stuff. When it’s not for payment, my favorite thing is making little adventure and nature videos with my friends and family. It’s my way of staying grounded when I’m not making things go vroom.
I also co-founded ‘The 505 Podcast’, where we chat all things photo and video. Somehow, we’ve convinced a few brands to sponsor us geeking out about camera gear. I’ve been the editor burning the midnight oil, the cinematographer eating dust for the perfect shot, and the director calling the shots. I think coming from a trained editing background allows me to think about the shoot in an efficient lens, focusing on perfecting the shots I’ll use in an edit, and disregarding the ones I know in advance that I won’t need. My proudest achievement is that I still get the overwhelming excitement from getting a good shot that I did when I was making skate videos back in Minnesota. Only now there are more toys, and the catering’s way better.

Before we let you go, we’ve got to ask if you have any advice for those who are just starting out?
My only advice is when you’re starting out just say yes to everything that relates to what you want to do. I said yes to projects that I absolutely didn’t have the experience or skill set to pull off because I needed the money, and in those projects I learned a ton and met a lot of cool people. Don’t limit yourself. Worst case scenario, you don’t get hired again. No biggie.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.chasealexanderfilm.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chaseronii/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Chasoid3000