Discover Top Production Companies in Salinas, California, USA

I have nearly 15 years of professional experience producing, shooting, editing, and directing video. Raised in Sacramento, California, my love for cinematography started at just the age of 17 as a skateboarder. My friends and I would shoot video of each other on our skateboards using a handy cam then used the footage to create VHS tapes. Little did I know those dear memories would foster in me a strong passion to pursue video production for the rest of my life. As I entered my 20's, my shooting skills really began to develop. My classmates paid me to shoot their videos – everything from music videos to short documentaries. I then began to reach out for professional work. Today, I work as a DP/Editor shooting and directing short documentaries, social content, editing commercials for television, and more. I also produce quality still photography and am FAA certified in Aerial Operations.

• Documentary DP
• Commercial DP
• Creative Director
• Drone Operator
• Field Producer
• Sound Mixer
• Video Editor - Commercial
• Video Editor - Documentary
• Motion Graphics Designer
• Production Company
• Production Assistant
• Corporate Videographer
• News Shooter / Video Journalist

Mike is a video journalist with over eight years of video production experience and an MFA in Filmmaking from American University in Washington, DC. He is a visual storyteller with extensive experience operating as an all-in-one producer and videographer in the field. Mike's most recent work was produced for The San Francisco Standard—an upstart digital media company in San Francisco—where he worked as a staff video journalist and contributed his filmmaking skills to the team's coverage of the city and wider Bay Area. Mike's video journalism work at The Standard helped establish and solidify the company's online presence as one of the most active, informative and engaging news organizations in the Bay Area. Mike also has extensive experience as a freelance videographer, Director of Photography and video editor. His work has been published in established media outlets such as Business Insider, CNBC, Bloomberg, Voice of America, 60 Second Docs, Cheddar, and Brut. He has also produced, shot, and edited a variety of independent documentary films which have screened on public television and at film festivals such as the DC Environmental Film Festival, the California Independent Film Festival, Water Docs, the Washington, DC International Film Festival and others. He is passionate about documentary storytelling and bringing ordinary peoples' lives to life through video.

• Documentary DP
• Non-Fiction Film Director
• Video Editor - Documentary
• Field Producer
• Motion Graphics Designer
• News Shooter / Video Journalist
• Corporate Videographer
• Production Company
• Production Assistant
• Grip
• Video Editor - News
• Fixer
• Commercial DP
• Video Editor - Commercial
• Transcriber
• Drone Operator

I am an Emmy winning video journalist and editor. I love to see what's on the other side of the wall. To hear words that shatter all preconceptions. To find connection where all hope seems lost. I am gritty and I do whatever it takes to "get the shot." I am humbled to be allowed into people's journeys of pain and courage, their intimate spaces, and their attempts to survive or build a better existence. This profession gives me a chance to share these experiences with the world, in an effort for us all to understand one another just a little bit more. I specialize in telling stories of social justice issues, people marginalized or misunderstood and the unknown. I have a talent for finding unusual angles and perspectives often overlooked. I am also very adventurous and I love stories that are difficult to get, climbing 100 feet into a tree or trekking through the wilderness. I thrive off getting dirty and risk-taking. I've created news pieces, profile pieces, long-form, human-centered, inspirational stories as well as promotional films and marketing videos.

• Documentary DP
• News Shooter / Video Journalist
• Video Editor - News
• Field Producer
• Reporter / Journalist
• Editorial Photographer / Photojournalist
• Video Editor - Documentary
• Video Editor - Commercial
• Production Assistant
• Production Company
• Corporate Videographer
• Commercial DP

