Everything comes at a price
everything must be fought for
you have been a huge part of my career
And my career has played off
completely unexpected
and
as far as i'm concerned extraordinary
because I could have never imagined what would happen
now I want to talk about
seven years on youtube
Thats how long I've bee on social media
first it starts off when i was a little teeny guy
I grew up watching my dad make movies
he managed
and worked at a grocery store at night shift
and he at night time a lot of times would make
make these music videos at the grocery store
I think that was allowed, probably not
but he would have so much fun and he would come back and show us these music videos of him
working in the grocery store
and it was just so amazing to see how
excited he was about it
but eventually my dad let me film every so often
I had to be super careful cuz this was the only camcorder we had
it was like a
big honking thing back then
So I would make these music videos
and these legos stop motion videos
and I fell in love with that
and I just knew I love to make stories
and tell them through video
Now I grew up in Oregon
I love Oregon
it's green there, it's rainy there
But it's full of adventure
So one of my heroes I've looked up to
the cool guy to me was my cousin Luke
Luke owned a Subaru
and to me Luke was one of the coolest guys in the world
and I wanted to be like my cousin Luke
when I turned 16
I bought a beat up used Subaru
I just fell in love with the car
now there was
several things I loved in high school
I loved snowboarding, I loved running cross country and track
and I also loved making movies
every weekend
I would go with my friends and cousins
we would go up to Mount Hood
and we would film these snowboarding videos
thats where I learned or kind of learned the next level
as far as
I had this video footage but I didn't know how to edit it
everything was just kind of learning it as it was happening
by doing what we absolutely love to do
But we would take my Subaru
we would pack it full of all our gear cuz it would fit in the trunk
and I always I always loved wagons
because thats what originally my cousin Luke had
because I could stick all my gear in there
umm my snowboarding gear, my camera gear
and I could stick my friends in there and we could all drive
so I was the one who always drove
because we could fit everyone in my car
and then we would film all day
come back and then we'd edit all night
that's how I learned to make movies through all that
I knew it was crucial right out of high school that I go strait to film school
so I went to Utah and I went to Brigham Young University
and I applied for the film program
and I got rejected
and you only have two chances to get rejected
or you don't make it into the film program and don't have the option to ever be in the film program
so for me it's like I just made this big move
applied, got rejected, so I was heart broken
out of my entire life theres like a few times I can vividly remember like crying and being completely broken
that was one of them
but though that trial, through that escapade
I realized like I love doing this
I'm gonna make it work no matter what
so I was volunteering on everyone's shoot
it didn't matter what I was doing
if I was doing craft service, making food
I was doing that
if I was picking up litter
on a shoot I was doing that
I was just being involved as much as possible
meeting with all the teachers
because for me I knew I loved making movies
and I was going to make it work no matter how much I was rejected
and I was going to let the school determine my success
a year later I applied again, this was my final and last chance and
believe it or not, I got accepted
finally
and that was a big moment for me
because I put so much work into this
I had essentially devoted my life to making movies
cuz i was so passionate about it
I finally had that opportunity
I learned from that experience of being rejected
that failure was only determined by me
I spent the next three years working nonstop
working hundreds of hours on everyones projects
and it finally gave me credibility
to be working on everyones projects
as far as cinematographer, director, editor
just getting me so many opportunities
and then finally my senior year it became time to pitch the big senior project
all my friends went in and pitched theirs and they all got approved
and then it cam time for me to pitch mine
and I was the only one
rejected
once again
completely heart broken but with that rejection
once again what I went back to was I wasn't going to let any teacher
determine wether I succeed or fail
it's going to be on my shoulders
so that's when I actually dropped out
my senior year, which I generally do not recommend
however I knew exactly what I wanted
and it was I was going to determine my own success no matter what
stood in the way
so after my rejection
I had the opportunity to go right away to Hawaii
so I moved out there and that's when I had the biggest opportunities
I learned really fast, really quick
that i just had to make stuff happen not matter what
so when I moved there
I had no money
I didn't even own a camera to my name at this point
so I was borrowing my friend's cameras that i was meeting on the island
Canon Rebel T2i
Canon 5D Mark ii
early days
and thats when I just started shooting things that made me happy
that got me stoked on life
and all of a sudden within like the first six months
I had the opportunity to shoot
a commercial for national tv
and that's when I got the money to buy my first camera
so it was about creating your own opportunities
so this was all going on in 2010
and YouTube really wasn't a thing at this point
there were some people who found a lot of success on it
for me it was just a way of expressing myself
but as I started doing that things just got bigger and bigger
so right away I formed my YouTube channel
called DevinSuperTramp
my name Devin if you haven't caught that already
and the whole idea behind DevinSuperTramp
the meaning behind that is one of my favorite books
is called Into The Wild
its about a guy name Chris McCandless
all a true story
