Creative Discoveries from Pre-Production to Post

Show Notes

This week, two Sorrentino Media employees take over the microphone – Ashley Vernola (Senior Video Editor and Post-Production Coordinator) talks with Wade Shields (Creative Director) to discuss their working relationship, the history of the company, and what makes them great collaborators and friends. You don’t want to miss this deep dive into the creative process!

What is The Production Geeks?

Welcome to the rack room. The Production Geeks is a deep-dive into the obsessive engineering, high-stakes problem solving, and "nerd-level" passion that fuels Sorrentino Media. Join founder Mike Sorrentino and Dave Shaw (VP, Content and Creative Engineering) as they pull back the curtain on the complex infrastructure behind the world’s most ambitious broadcasts.

From live-streaming test flights for aerospace innovators to architecting massive multi-stream control centers and building turnkey studios for global enterprise leaders, Mike and Dave explore the "how" and "why" behind the tech.

This isn’t just a talk show; it’s a technical post-mortem. We dive into the spec sheets, the signal flows, and the "engineer the hell out of it" philosophy that makes the impossible look easy. If you love the gear as much as the result, and believe that the best production is built on a foundation of relentless technical curiosity, you’ve found your people. Engineered in Midtown Manhattan at 37th & Madison.

SorrentinoMedia.com and MadisonAveLive.com

Hello, and welcome to Media Offline. On each episode of Media Offline, we speak with media professionals at all stages of their careers about their work and lives. Normally it is our founder and CEO, Michael Sarentino doing that, but much like a restaurant in Brooklyn, we do things a little different here. So this week it's actually going to be a conversation between myself, Wade Shields, i am the creative director here at Sarentino Media, and Ashley Vernola, our senior video editor and post production coordinator. We're going to be talking about the creative process and the work that we do here at Sarentino Media. One of the most important things that we have learned as a company is the value of relationships within the industry and the great stories behind the people who make the media. We are some of those people, so we're going to explore that today. So before we get started on the nitty gritty of the episode in the creative process, we should actually talk a little bit about who we are in relationship to one another and to the company. So let's step back and reflect for a minute. Because we are actually the most tenured employees here at Quarantino media, we are indeed you have been here. How long I've been here coming up on four years, which feels crazy to me. Actually, I just saw a LinkedIn post that four years is the average tenure in general for an employee to work at any company, So like in the span of a career, you are about to beat the odds. Wow, that's so inspirational. So I enjoined in twenty eighteen. The company officially started basically in twenty seventeen, so we have been here to see the company kind of change shape and size and form, and part of that I think has been also shaping the company culture. So when I started, I was the second full time employee hired on after Mike himself and our good friend and colleague Tory Guardino. And in those days it was really everyone did everything, So we were running from an editing machine to go run camera in the studio or taking gear and packing it up and going out into the field. And there weren't really like as many distinctions in our company structure and people's jobs and responsibilities. And I actually think you coming on helped set the stage for that moving forward. So what about you? How I was here when you started, So what did you come into. Yeah, I sort of went into this on my own episode of the podcast. But I came into Sorrentino Media as a fresh grad. I had just graduated from Hofstre University and I was just looking to start my career. When I came in, I was sort of expecting to have to run the mill and do the things that we're not necessarily the specialty I wanted to go into, but knew because of the nature of the company at the time, that you know, I was going to have to pitch in and you know, run camera or run audio. But I think that we sort of started the route of creating those sort of lines in between each of our roles because I was so passionate about post and I just kept wanting to edit, and I just kept asking to edit, and I was every time we would get footage, I would like try and put myself in the chair so that I would have the opportunity to work with what we had just shot. And I think that that sort of started to allow us to come up with defined roles. And then I think after that was when we started, you know, Tory at that point was I think started to be referred to as like producer and you were starting to be referred to as something else. And then that's when I became like officially coined as video editor, and so I think like that's when we started to like define and then that obviously has only grown into the positions that we are in now. Yeah, And I can remember leaving you in the office, you know, and going on a shoot and being like, have a good day actually working about myself. And I think the big thing that I sort of realized when I was coming in was I was in a company of all men and didn't really feel like it, which I thought was interesting because the industry as a whole is