Today we’d like to introduce you to Gary Ushino.
Hi Gary, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstories with our readers.
Growing up as a tinkerer and always curious about how things worked, I was probably destined to become a mechanical engineer. Until I sat in a movie theater when I was 13 years old and saw the original release of Star Wars when. That movie experience at such a young age redirected my life goal to becoming filmmaker. From that moment on, I dedicated my non-school-related education to learning about Special Effects, Photography, Cinematography, and filmmaking throughout my public-school years. During that time, I learned about lighting for theater productions I worked on, sound from engineering for a live band, photography that I taught myself by shooting for the high school yearbook, and filmmaking when I shot my first student film for a high school special project.
I went to junior college at the College of Marin and earned my associate degree in Communications and Media Studies. There I was able to take filmmaking classes where I made student films that did well in competitions, including a documentary film I made about my father’s experience of surviving the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan in World War II. That film, “8-6-45” was nominated for a student film Academy Award in 1986. I moved to Los Angeles to finish my film education at California State University Northridge (CSUN), where I earned my bachelor’s degree in Radio-Television-Film Production. From there I struggled to make connections to break into the film industry in Hollywood. I worked for free on a few productions to gain experience and meet people. I finally got someone to take me on and train me in the camera department, on music videos and commercials.
On a personal note. I met my wife, Christine Swanson, while working at Magic Mountain amusement park together. We were both attending college at CSUN. We are still happily married for 32 years now. A rarity for a Hollywood industry marriage.
My career advanced through the ranks quickly and within a couple of years, I was working on feature films and television where I wanted to be. The hours are pretty rough, and the conditions can range from comfortable air-conditioned stages to exterior locations in deserts, mountains, beaches, and cities. We could be anywhere in the world working in extreme weather. It’s also tough on family life not being home a lot. Anywhere from 3-6 months at a time away from home on productions. Sometimes the productions were back-to-back. The hours were so crazy that even when I was home and working in the studios that I was only home for 6 hours a day. We could work up to 16 or 18 hours a day with a shifting schedule based on what time we finished the day before. My wife was virtually a single parent to our son Kenji, for much of the time. We knew that this was not sustainable until I reached retirement age.
In general, and with a few notable exceptions, the people you work for in Hollywood are, to put it mildly, terrible human beings. That’s all I have to say about that. I don’t recommend Hollywood careers to anyone.
When I worked on the racing and car stunt unit of the feature film, “Talladega Nights” (2006) (most fun job of my career) I fell in love with our shooting location, North Carolina. We were mostly in the Charlotte and Rockingham areas as well as the first week in Talladega, Alabama. I told my wife that we need to move to North Carolina someday to retire. That time came in 2019 when we had both had enough of Hollywood and California.
While I was shooting a Netflix series in Atlanta, GA, called “Insatiable” seasons 1 and 2, I drove 6 hours to the Raleigh area on weekends and stayed at a friend and former assistant of mine’s home while I house hunted. We found our home just outside of the town of Wake Forest and moved in August 2019.
Christine works from home for a national company, so the work stayed the same for her. I had to make the difficult transition from Hollywood film work making insane money to a regular full-time job. I had a very hard time finding employment. I did some temp work for various companies and people. I worked for the US Postal Service for 8 months. I did construction work for a contractor friend. Nothing stuck or inspired me.
Christine suggested that I go to the DroneAviate school and learn how to fly drones. Which I did quite successfully. I earned multiple certifications in structure asset inspection, agriculture inspection, cinematography, etc. I received my FAA Commercial Drone Pilot license and my North Carolina DOT Remote Pilot license. We started Droneflex Imaging as a first endeavor in business. Starting a small business at my age is a HUGE change. I flew a few missions but there just was not enough interest I could find in this area for that kind of work. I did shoot a video for a realtor that was much more than drone work. I really enjoyed the lighting, camera, sound work, and editing.
So, again Christine suggested that we evolve and change the name of the company and do the work that I am educated, trained, and have 31 years of experience doing and love doing. Applebox-Media came from that evolution. So, now we produce commercial videos for businesses social media, Google Ads, YouTube, and websites. Christine and I are Co-Owners (She is the boss) and I produce the videos, do 80% of the networking and marketing. With my Hollywood background, my bar of excellence is extremely high. Applebox-Media is almost a year old now and gaining traction.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
No, it has not been a smooth road. When we first moved here to the Raleigh area, our intention was to buy and manage rental properties. So, we formed an LLC just for that purpose. But the more we researched the real estate market and the rental market, we found that the margins were so low that we gave up on the idea. I had a worker’s comp settlement award that also offered schooling in a new field. That is when my wife suggested that I go to DroneAviate drone school back in California. After completing the multiple certifications in drone school and receiving my FAA Commercial Remote Pilot license, we formed a DBA for Droneflex Imaging and purchased some very expensive drone equipment. After that business failed to gain traction, we formed the DBA for Applebox-Media. That came with more loans for more equipment.
We have never been business owners. We have always been employees of large companies. It has been an incredibly steep learning curve for us to learn and continue to learn how to run a business and get it off the ground.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
The production of commercial marketing videos starts with the client business. Learning what they do or provide to their clients. We then learn from our client what, if any, ideas they have for a video. Because of my storytelling background in motion pictures, I want to tell their story and get their message out effectively. I use video imagery and lighting creatively and prefer to eliminate or minimize the “talking head” mentality. I use creative lighting, framing, staging and camera work. I will write the scripts if they do not have one. I use the techniques of Hollywood scaled down to be affordable for North Carolina businesses. I am most proud of my 31 years of Hollywood camera experience to bring that level of quality imagery to the Raleigh area.
What matters most to you? Why?
What matter most to me is my family and their happiness. No matter what struggles I have in business and making my business successful, it should never interfere with their lives and happiness.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://applebox-media.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hollywood.1964/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AppleboxMediaProducer
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/MediaApplebox
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@applebox-media
Image Credits
Gary K. Ushino
Applebox-Media
