Today we’d like to introduce you to Jordan Miller
Hi Jordan, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
Life is a river. It’s best to go with the flow.
It has been a journey these past 15 years. I have learned so much on the way. I started my professional career in 2010. At that time, I just graduated from college with a degree in marketing and a minor in the visual arts. I was trying to find my way after college and was applying to many different marketing and sales jobs. At the same time, I had just bought my first camera with some graduation money and was getting into photography and videography. The arts were my first love. I grew up having an art teacher as my mother. Having a camera in my hand was a way for me to tell my stories. During my junior year of college, I had taken a couple of video and animation classes and loved them! I was hooked with the idea that I could position my camera a certain way and capture the human face in a different light. I was intrigued that I could edit a scene a certain way and convey a different emotion every time. I guess you could say that I was hooked with the ability to create stories through this media art form called cinema.
As it turns out, I never got that marketing and sales job. Instead, I started my own photo/video business called Jordan J. Miller FIlms. Eventually I did enough small projects that I got noticed by an art museum who eventually offered me my first fulltime job as a videographer at their art museum. I worked there for a year until I decided to move back down to Texas to pursue more opportunities.
That was 15 years ago. Today, I run a documentary focused video production studio called Purpose Driven Films. I have discovered that I have an ability to understand people and know how to tell their stories. I am going into my ninth year as a business owner/entrepreneur and my 13th year as self-employed.
Being self-employed and not in a union means that it has been very challenging to navigate. I am self-taught and have acquired my filmmaking and business skills through the trials and errors of doing it yourself. It’s been a journey to this point. I have learned how to survive in this competitive cutthroat industry. It has not been easy. Over the course of my career, I have filmed professionally in many different areas of the industry. From churches, ministries and non-profits to Outdoor Television, music videos, feature films, short films, crime documentaries, weddings, live events, sporting events, radio, news and educational programs. My work has been featured on Netflix, Lifetime, BBC Scotland, Amazon Prime, The Outdoor Channel and the Sportsman Channel among many others. My diverse background has given me a variety of skills and experiences that help me to relate to many different people.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It has been a very bumpy, costly and extremely challenging road.
My biggest challenge has been battling myself.
I am a very creative person that is very driven and very passionate about my work. My work is not just my work, it’s my life and I believe part of my purpose. I am very dedicated to finding purpose in everything I do. I don’t settle and put my whole heart into what I passionately care about.
With that being said, I have the problem of overcommitting as a very giving person. I have the tendency to give away too much of my time for free or accepting less than I am worth. It is also very hard for me to sell myself. It’s not natural for me to talk about how good I am at what I do. Even though I know I am.
For these reasons, most of my clients have come from world of mouth. I am learning to overcome my challenges in hopes of marketing myself better in the future.
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?
My work is documentary focused. I love studying people and finding a unique way to tell their story. I believe we all have a unique story to tell but often we don’t know how to start. My job as an artist and filmmaker is to make you feel comfortable in being who you are and guiding you through the artform of cinematic expression.
My films take a lot of heart to make. It’s emotional work and emotional tolls on me. Depending on the project, I put myself in other people’s shoes to gain perspective into their lives. From there, I try to find a natural environment to interview the person. Interviews are like having a conversation with me. I do a lot of listening and spend a lot of time, gathering details and helping you feel comfortable in opening up.
Filming is all about natural lighting. I try to bring in lights that accent a natural light setting. My cinematography is all about capturing the scene as real as possible.
My editing is driven by the message. I work on the interviews first to pick my soundbites. From there I search for music that gives me the right feeling based off my intuition.
Music is a very important element in all of my films. I often spend hours trying to find the write feeling for a particular scene. I am a musician myself so I often score my own music when I can’t find music I want.
My work is 100% real and authentic. They are human and original. Handcrafted with small details from start to finish. A reflection of who I am as a person.
The crisis has affected us all in different ways. How has it affected you and any important lessons or epiphanies you can share with us?
Covid-19 taught me a lot about how to work under stress. The most important thing I learned is to stay calm. No matter what, life is not going to be as bad as it seems. To survive the Covid shutdown, I have learned the importance of adapting my strategies and teaching myself new skills.
When the Covid shutdown happened, I lost all of my work overnight. When my clients began shutting down, I went online and bought live streaming equipment. I a basic knowledge of livestreaming but like most things, I had to teach myself the rest. I spent the next few weeks learning everything I could by watching Youtube videos and reading articles and forums online. From there, I created livestreaming packages and virtual event solutions and uploaded them to my website. Shortly afterwards, I turned my living room into a home recording studio/virtual event platform where I would host virtual events and film content remotely.
I did many virtual events during this time. One of my finest virtual events was doing a virtual event with about 150 guests online and working with a DJ remotely to provide entertainment during group breakout sessions.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.purposedrivenfilms.com
- Instagram: @purposedrivenfilms
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/purposedrivenfilms/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordanjmiller/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@purposedrivenfilmsllc4169
- Other: https://www.youtube.com/@storyinthemakingtv
