Read more about the Serbian Cultural Center Promotional Videos (2021)

What I learned

The biggest lesson I learned from this experience was learning to collaborate with another organization who wants to make a promotional video that benefits them. Up to this point in my career, I was only making films about stories I was interested in telling. Now, I was showcasing an entire organization and their Serbian school and I had to present them in the way they wanted to be shown. I did meet with the head of the Serbian Cultural Center a couple of times to discuss the vision they had for the promotional videos, and because of my experience in my 8th and 9th grade video production classes, I was able to come up with a vision that both of us were proud of showcasing. The Serbian Cultural Center loved the final product so much, that when they were doing their press tour in Serbia and the TV stations were asking them for video material about their organization, they were using my promotional videos.

This was my first freelance work ever and obviously I was super excited to get my foot in the door and start getting work done. I had spent a few weeks preparing what questions I would ask the board of directors and what material I would shoot. I even was able to rent out the cameras that my high school used to have before my old film teacher retired and I also used the GoPro camera I had as well. I had a solid preproduction and I was ready to shoot, everything seemed perfect on paper. No matter how prepared I was during this process, a small lesson, which I am so glad I learned incredibly early on was to be 100% prepared with equipment. I remember getting to the park that we were filming at and starting to set up my equipment and I realized I had forgotten the SD cards for the big camera I rented from my school. I was lucky enough to live relatively close to the park so my mom drove there to give them to me. This delayed production for about fifteen (15) minutes, but it was not such a big deal because the Serbian lessons taking place lasted for a couple of hours. Now I know to have a checklist and make sure every single piece of equipment, no matter how small, makes it to location. Because I had this mistake so early on in my career, I never forgot a piece of equipment again to a shoot I was directing. Even though the lesson was super small, it went a long way for never having to delay a production again. 

Another small lesson I learned was to make sure the camera works all the way. Even though I am not a cinematographer or a gaffer, in my earlier shoots, I was usually the one filling in those positions. The reason why the board of directors interview looks so bad is because I forgot to set the neutral density filter, and I did not realize it until they were showing us the cameras we were using in my Cinema and Television Production (MEDI 102) class in my first semester of college. I remember sitting in class and they were showing us a tutorial video on how the cameras worked and they showed what would happen if you do not set the neutral density filter correctly. My mind instantly remembered this shoot, and how I had spent so much time trying to fix it in post. I thought the camera I rented from the school was broken, but turns out I was one setting away from fixing it. Another mistake I am glad happened very early on in my career, even though I very fortunate to not be the one operating the camera now, I know what to look for when something is not looking as I want it to.

If you read all of this, so far, thank you for your interest in the lessons I was able to learn through this experience. And this is the first time that I actually have a success story to prove that these lessons did end up helping me in future shoots. Since I made two promotional videos for the Serbian Cultural Center, the second video shoot went so much smoother than the first. I knew to bring all the equipment, nothing was left behind! At this point, I was shooting with my own DSLR camera and nothing looked off, because I knew what settings to film in. And because the Serbian Cultural Center was so happy with the first video, they were a bit more hands off this time around in the development stages because we both knew that I had a general idea on what to film, and it was just a matter of gathering the appropriate material. The second time around was so much easier on both ends, because we both knew what to do and we all knew what we wanted the outcome to be.

Helping the Serbian Community

I was raised in a mostly Serbian family (with the exception of being 25% Mexican). Growing up, my first language besides Spanish was Serbian. My family celebrated Serbian customs such as Slava, and we went to Serbian church for all the major holidays and the Serbian Festival (check out my other videos). I spent almost every summer in Serbia visiting family. I was pretty immersed in the culture and community around me. All of my earliest friends are Serbian and we all have a shared experience of growing up as a Serbian in the United States. Because I live so far away from my country, not everyone around me in school had a similar upbringing. Outside of Serbian events and church, my family was the only Serbian people I would see regularly. I was born too late to go to the Serbian Cultural Center's Serbian School. But I know if I was younger, my parents would have 100% put me in there (same with all my friend's parents). Around the time I was offered the position to make the video for the Serbian School, I was mature enough to realize that I want to help kids like me grow up in an environment where they know they can experience their culture on a regular basis. They do not just have to wait until their friend's Slava, or Christmas to see Serbian people and practice the Serbian language outside of their own family. I like to think that I have impacted so many people that I may never meet because they just stumbled upon my video and decided to it would be best enroll their children into Serbian School. I hope I helped a new generation of kids learn Serbian language, history, and culture so they can pass on our traditions to their kids. 

Fun Facts

-This was Natalija's first commissioned work

-The Serbian Cultural Center of San Diego recognized Natalija with a Community Service Award at their St. Sava Celebration in March 2022 for her help in making promotional videos

-The promotional videos appeared in several Serbian morning shows on channels such as Prva and N1

-The Serbian TV channel Prva airs Natalija's favorite Serbian show, Loto (lottery number drawing) so she is very honored to have shared TV airing with the show

Film Credits

Director, Producer, Interviewer, Cinematographer, Editor: Natalija Plavšić

Production Assistant: Mihajlo Plavšić