Austin Meyer is a documentary filmmaker and photographer based in Oakland, CA. He is a National Geographic Explorer and his work has been featured by HBO, Hulu, Apple TV, National Geographic, The New York Times, Washington Post, The Atlantic, PBS NewsHour, and Al Jazeera among others. Meyer graduated from Stanford University with a B.A. degree in creative writing and an M.A. degree in journalism. After graduation, he was selected as the winner of the New York Times’ International Reporting Trip with Nicholas Kristof competition, for which he reported for the New York Times in Baltimore, India, and Nepal. Meyer has worked as a videographer at the Los Angeles Times and was awarded an IDEO storytelling fellowship, during which he reported for Slate on the social and environmental impacts of hydropower dams along the Mekong River in Southeast Asia. In 2018 Meyer was awarded a National Geographic Explorer grant to create a documentary film on maternal healthcare in Zambia. His documentaries have screened at the American Documentary, Mill Valley, & Milwaukee Film Festivals, as well as in the National Geographic Short Film Showcase and Atlantic Selects series. Meyer’s purpose as a documentarian is to tell stories that change the way people walk through the world by inspiring empathy, curiosity, and wonder. He is passionate about telling vulnerable and intimate stories that are emotionally moving, break down stereotypes, and compel people to take action in order to make our world a better place. www.austinmeyerfilms.com @austinmeyerfilms on social media

• Documentary DP
• Video Editor - Documentary
• Reporter / Journalist
• Production Company
• Editorial Photographer / Photojournalist
• News Shooter / Video Journalist
• Video Editor - News
• Fixer
• On-Air Reporter / Host
• Mobile Journalist / Livestreamer
• Non-Fiction Film Director
• Senior Producer / Project Manager
• Video Editor - Commercial
• Event Photographer
• Executive Producer
• Senior Editor
• Product Photographer
• Creative Director

Over the past ten years, I have built strong, principled, and trustworthy relationships with many organizations and companies. As a result of my dedicated work ethic to providing the best media production services possible, I frequently received contractual jobs with excellent customer satisfaction. I have produced over 50 video projects, such as product promotions, media campaigns, TV Commercials, and documentaries. Over the years, I have collaborated with well-known national and international institutions such as USAID, US Embassy-Kabul, Counterpart International, DAI, World Vision, Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, IOM, Afghan Government and Ministries, Roots of Peace, VOA, Newsweek, Discovery Channel, Story Hunter, Newsy, Insider, and UN Organizations.

• Documentary DP
• Video Editor - News
• Editorial Photographer / Photojournalist
• Commercial DP
• News Shooter / Video Journalist
• Video Editor - Documentary
• Video Editor - Commercial
• Production Company
• Corporate Videographer
• Field Producer

Over nearly a decade of working in documentary production I've shot and produced documentary work for a range of media outlets including Al Jazeera, CNN, the Guardian, the Intercept, MSNBC, National Geographic, NBC News, the New York Times, TIME among many others. I’ve also DP'd and directed commercial work for companies including Red Bull, AT&T, Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, Oculus, Fox Studios, and many more. Additionally I've directed, produced and DP'd independent films as well as commissioned documentary projects for non-profits and NGOs.

• Documentary DP
• News Shooter / Video Journalist
• Commercial DP
• Production Company
• Drone Operator
• Field Producer
• Reporter / Journalist
• Senior Producer / Project Manager

My name is Tri and I’m the founder of Bay Area-based Tri Nguyen Photography and Video Production. My path to this industry was not a straight line, as after getting my B.S. from Carnegie Mellon University and MBA from Johns Hopkins University, I pursued a career in information technology. It was during my time working in corporations that I developed my professional and detailed approach, and I discovered that I really enjoyed the collaborative spirit that comes from teamwork. As my career progressed I realized my true passion was in the creative field, and that my unique background would help me better serve my clients. I don’t think of my subjects as a job, but as a story waiting to be told. Extensive preparation and collaboration are an important part of my approach, and it’s very important to me that you feel comfortable, confident, and excited about our time working together as well as the end result. I’ll provide the talent and leadership to get us there.