notoriously not very kind to women or to non men, and so I came into this situation kind of with my guard up, because I just assumed that I would have to be, you know, fighting for my place and fighting for my right to be there, and that especially in that case because I was in a freelancing capacity, So I was like, I have to fight for every dollar, you know, I have to fight for every job that I get. And then I came here and everybody was so nice and lovely, and I was just really surprised, and that allowed sort of our friendships and relationships to grow because we all kind of understood each other on some level. Yeah, well, I'm talking about your gender identity. I had a similar experience as a gay man, and I did the life experience thing of moving across the country. I'm from Arizona, Purple state now, but famously read and honestly, the first six months that I worked here, I wasn't really out until it was it was my first holiday party when I was like, oh, by the way, I'm bringing my boyfriend, and it was like no one batted an eye. It was a very you know, just welcome and like safe environment. And I think that we, both of us and you know, everyone who's here has worked very hard to like grow and establish this welcoming and inclusive culture because we can't create our best work if we're not safe and celebrating each other and creating room for everyone exactly. So, Ashley, what has been what was your first fond memory of the company? Oh? I love this one. So when I first came on, there were only like two edit stations and they were both obviously occupied by both u Wade and Tori. So when I would come into freelance or for anyone else that was coming into freelance. They would kind of be sequestered into Mike's former office, which also had an editing computer in it. And so the first couple of weeks that I was on staff, I was basically or not on staff, but freelancing. I was basically living in that office, just working nine to five from that computer, and you guys were kind of in your own I was like on my own island compared to you guys. And so I had been there a couple of days and was working, and at some point during the day you would like walked in and you were like, Hi, I'm going to get coffee, Like would you like something? And I was like, oh me, Like I'm entitled to a coffee run. That's so exciting. And then after that it just sort of became more of those moments where it was like, Hey, we're gonna go get lunch, or like we're gonna go run for coffee. Do you want to get ten minutes of air? Like can can you like step out for five minutes? And it was also like that was sort of the start too, where I would like come to say hi in the morning and like I sort of was starting to feel like a welcome part of the team, you know, even though at that point I was still just like freelancing and I wasn't like really integrated other than that. But that's my favorite story because I was like, oh my goodness, yes I would, Oh my gosh, that was gonna be mine. I remember that so well. I think you got an niced smokea yeah, that is my dunk. And coffee of choice is well, no, it's crazy. I mean, if I've learned anything in my career, it's like the power of buying someone coffee. Yeah. And then we were buying coffee for each other like every day for like a year. We would just turn it at least like once a week. That was so Yeah. We had a whole group chat. It would be what eight forty five am, and it was like what, severyone what and it would just cycle through and ah, I missed those days such a blast. So one of my favorite memories is Um. I don't know if you remember, but at a certain point we actually started to text like what at like six am, like in the morning, and coordinate outfits. And it was Umi and Tory, all three of us being like today's blue plaid day and We carried this on for like a week until we were hoping Mike would notice. He never did, and so we had to like call ourselves out awkwardly where and he was like, oh, yeah, you are worth Yeah, you are all wearing different shades of red. I definitely noticed that. I feel like, I don't know, there's always like that deep seated part of your personality that's like trying to get back to uh like school spear at days. Yeah, and I think that's a lot we were channeling. We were, and I think that it actually lasted longer than that. I feel like I remember doing it for like two weeks. But I don't know if we just kept up the ruse after we had revealed ourselves, because I definitely have like four or five photos of the outfits of the day, you know. Yeah they were otds. Yeah, this supposed before we get ready with me. I feel like we were getting ready with each other. But yeah, and everybody had to choose very early because I had such a long commute that I had to decide what color it was going to be at like five thirty in the morning. Uh. Well, speaking of being close, our studio was renovated. Wow. Great, segues just before the COVID pandemic hit, and we had an interesting experiences with that. Like Wade said, we had started construction on our new studio, which involved tearing down some of the cubicles that were in the area and also like freeing up a lot of the desk space for the working zone. So we all once again we're sequestered in Mike's office, you know, but it was the three of us this time, all in the same room. We had moved our systems into that room and we're just working in tandem in there, and you know, day to day this was fine. We were all doing our own things. We were having our meetings of the days in