Meet Chase Martin | Video Effects Editor & U.S. Army Officer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Chase Martin and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Chase, what do you attribute your success to?
Ever since I got into editing in 2017, the industry standard for quality has risen tremendously. Many of the Saudi Arabian and Vietnamese editors that I see as mentors had to change their style and advance in skill to meet the changing trends. As complex video filters and “drag and drop” effects become almost common practice for many beginner editors, I saw myself routinely having to practice and spend hours after work and on the weekends to try and master the fundamentals. Honestly, I failed all the time, especially in 2018-2019 when I wasn’t receiving the recognition or business that I hoped would motivate me to keep making content. The most important thing I learned during that period is that nobody is going to help keep your passion alive, except for you. I stopped waiting for recognition and people to pay for edits. I began to make edits for myself and ignore the trends and outside influences. Skill is a factor in success that spurs from intrinsic motivation to better oneself. Finding what motivates you to continue your brand when nobody else is around to support you is the true factor behind my success so far.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I went to West Point and commissioned as an Army Officer in 2017. It definitely wasn’t the most conducive environment for creative types, but it set me up well financially! Shortly after, I had a friend at the Basic Officer Leader Course in 2017 that I played Video Games with and the software on my computer automatically captured 5-minute highlight videos. After a few months, the space on my computer was running empty, but the videos were too funny to delete. My friend and I downloaded Adobe Premiere Pro CC to make highlight videos on YouTube to clear that space. Every video I made would include a new effect that I couldn’t wait to show my friends on Discord just to hear their reactions.

I moved stations to California in 2018 and continued to make YouTube videos for my friends, but with the time zone change from East Coast to West Coast, it was harder to get the feedback from my friends in real time. I had a rough time trying to stay motivated from 2018-2019 since the time zone change had most of my friends offline by the time I finished up work everyday. When I was new to editing, I relied too much on outside factors to motivate me. My friend Elijah St. Hilaire was a Platoon Leader with me in 2019 and he always talked about his side business and production group from New Jersey. I showed him a video or two of mine from YouTube and he said I should get into more professional work. It was the first person who saw any potential in my creativity, which was huge for me at a time when I was searching for a support structure. The next night we took an iPhone to a patch of graffiti at a skatepark, did two shots that took all of 15 minutes, and then I went home and started working a small clothing business promotional video the same night. Within two nights I finished the video and got more feedback than ever on Instagram.

Honestly, I was petrified of putting my hobby on Instagram, most of my friends are associated with the Army and video editing isn’t exactly woodworking or sword-smithing. It’s funny, as I became more relaxed and started posting Animated Music Videos, other people in the Army would privately message me saying stuff like “don’t tell anyone, but I’m bingeing this anime right now”. I realized that I needed to embrace my hobby and stop holding myself back from my potential just because I cared about what other people thought online. It was hard for a while to find that confidence in myself as an editor when the easy solution would be to just use filters or “drag and drop” effects like everyone sees on Tik Tok. But as I grew and spent a lot of weekends just working on my craft, I started to see that I really did have something to offer. I started getting freelancing side jobs and then real artists in New Jersey wanted work done. It was finally the validation that I had been working years to see. I was in such a rush to experience complete success, that it almost made me quit. Once I realized that it takes years of working alone on your craft in your free time to produce results, I finally felt satisfied as a video effects editor.

My buddy Eli says that I have an uncanny ability to learn new skills, create a practice video, and export it all within one week. As I started taking myself more seriously, my friend Eli would routinely send me videos of professional music videos and I would devote all of my time outside of work to copy the effects in those videos and make them my own. What sets myself apart from other editors is the sheer amount of time and effort I will dedicate to learning effects that I don’t have the slightest clue how to replicate and then refining each frame and pixel in an edit. I started my editing journey doing purely stop-motion drawing animation, which admittedly drove me to nearly quit because of the attention to detail and time it took to create. But what it taught me was that each frame matters and will be judged by true editors and curators of quality. I take this approach to each of my edits that I make now, and it really does make the difference when learning new effects, software, or coding. One second of video has 60 frames that I see as 60 blank canvas’ to make an impression of the viewer. Any software can have a minor glitch within those 60 frames and the trained eye can tell if an editor took the time to perform a quality check. This is where I make my money.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I’m stationed in Hawaii now, but when I was stationed in California, I spent most weekends on 6th Street in Santa Monica! I would always hit up the bar strip on Wilshire BLVD with a few friends form the area, struggle to drive the scooters back home, and then grab food at the Santa Monica Pier the following morning. I make the majority of my own food at the place I stayed at and then go to Santa Monica beach of Tongva Park and eat there and spend the day. My job in the Army was very hectic at the time so for the most part I would go to Santa Monica and keep it low key with a few hot yoga classes at Power Yoga before heading back to base in the Mojave.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I owe the Bridge the Gap Production Team and specifically Elijah St. Hilaire for all of the support over the years. Video effects editing is one of those few jobs that is purely your own challenge to learn and practice. I met Elijah when I was Platoon Leader in California and he was one of the only people who saw my potential in 2017, when I just made gaming videos for a few friends. He got me into professional work and started challenging me to improve and make a name for myself. Before I got involved with the BTG team, I never imagined that I would make any money from this hobby or have direction and purpose outside of my 9-5 job.

Instagram: @chasing.media