• Commercial DP
• Production Company
• Corporate Videographer
• Drone Operator
• Documentary DP
• Fixer
• Production Assistant
• Editorial Photographer / Photojournalist
• Portrait Photographer
• Video Editor - Documentary
• News Shooter / Video Journalist
• Immersive/Spatial Video Capture
• Full-Service Live Production

Crystal Wong is an Emmy-nominated journalist, documentary producer and cinematographer. Born into the Handover period of Hong Kong, her identity is, likewise, fluid and in question. After graduating from the journalism school at CUHK, she relocated to New York City to gain experience in video production. She established herself as a freelance filmmaker by the time she returned to Hong Kong to document the city’s biggest protests in history. She developed a strong interest in long-form documentaries after being an assistant director for an independent documentary, Faceless, which had been screened at various festivals including the Busan International Film Festival 2021. She is currently directing a long-term project addressing the evolving identity of Hongkongers and the Hong Kong diaspora. Crystal currently lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. She welcomes any type of visual and journalism projects. Her works have appeared on VICE, PBS FRONTLINE, Quartz, RTHK and UnionDocs.

• Documentary DP
• TV News Producer
• News Shooter / Video Journalist
• Commercial DP
• Creative Director
• Production Company
• Production Assistant
• Video Editor - News
• Video Editor - Commercial
• Video Editor - Documentary
• Reporter / Journalist
• Editorial Photographer / Photojournalist
• Fixer
• Field Producer
• Corporate Videographer
• Gaffer
• Grip

I’m a New York-raised Californian, filmmaker, photographer, partner and dad. My first foray into independent filmmaking was aboard a 4-seat Cessna, documenting impacts of the 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. After graduating from the University of Wisconsin, I spent several years in New York working and learning as a Production Assistant and later a Cinematographer and Editor in collaboration with networks and brands including ABC, American Eagle and the MSG Network. Since moving to the Bay Area in 2015, I’ve focused on developing my voice through the stories I was drawn to in the beginning, about the natural systems around us and the spectrum of relationships humanity has with them. And I’ve continued to collaborate with other filmmakers, organizations, and brands including Bloomberg, Netflix and the Biden/Harris campaign. My latest effort, don’t feed the coyotes, began screening at film festivals across the country earlier this year. Through the observations of two starkly-different naturalists, the half-hour documentary chronicles several years in the intertwined lives of San Francisco’s urban coyotes.

• Documentary DP
• Commercial DP
• Creative Director
• Production Company
• Field Producer
• Video Editor - Commercial
• Video Editor - Documentary
• Editorial Photographer / Photojournalist
• News Shooter / Video Journalist
• TV News Producer
• Video Editor - News
• Reporter / Journalist
• Non-Fiction Film Director
• Mobile Journalist / Livestreamer
• Corporate Videographer

Sara Lafleur-Vetter is a multimedia journalist with a passion for telling stories of the underdog and the underbelly of society. As a videographer, photographer, writer, and radio journalist, she’s covered everything from social orphans in Russia to Native resistance camps at Standing Rock. She holds an interdisciplinary degree in Anthropology and Russian from Reed College. Lafleur began her journalism career in St. Petersburg, Russia, where she documented local NGOs including an organization for the homeless, a kid circus, and an institution for the disabled. Afterwards, she lived in Luxor, Egypt documenting ancient temple blocks for the American Research Center in Egypt. She received her Masters from the Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism in 2015, where she won a Dorothea Lange Fellowship for her photography. She spent over half a year covering the Native-led resistance camps at Standing Rock Reservation in North Dakota, which she is working to develop into a feature length film.

• News Shooter / Video Journalist
• Documentary DP
• Commercial DP
• Production Company
• Field Producer
• Production Assistant
• Video Editor - News
• Video Editor - Documentary
• Editorial Photographer / Photojournalist
• Audio Storyteller
• Reporter / Journalist

J.P. Dobrin is a multiracial Korean American documentary filmmaker based in San Jose, California. He's a two-time Emmy nominated producer/director of photography that frequently works with news outlets, documentary production companies, and corporate clients. J.P.’s projects have revolved around themes of immigration, wealth disparity, and criminal justice, often portrayed through the experiences of ordinary individuals. Notably, he co-directed the Al Jazeera Witness documentary "Irse - Leaving Venezuela" in 2020, delving into the Venezuelan exodus by focusing on the narratives of two expectant women. In 2022, he directed "The Lookout," his latest film presented on World Channel/PBS, offering an Asian American outlook on deportation issues. His directorial work has been supported by SFFILM, the Berkeley Film Foundation, the Center for Asian American Media, the Video Consortium, and the Asian American Journalist Association. He’s been commissioned to make documentaries for Verizon, Capital One, Voice of America, and Vox / Eater. His educational journey led him to study photojournalism at the Academy of Art San Francisco before pursuing documentary filmmaking at U.C. Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism.