there. You know, we were touching base. But we were also working on some very large projects at the time, one of which being problem solved, which was a realty commercial which was a huge endeavor to undertake. We really need to sell so we can find a new place close to my new office. He just got a promotion, and it's at least to our commute. We need a problem solved problem so that yeah, I know, just the person. And so the proximity in which we were working with each other allowed us to establish almost an assembly line workflow where we were passing a project from one another, reviewing it, doing any notes, passing it back along, and it was like making its way down the chain. A lot of that involved like qaing, so I was like watching cuts like back to back to back to back to back, and like Wade was telling me what needed to change, and I was making sure that those things were getting changed just so that we could have as many eyes on it as possible. And I think that and Wade you can speak to this, but I think that a lot of what we learned here was that we were sort of almost moving into our current roles at that point, where I was focusing on a lot of the nitty gritty, a lot of the quality assurance end of things, making sure that the best possible cut, the best possible export, all of those things were going out, whereas you were more worried about the bigger picture end of things and making sure that like everything was implemented and that you know, everything was moving along as it should be. Yeah, I think that's definitely correct. I remember making a list in my notes app of like here's the plan for the day, Here's how we're going to get this all done. This was huge. This was about twenty realtors I want to say, went in on this and each received not only a personal video, but all of the social assets that went with that. So each person was receiving I think it was nine, yeah, customized videos. It was actually really cool. We put their contact information on a sheet of paper that was in the world and that moved and everything, so that was really cute. But yeah, this was like, this was not we made a video. This was we made one hundred videos that all had to go out. And being in that close proximity, I mean, first of all, made it very easy I think an efficient second of all the three of us in a room, like I never had a fight or you know, it was never like oh this is so annoying. It was just like, yeah, we got to do what we want. Yeah, now just even closer. So, Wade, we've talked a lot about our teamwork and our process in a close capacity, but now we have been remote or hybrid for the last couple of years following the pandemic, So why don't we touch a little on like what that looks like now now that we're sort of in a new situation and had to sort of carve this path for ourselves. So, Wade, do you want to talk a little to what your experience is on your side of things when it comes to our process and maybe how that reflects the decisions you make either before a shoot or during the shoot. We at Sparantino Media are lucky and skilled enough to like offer full service from you know, creative development to post, which a lot of production companies and agencies that's not how they operate. So it's not the same team that's developing your creative that's going out and shooting it, that's overseeing the edit, and that I think is something that sets us so far apart in the industry because you and I, I mean, tell me about like some of the texts you receive on a shoot today. I think a lot of them are usually like, look, you're going to hate me, but you're going to see the shot and it's not going to make any sense to you. We'll talk about it on Monday, like I have a plan, or it's like, look you're gonna see fifteen seconds of foote of what seems like nothing. Trust me, it's important, Like we'll figure it out. And so I have to like when I get the footage in, I have to like make that connection and figure out, like, what is what your plan was there? Well, yeah, I mean because I'm also thinking about your experience and if something is a multiple day shoot, I know you're looking at that footage from day one, so I'm like, we don't have time right now, but it'll be okay. But I think it's it's the communication like that that allows us to create at the caliber we do, because it's it's just such a different experience and being able to have that direct line of communication rather than knowing that this footage is going to go on a hard drive and hand it off to an agency who's going to hand it off to who knows who, and that's how a lot of production companies work, whereas here we pretty much know who's going to be handling that footage and we can have those creative conversations, those logistical conversations as well, like far in advance of when they might normally happen. Yeah, definitely. And I'll also add that a lot of the texts that I do receive are also just you kind of brain dumping while you're on set and just being like, I have an idea we're going to use this shot as a split screen, Like these are the ideas. We'll talk about it more in depth, but a lot of those give me a lot of context, leading into, you know, your first cutter, leading into even looking at the footage. It's like, oh, okay, I see the shot he's talking about. I know that we're going to use that in this stylistic capacity, So why don't I just prep that now so that we can sort of see how it works. So a lot of that also informs my edit too, because you're just while you're in the moment, you're