Today we’d like to introduce you to Olav Carter.
Hi Olav, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
As many modern creators begin, I found my start as a child making YouTube videos on my parents’ laptop. As I got into middle and high school, this passion for storytelling and creating manifested itself through my school’s daily announcements, NHTV, which my best friend and I revitalized and turned into our passions for nearly 5 years. Here, I found my passion for more advanced storytelling and the appeal of making stories that were equally off-the-wall fun and still inherently meaningful.
Then, as I went off to college at Carnegie Mellon, I had to rediscover myself as a creator beyond my friend and I’s collaboration (he decided history would be more helpful down the line than Film Studies — how silly). The pandemic only influenced this drive more as being at home I had no excuse but to create crazy stories and rope my family into them. Some of my favorite ideas spawned from this time period, and in my final year and a half of college post-pandemic, I made it a point to create a film each semester — this was where my more sophisticated portfolio truly began ultimately, as well as my freelance videography career. I also began working as a Freelance Production Assistant for studio productions with Netflix, Paramount, and more — a role I still enjoy take on regularly today, even after 5 years.
After I graduated college, I took up an internship at a local marketing and production company and applied to larger jobs in my spare time. On a whim, I applied to a Video Contest at The American Pavilion, which promised to take its winners to the Cannes Film Festival in France for an internship. My first submission received a Runner-Up, meaning I got to attend the 2024 Cannes Film Festival 77e, which was one of my more transformative experiences in my life.
After this internship, I decided to move from Pittsburgh to Los Angeles to surround myself with more like-minded entertainment folks, and I have been working off and on as a Freelance Director of Photography, Camera Operator, Video Editor, and Production Assistant across Films, TV, Commercials, Music Videos, and Live Performances. Oh, and inspired by my previous advisors at Cannes 77e, I submitted to the same Video Contest as a program alumni and won! Thus, this May I will be returning to Nice, France for Cannes 78e, hopefully with a bit more of the French language under my belt!
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?
It has been a bumpy road at times, but overall the path has been very fast-paced and engaging. Many of my career issues were coping with the craziness of the industry and wedding that reality with my own constantly-warping world of growing up. I’ve struggled in how much work there is available, on both the busy and dry sides of the amount spectrum. I’ve also worked really hard to be the best I can be at the roles I perform, while also leaving myself open to explore new positions and art forms. My hardest challenge was separating myself from others’ expectations of myself and coming to terms with who I wanted to be and the acceptability of having more than one passion, particularly in the entertainment industry. I love doing so many things!
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?
I work as a freelance Director of Photography, Video Editor, and Writer, but also help as a Production Assistant on the side. My pride and joy is my work ethic on large production sets, and my ability to make friends in whatever community I land in, and particularly how that influences my work. I think that while I take my work very seriously and hold it close to my heart, I am very open to feedback, and I feel that over the years I’ve managed to build up a network of close colleagues and friends that not only make my work better and make me a better artist, but they lift me up as a person too. I think the difference between me and others is that I don’t think I’m all that competitive, I just enjoy having fun with what I do and I feel tremendously lucky when people bring me back to have fun with them on crazy, wildly different projects again and again across the country and, thanks to The American Pavilion and the Cannes Film Festival, across the world.
What quality or characteristic do you feel is most important to your success?
My work ethic and dedication to working in a comfortable environment for all crew members is easily my most important quality, at least professionally. Personally though, below the profession of it all, it’s the constant drive to find the happiness and joy in any situations I can. Whether I’m stressed, scared, exhausted, or in a terrible state of mind, my friends and family can attest I’ll be the first one to try and make people laugh. I think that if you can find a way to make yourself and others smile, then you’re proving to yourself that everything will be all right somehow. And, in my case, you’re also causing incredibly premature smile lines in your face. Whoops.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.olavcarter.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/olavcarter/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/olav-carter/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@AOStudios/videos
Image Credits
Olav Carter, Marlo Velasquez, Audrey Medrano, Jacob Wasserman