• Documentary DP
• Editorial Photographer / Photojournalist
• News Shooter / Video Journalist
• Video Editor - News
• Video Editor - Documentary
• Video Editor - Commercial
• Commercial DP
• Production Company
• Field Producer
• TV News Producer
• Mobile Journalist / Livestreamer
• Drone Operator
• Event Photographer
• Corporate Videographer

I’ve been working in the visual arts for more than 20 years constantly learning lighting and composition styles that I love. My work has brought me to nearly every continent and the passion I have for creating beautiful visuals continues to grow. I run a small production company that handles many small projects every year focusing on multi cam, interview-based narratives supported by cinematic b-roll. My small grip truck stores all the lighting, audio equipment and filmmaking gear needed for these small shoots allowing me to easily travel throughout California and beyond to work on projects. I am an FAA licensed and insured drone operator and own a drone shooting high quality 4K content. On a team I usually find myself in the role of principal Director and/or DP, and I’m happy to lend my experience to larger projects.

• Commercial DP
• Drone Operator
• Video Editor - Commercial
• Video Editor - Documentary
• Documentary DP
• Corporate Videographer
• Production Company

Jesse Rosenberg has been working as a freelance director and cinematographer since graduating from New York University Tisch School of the Arts in 2014. He is currently based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Since January 2016 he has been working as a camera operator on a trekking series for television, with shoots completed in 16 countries over six continents. He is producing and directing a series of short documentaries titled 1 Minute 1 Life, showcasing the stories inspiring people, each in one minute. Two episodes have been completed: Susan Helmrich, featuring a three-time cancer survivor who found healing and solace through swimming; and Elizabeth Jameson featuring a lawyer who became an artist after she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, transforming her brain scans into pieces of art that challenge how the viewer perceives the brain, disability, and illness.

• Documentary DP
• Commercial DP
• Production Company
• Creative Director
• Fixer
• Production Assistant
• News Shooter / Video Journalist
• Drone Operator

I’m a visual journalist in San Francisco. Before moving to news and documentary I worked for a decade as a commercial producer creating content for agencies like Leo Burnett, design studios like IDEO, and big brands like Google and Apple. I’ve also produced for CNN, The Washington Post, and Público, Portugal’s largest newspaper, as well. In 2022, I completed my master’s at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism after working for a decade as a commercial producer. My thesis documentary Hasta la última gota, following the fight for water and a new constitution in Chile, was published in The Intercept. The film also screened at the Mill Valley and Banff Mountain Film Festivals. I work in English, Spanish and Portuguese.

• Video Editor - Documentary
• News Shooter / Video Journalist
• Reporter / Journalist
• Field Producer
• TV News Producer

Kat O’Toole is a documentary cinematographer based in Oakland, California. She delights in falling into the rhythm of another person’s life while filming handheld. She loves collaborating with directors so that the images they make together can best support the story. She creates beautiful, comfortable and intimate interview setups that allow her collaborators to sink in and open up. Most of all, Kat takes pride in pre-production planning because having all the tools you need frees you up to follow an unexpected thread to someplace even better than you planned to go. Kat studied at the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke. Her work has been shown on PBS, the BBC and at Sundance Satellite Programming.

