Coshocton native operates own video production company
Coshocton native Cervera Braxton is a video director and owner of Gateway Seven Media, a production company right here in Coshocton.
“I own the production company and I am also a director but that is not what I do for a living,” he said. “I sell value and a lot of people ask, ‘What do you mean by value?’ My job for my clients is to sell their company, to sell their product and to sell the vision.”
Braxton attended Zane State College the last two years of his high school career. “I was shooting music videos in Columbus at that time and that eventually led to this endeavor, commercial productions,” he said. “When I was 12-years-old my grandpa gifted me with my first camera. He passed away on the day he was going to teach me how to use the camera.”
Braxton felt intuitively that he wanted to get more into the craft. He was 9 or 10 years old when the first iPhone4 came out in 2010. It was a really big deal. His parents bought one and within the first month he would take it and make little videos called “Little Funny Films” with his friends.
“We went across the street to River View Elementary School and every time my Dad Stan Braxton caught me, he never put me down,” Cervera said. “He just made sure I knew to be careful and that’s how I got started with my first production. One of my greatest gifts is knowing exactly what I wanted to do at 12-years-old.”
Cervera said a good video has a lot to do with preproduction. “The process is one of the most vital keys when it comes to producing a project at such a caliber. That means there is a difference between a promo commercial and a video. Anybody can make a promo video, but trying to create and deliver for the clients commercial needs has to have the crew and the planning process. So we have script writers, producers, sound operators, cinematographers, camera operators, creating a breakdown so everybody knows exactly what is going on.We have a whole team. How film productions work is that everyone is self- contracted. It is a project by project basis.”
His company recently produced a commercial for client Austin Sampsel. “We had the 400 block on Main Street blocked off,” Cervera said. “There were 19 crew members, 12 backgrounds and two horses. Some people can do one or two but what a lot of production companies lack is the third key which is the vision. Why did we have two horses? Why did we shoot it on Main Street, well why not?”
Sampsel said, “Whatever you have in mind, any idea you want to create, he has the resources, the people and the idea in his head to make it come to life. He has an artistic brain and it is very cool how he is able to do that. It’s been a wonderful experience as a client. From the communication, to what they deliver, to the whole process from start to finish delivering exactly what I wanted. You can’t ask for anything else. We have done a lot of commercials for my real estate company, Keller Williams Real Estate. He makes it happen and it’s high caliber. For any service, for any commercial work, he makes it happen. You have the idea, he starts putting it together and as Cervera says, he makes it shake.”
For more information or to view some of Cervera’s work go to gatewaysevenmedia.com.
” I know I am a little guy from a small town but if there is something you have an idea about or something you think could come to fruition just try it,” Cervera said. “I hope and pray you have support from your family and the community because that is what happened for me. I want to say thank you to Mayor Mark Mills for his encouragement and for being a part of this project.”
Category: Business