and when he decides to go out an live his dreams
he calls himself Alexander Supertramp
so when I decide to go out there and live my dreams
of creating films, making movies
I called myself on social media
Devin SuperTramp
so finally I had the opportunity to move back to Utah
because there was so many opportunities created by my YouTube channel
thats when I started working with bigger brands
and I started being able to get money for equipment
and also to buy my first new car
a Subaru Outback 2012
which I just so happen to own to this day
because going back to it
I've always loved Subaru and I've only owned Subaru
and I started meeting all these people
as far as super adventurous in Utah
they are also known for kind of extreme sports stuff
because they have this amazing backdrop
so I started working with all these amazing people
now even though I was working with brands at this time
it was still all so new to me
and I was still just making it up as I was going if I was being completely honest with you all
but through those experiences bigger things happened
but when we were going out they were hiking into the middle of nowhere
and we were always taking my car
always camping out of my car
and my Outback game me the opportunity to be traveling
sleeping in my car and waking up super early to get to the next sunrise or sunset
I was usually running as a one man team
sometimes a two man team as far as film making goes
and I was just doing the same thing as before and bringing on my friends to be a part of these videos
that's when we started filming like the ropeswing video through the big arch
the slingshot video
these are some of our most watched videos but they were all done on a zero dollar budget
it was just getting the right people together that are passionate about what they're doing
and we were all growing together
so it was just in those early days it was just doing it because of the love
and bigger opportunities came from it
the more I put into my YouTube channel
the more I got out of it
so this was like a 24/7 hour job, like it was non stop
I'd be filming all day, editing all night
so you're probably wondering when I was sleeping
not really at any time
maybe like 4 hours a night
whenever you're doing something and giving it your whole heart
other aspects of your life
drop significantly
so all I do is work on YouTube videos
everyone assumes I have the best life
but really all I do is edit from the computer so its not very exciting
I just wasn't super social because I dedicated my whole life to the filmmaking aspect of it
and what I've learned is if you want to get good at something you have to get rid of a lot of other things
so it kind of became a really hard balancing act for me to figure out
it was defiantly an opportunity for self discovery
and I realized this was going to kill me if I was going to keep this pace up for another 5-10 years
so it meant growing my team so it didn't have to be me going solo
so thats when team supertramp was formed
thats when the people I love working with
I started working at bringing them on
as essentially
friends working together
to create the content you're seeing today
but what that also meant is now I would have more time to have a social life
and thats when I met
the love of my life
Megan
we become best friends, started dating, fell madly in love with each other
I mean how could I resist
and we eventually got married a couple years later
she has just been so supportive as well
she's traveled with me all around the world
she's helped shoot behind the scenes
helped shoot the main videos
cameoed in a lot of videos, probably not by choice
but she's just been so supportive of it and
finding a best friend like that who I love
umm has been incredible and something actually i never actually thought I would find
the best film makers are the ones out not making movies
but ones that are out living
now let that settle for a minute
I remember being taught that at school
I didn't fully comprehend it
is through our own personal experiences
of going out and living
we're able to actually learn how to communicate with you
the audience
so by having a full team behind me
it gave me that opportunity
to live more and experience stuff that I would actually be able to communicate with you
never stay stagnant, never stay comfortable in the situation you are in
the problem with that
is you start getting left behind because social media is always changing
its always evolving
the things that were true
like a week ago has changed, the game is always changing
so
if you want succeed on social media you'll always have to be willing to be
adapting and changing
it's been seven years since I started my career on YouTube
I would have never imagined all the opportunities it has given me
all the experiences, all the people I would meet
and essentially it has given me the opportunity to see the world
its changed my life and its changed so many others lives
who have been a part of it
including my audience
so I absolutely love what I do
and this would not have happened without several pivotal
characters or things in that
a big part of that was just picking of the camera and going out and shooting
my Subaru Outback has also been a huge part of my success
cause its gotten me from point a to point b
its been a part of the whole journey
its given me the opportunity to take my equipment
our crew
to wherever we need to be without having to worry whether we will get there or not
and a huge part of it has been... you
the fans, the people that support us everyday
the people that are following us and subscribing
you have given us the opportunity
to do what we love to do
and we what to thank you
umm just because you have changed our lives significantly
the goal was never YouTube
it was always the final frontier, the unknown
it was all about exploring unchartered territories
so wherever that is, is where I am going to go
but for right now its defiantly YouTube
I love what I do and I will do it until the day I die
filmmakers
true filmmakers in my opinion never retire
they continue to do what they love
and that my friends
is what I plan to do
as we always say, over and out