• Documentary DP
• Production Company
• Video Editor - Documentary
• News Shooter / Video Journalist
• Field Producer
• Reporter / Journalist
• Production Assistant
• Creative Director

Matt Martin, the owner of MVP Media, has been creating digital media since 2003. He founded MVP Media, based in Fresno, CA, in 2011. Matt loves to create concepts, write scripts, create storyboards, shoot in a cinematic style in 4K raw utilizing camera movement with steadicams, motorized gimbals, sliders, and drones. He also enjoys editing, creating motion graphics, and 3D animation using Cinema 4D. MVP Media has grown into a team of talented people taking projects from concept to finished product. We've created commercials, corporate videos, real estate, and event videos for more than 80 clients including BD Medical Technology, Coherent, Farmers Insurance of Fresno, Giro Pack Inc., Omnicell, Prison Fellowship, and many more.

• Commercial DP
• Documentary DP
• Drone Operator
• Video Editor - Documentary
• Video Editor - Commercial
• Creative Director
• Production Company
• Motion Graphics Designer

Hello! I've been a filmmaker for 7 years, running a small production company in the SF Bay Area. I've had the honor to film projects all over the world (South Sudan, Laos, Honduras, just to name a few). I am passionate about telling compelling stories in a way to really connects with the audience. Currently my largest finished project is a short documentary about micro-lot coffee farmers in Honduras. It has been shown around the world and has garnered three film festival awards. This film was a personal project that I used to learn all the aspects of filmmaking, so I did all aspects of the film and it was a great learning experience! My favorite projects are ones where I get to be involved in the strategy and development phase and when I get to travel.

• Commercial DP
• Documentary DP
• Editorial Photographer / Photojournalist
• Video Editor - Documentary
• Video Editor - Commercial
• Production Company
• Creative Director
• Event Photographer

Emily Fraser is an Oakland based documentary filmmaker and cinematographer. Her work has screened at Doc NYC, Big Sky Documentary Film Festival, LUNAFEST, the International Wildlife Film Festival, and the Pacific Film Archive, among others. She also teaches film production and eco cinema classes at Santa Clara University and California College of the Arts. In a previous life, she worked as an environmental consultant, focusing on projects in conservation, resource management, and alternative energy. Emily holds a bachelor’s degree in environmental policy and art/architecture from the College of William and Mary and an M.F.A in Documentary Film and Video from Stanford University. She shoots primarily on a C300mii.

• Documentary DP
• Video Editor - Commercial
• Video Editor - Documentary
• Commercial DP
• Production Company
• Gaffer
• News Shooter / Video Journalist

Emmy Award winning Bay Area / Sac based DP, camera operator, FAA certified drone operator and sound recordist with over 20 years experience. Owner of a Sony FX9, FX3, Canon C300 Mark II, Blackmagic Pocket 6K, Phantom 4 drone, 1080 HD Sony PMW-500 XDcam, Sound Devices 664 audio mixer / recorder with Lectrosonics 411a Series lavs. News, corporate, documentaries are his specialties with clients such as The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Late Show with David Letterman, CNN, MSNBC, ESPN, MLBtv, Bloomberg TV, The History Channel, PBS etc. Based out of Sacramento and serving the Bay Area and Los Angeles, Felix has full audio and video gear available on request: (c-stands, HMI's, LED's, silk scrims, light kits, Dana Dolly, booms)

• Sound Mixer
• Documentary DP
• News Shooter / Video Journalist
• Commercial DP
• Gaffer
• Corporate Videographer
• Video Editor - News
• Event Photographer
• Reporter / Journalist
• Fixer
• Production Assistant
• Drone Operator
• Production Company

For over 10 years I have learned the ins and outs of both large and small scale video production through hard work and hands-on experience. I have built a television studio from scratch, created an entire video department from the ground up, acted as company-wide video quality control, and have seen through the creation of shows from start to finish. I have worked for startups, large corporations and for myself as a freelancer. I know what it takes to get a video production completed with the highest standards while not going overboard with budget and concept. Most importantly, I know how to delegate and use an individual’s strengths to the group’s advantage.

• News Shooter / Video Journalist
• Creative Director
• Video Editor - News
• Video Editor - Documentary
• Motion Graphics Designer
• Video Editor - Commercial
• Commercial DP
• Reporter / Journalist
• Fixer
• Production Assistant
• Animator / Visual Effects Artist
• Documentary DP
• Production Company
• Full-Service Live Production
• Corporate Videographer