like, I think that this is going to work great, and then we can actually see it in practice. And not only that, but I think those texts are also like a lifeline to the outside world because I know that somewhere you're safe and calm at a desk somewhere reading these messages while I might be running around and on a headset and there's you know, who knows what is going on on a shoot. So our relationship goes far beyond you need to edit it like the scent is for sure. Yes, that's kind of my experience having that communication and being able to work with you through the production process. But when it comes to the actual and post production, what are your kind of expectations there? Well, there are a lot of notes, a lot of use of the word nitpicky. I think that in our experience together we both sort of value that first cut and what it can do for a project, because that first cut will always determine whether you're in the right direction or whether you need to completely change gears. And so a lot of those nitpicky notes, so to say, are pushes in the correct direction. There are a lot of fifteen second clips being sent, you know, throughout the edit process to review and to try you know, can we try this shot, Can we try using next effect? Can we you know, take out all the music here? Like can we see how this feels? And so there's a lot of experimentation and like discovery there a lot of the time I will sort of produce a v one that you don't really have a lot of eyes on, and then collectively we will sort of figure out if that's moving in the right direction. And that has just come from now years of experience of working together where you sort of trust me to take you know, your script or your idea and just kind of make it happen, and then we can continue to mold and play with the concept or with the actual edit as we you know, continue to work it through the post production process. I think there's a lot of trust and empathy throughout that process. I guess as overseeing production, I'm trying to see my role through the client and what is the best outcome for them or working with talent, you know, how do we get your interview to be the best it can be. So I think that I'm trying to, you know, make sure the client always trusts me, and I do that by creating that empathy. I feel like you have to live in my head a little bit while also synthesizing your knowledge of the client at this point. Yeah, and so I think that there it's just an awesome circle, you know, And there is a saying like fix it in post for a reason. I am sure that there are a good handful of clips out there where you're like, yeah, not it, Wade, but I got you something else yep, yep. And that's part of like why it's it's so powerful being able to go on these shoots and knowing you know, their support on the back end, and that's huge. I always like to call the action of living in your head understanding the vision, because you will often give some sort of feedback or a note end to someone who does not live in your head. It might need a little more clarification or to be completely rewarded to make sense, so to say. But for me, it's just I have to put my little weighte hat on and then I just have to kind of discover what you mean by that from the post end as well, Like we obviously want the client or the talent to look the best that they possibly can, and so a lot of that empathy also transfers into the post process, because when you're putting the forethought into the production, that will obviously show in the post and we can just do whatever we can to clean it up and to make sure that you know we're using your best takes and we're making sure that you're color corrected and lit correctly, and that you look beautiful and sound amazing, and so a lot of that is also transferred into this end of the process as well. So when you talk about living in my head and understanding the vision, I feel like we've had a couple of projects where it took a little time to get there and I feel like we've had a couple v ones that were great, and I'll give some insane feedback, and then we'll come around to V two and that's when I'm like screaming, fist pumping, like crying at my desk because it's like, yes, this was it. Sometimes because you allow me to sort of do what I want with the first one. You know, I am coming into it kind of fresh and without my or with my own perspective, which you know sometimes isn't as informed as yours when it comes to like you know, you've been on more client meetings or like you have been you you know, you were on the shoot, you spoke to someone that was on like involved in the with the company or with the talent or whatever. So sometimes you're more informed on like the style or like the vibe of it, whereas I'm just kind of going from the footage that I've gotten and so I have come up with my own interpretation of it, and so a lot of the times it's me putting my own spin on it and then you seeing it and being like, great, but what if we did this? Since you know so, I think that's a lot of it for me but then, like you said, V two is so much better, and it's so much better for it talking about how you have empathy and trying to get in my head. I feel like it does go both ways, and that's why I'm always like this is a nitpicking no, because I know it's going to be like a chore, so putting myself in your shoes, I think kind of coast both ways. There's also a level of like, sometimes I feel like you don't quite know what you're looking for yet, and so again that sort of ties back to the