A Fast Train from Plymouth

It’s been nearly a decade since Dominic Husband boarded a fast train from Plymouth to London in 2007 to meet The Crewing Company. Since then, Dom has gone from strength to strength in his career becoming not only one of best known faces on the books, but also the most consistently booked. Having recently returned from Paris after a pretty memorable birthday trip, Dom stopped by for a catch-up with Aaron and the rest of the team at TCC Towers.

It’s amazing that an editor with such vast experience and credibility as Dom was editing student films at the Met Film School when The Crewing Company signed him. Dom had just finished a year back at Plymouth College of Art and Design as a mature student, which, Dom explains, was the very thing that kick-started a long and successful freelance career in the edit suite.

“The thing with student films is that if there’s a mistake, there’s often no ‘oh we’ll just re-shoot this or re-record that line,’ so a lot of the time you have to improvise, looking for other random shots and sort of ‘cheating’ it a bit. I later used some of those tricks on TV shows and corporate videos. I suppose in the early days it helped bring out my creativity and taught me how important adaptability is in the industry.” Dom’s student projects mounted up into the hundreds and it wasn’t long until a phone call in the summer of 2007 brought him to us.

Dom’s first booking was with Mentorn as a Junior Editor, a client with whom he would work extensively. Dom explains it was at Mentorn that he built up his software experience with FCP, having started out on Avid Media Composer. Dom recalls having to learn FCP extremely quickly for a demanding job. Dom also now works with Adobe Premiere Pro, which he says is very much in the ascendancy.

“Since Apple’s Final Cut Pro X arrived, Adobe have really come forward and taken their chance in the market with something closer to the earlier Final Cut Pro,” Dom said. “Premiere is very convenient, with great Creative Cloud software integration and it’s a lot easier than having to go step by step, back and forth, between programs. It even allows you to use Final Cut keyboard shortcuts. It just makes life a little easier for an editor, especially if you regularly use different editing programs… and it’s really fast!”

Dom has never been too far away from the media industry with his Mum, Dad, Grandfather and brother all having worked in the field. While his family have mostly leaned towards the journalism aspect of television and news, he always felt he would follow them in some way. He loves freelancing and the challenges that it brings.

“Early in my career, I always imagined myself in a staff role, but I really do love freelancing. I’ve met and worked with so many amazing people over the years and working for different companies keeps it fresh. I don’t think I could ever do a Monday-Friday, 9-5 job now.”

Our conversation turns to Dom’s jobs in 2014 and he picks out the Geneva Motor Show, One Two Four’s 20 Per Cent Reinvestment charity video and Channel 4’s The Virgin Killer documentary as highlights. Dom has worked on a versatile array of projects through the years, even including an interview with Creation Records legend Alan McGee and a behind the scenes shoot with Kelly Brook (Linked Below). But, as ever, Dom is looking well beyond his now-familiar editing work into potentially shooting his own projects.

“I’ve just bought a nearly-new camera from a friend in the business and I’m getting into the idea of self-shooting as well as editing. It started really with shooting pickups on some editing jobs and on a live webcast for Markettiers4dc when I got to work on the 3rd studio camera. I really enjoyed working with the actual cameramen and the idea to move in that direction has grown on me since then.”

I asked Dom what he thinks it takes to keep afloat in an ever-competitive post-production market: “Always having an aim, I think. Just having something to work towards, long-term, and sticking with it, whether that means working long hours or travelling or taking work when you were planning on doing something else. Even if it gets really exhausting, it helps me stay focussed.”

Aside from another potential Geneva Motorshow trip in March and catching some waves on the coast, surfing (of which Dom is a big fan), Dom’s calendar is fairly free for the beginning of 2015. One of the big fish on our editor roster, catch him before his diary inevitably fills up!