discovery phase of everything. But a lot of the times where V one just doesn't quite hit the mark or isn't quite in the direction where we want to go, it's mostly because we're both still figuring out, like what it looks like, and we're both still figuring out what the angle is or what the direction is. And a lot of the times that just come from experimenting and from trying something else and trying something new and seeing how it plays, and a lot of the time you'll find what works and what plays better in that process. Yeah, So, how does that experimentation process, how do you think that differs from maybe how other editors work. Oh, that's a good question. Well, I will say that experimentation and that sort of the playing around phase of a first cut is kind of my favorite part of the edit. I think it's the most fun because I love to watch how it changes and becomes something else entirely while you're editing it. I think there is a difference between this process and how other editors might typically work, just because a lot of times you're working to a script. You know, a lot of times you're cutting based on guidance that has been provided to you. And there are a lot of times where I'm doing that as well. But a lot of the time when we work together it is a much more collaborative process on both ends, because, like I said, a lot of the times you don't have you don't know what it's going to look like, you know when it's done, and you have to sort of figure that out. And I think a lot of that also comes from us constantly trying to improve upon what we have already done. So when we see a V one and we determine it hasn't quite hit the mark or it's not quite in the right direction, we want to improve upon that, and so we are working to make that concept better, or to flesh it out a little more, or to hone in on what really is working. One project where I feel like you really gotten my head just based on the potential loan was with fuel Cell Energy. We did a campaign for their diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiative. I grew up in Equador. I've experienced moments where you know you're not welcome and certain places and stuff like that. It hasn't always been easier trying to get into a technical field as a female, especially when I was going to college. One of the clubs I joined I was the only Hispanic person in like the fifty person club. I became a father and had two kids that were a little bit more demonstrably on the autism spectrum. I started to recognize things from my childhood where I'm like, oh, I'm on the autism spectrum as a single mom, I'm a parent first, I'm a heterosexual, white male and a male, heterosexual, white dominated field. I don't want other people to feel like they have to hide themselves and not be who they are. It was just such a plature to work on. What we did was set people down for a twenty ish minute personal interview not on camera, because we were trying to get people to share about their real life experience talking about identity and gender and race and these are all very personal things. So we had this disparate audio recording and then we brought them into a room for kind of a photo shoot, look and marry that together. And that was one where V one was just like, yes, like definitely some magic there. Yeah. I think like when you're given all of those separate pieces, and this was kind of a new tactic for Wade to kind of step into having them just doing the audio and having you know, not their interviews not on camera. That was like kind of a new tactic. And so when I received all those pieces in the edit, there is a level of trying to figure out how to make those things work. But what I think really drives the story there are the people themselves and the experiences they shared. I mean, they just tell the story for themselves. And it's truly a really, really beautiful piece that I've had the pleasure to work on. And I think that V one was a lot It was a culmination of just letting those stories tell themselves with a good music track and you know, very heartfelt visuals on top and just sort of letting letting them take the lead, because I think that they were truly the focus of this video and their stories are truly what was most important. Yeah, I think we really got out of the way as creatives and didn't overproduce it and let them shine. Do you prefer working on a or heartfelt inspirational piece or something like a comedy. I do really like both. I think both stretch different creative muscles. But I do love working on something heartfelt and watching it go from just someone speaking to a camera, you know, telling their own story, and then with the addition of like b role or sentimental music or color, even watching that go from just I am a person speaking in an interview too. This is a very heartfelt, sentimental story that really impacts the viewer or really leaves something with the viewer when they're done watching it. I love to sort of leave that little nugget in there. I think I'm ultimately with you, and I think it's interesting because we work primarily on branded content, and I think what we're really good at is going for that genuine approach. I feel like a lot of people are kind of shocked when they received their video and they're like, how did how did you do that? Because we are able to make kind of beautiful pieces that people don't really expect because I think people are like, oh, you're making a video about my job. But I think for me as a creative, it's like you do this eight hours a day, five days, like you have to care at some level there is a passion here, there is a story Otherwise you know, what are we doing? And I think that we as a company definitely capture that kind of the passion behind the person. Yeah, and in a similar vein you know, there's always a person or there's always a team of people behind every brand, every department, every title, and I think that, you know, especially with larger companies, the general public can sort of lose sight of that because they're so large and you don't really get that heartfelt one on one and so I love when we get the opportunity to kind of remind people that like, brands are human too, and like there are people behind them that really care about what they do and that are really passionate about whatever field they're in, or you know, even in general, just passionate about themselves. I'm actually reminded about the Marriott project that we did a couple of years ago, where it wasn't even really about them as Marriott employees. It was about their favorite vacation spots, you know, spots that were sentimental to them and that meant something to them. We found ourselves down on the set of Stairs, down the bank of the Mississippi River, and we were just so excited to have this adventure and make these memories together. And we just sort of sat there and just enjoyed each other's company and that we had finally made it there. And we took a picture on the steps, and that's, you know, framed in my house right now. It's my very favorite photo of the three of us together. You know. It's just kind of peeling back the curtain on something that seems so like large and nebulous and reminding people that like they're people too, they have stories and they want to tell them. Yeah. I think that's really important to remember, and I think that's the kind of content we love to make and are quite good at. Yeah. So, Ashley, I think we can wrap up with what have we learned from each other? And I can go first? Okay, go first. I well, I am constantly inspired by your work ethic. I think this is something that also like really brought us together. I think we are both young ish creators but joining even younger and really forming that connection of just wanting to show up every day and give our best, you know, leave one hundred and ten percent on the field. I feel like that is what we bring pretty much every day, and that that's really special. And furthermore, I mean, as we've both grown and been here longer, just watching you develop as a leader kind of inspires me. And watching having someone to compare and contrast too, I think really helps just gain an understanding of different leadership styles and how we can continue to serve the company. So that's I don't know, I love that. Well, thank you. I've said this to you before, But also like watching you become a leader in your end of things is also very inspiring, just because you've earned it and you've worked harder than anyone else here frankly, to you know, get to where you are and to be able to do the work that you're so passionate about. And so that's extremely inspiring to me. And I've said this a million times to everyone that's on the post team as well, so they've heard this all before. But I truly believe that Wade makes us better editors because he has the background as an editor, He has the knowledge, and then he also has the creative and the talent end of things. And all of those separate pieces are brought together and compiled in every note, in every thought, comment, concern when it comes to a cut. So we are constantly learning and no note comes without intention. Every note has an intention. Every note is in the interest of improving or experimenting or discovering something new about the piece, and so even even the most nitpicky of notes are all valuable. Oh can of cry? Do what you all as we wrap up our final moments? What are your future goals or visions for us? Wow? Well, I hope to work on many a project together, continue to. I cannot imagine like ever not working with you. That is actually so validating to hear, and I'm so glad that you feel that way because I also feel very similarly. I think that we have established a partnership and a team that I don't think you come across very easily. I think that we get each other on both a creative and a professional and a personal level. And I think that I can only hope in the future that we continue to work together in you know, the same capacity, and that we continue to just you know, push each other to grow and to create the best content we can. Yeah. Absolutely, And I think for me, like I just have this kind of nagging feeling that I'm going to spend the rest of my career kind of trying to get back to that idyllic feel of just three friends in a room doing the very best they can to create and you know, no ego, just putting it all out there and really being there for one another. And that is something I've I've tried to maintain as the company feel even if we've grown and welcomed in new members to join our little posse. So hopefully people continue to experience that because I want everyone to have that same joy in their work that I have been so lucky to have. I agree, I agree. Well, this was a very special episode of Media Offline. Michael, thank you for letting us take over the microphones today. We had a blast and we hope everyone had a wonderful time listening to our banter. Yeah, thank you so much for listening. Thank you for having us on and I don't remember how the show winds. Thanks