IT WAS three minutes before our designated meeting time that I found myself ordering a cup of dark chocolate frappe and piece of rocky road brownies at Coffee Project in Limketkai, Cagayan de Oro City.
Taking a seat in one of the cafe's vacant stools facing the wall, it occurred to me that I'm finally meeting the well-known Teddy Salido, a veteran videographer notorious not only for being crafty and creative, but also for his skills in wedding videography, for an interview.
People describe him as the veteran among his peers for he has been in the wedding videography industry for several years (15 years as I was told later on), receiving a great deal of respect from his clients and fellow videographers.
I even found out, as I read an article about Teddy, that he and his team in Teddy Salido Films & Digital Videography have expanded their services nationwide and internationally.
With such reputation, I was expecting to meet a very serious person in his forties.
Contrary to my expectation, Teddy is actually a young looking guy who is easy and comfortable to talk with, especially when we started the interview, it seems like we were just two friends meeting and talking in a coffee shop.
And being an introvert, it’s rare for me to talk comfortably with someone who I just met, but with Teddy, he makes conversing with him fun with all his side comments and jokes.
While waiting for his coffee, Teddy shared his past experiences, when he was still a young artist who dabbles in almost all kinds of art, be it painting, cartooning, sculpture, and others.
Surprisingly enough, despite excelling in arts, he decided to take up medical technology course in Manila.
“Believe it or not, when I left high school, nag med tech ko because I was hoping na mag doctor ko,” Teddy said.
Regardless of being in the field of sciences, this did not stop Teddy from applying his artistic touch in school, which could be seen in his science projects, and being a contributor for Batabatuta through creating comics as well as cartooning in an editorial magazine.
After a year, Teddy transferred to University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman.
“Probably, di gyud nako destiny nga mag doctor ko ato,” Salido said.
He added that it was his humanities teacher who convinced him to take the UP entrance exam so he could study fine arts.
“Siya ang nag convince sa akoa, ‘Teddy, why don’t you try mag take og entrance exam sa college of fine arts?’ So, na challenge ko,” he shared.
He, then, studied fine arts major in visual communication in UP Diliman. Although, rather than the painting or illustrations, Teddy leaned more on the advertising aspect of the course.
“I was into advertising because I was thinking na I want to work in an advertising agency,” Teddy said.
It was no wonder then that he became a corporate production editor during the earlier years of his career.
Confident and trusting in the skills that he possess, Teddy moved to Davao, and made himself a name in the industry of advertising. He even had an advertising consultancy firm established in the region, which he had to close when he decided to once again move to Cagayan de Oro.
In a city with no one recognizing him, Teddy came up with a strategy to sell himself in the disguise of providing an advertising workshop which was attended by both private and government agencies and company.
His strategy worked and he became the advertising consultant of his clients from different companies, such as Country Village, Magnolia, Petronas, and others.
One can really tell how passionate Teddy was when it comes to advertising and you might even wonder why he became a wedding videographer when at the start he wasn't that interested in wedding videos as he found it as dull.
“There's no sense of creativity in all the wedding videos before,” he said.
Teddy shared that it was because wedding videographers during that time only used one camera, positioning it in one angle all throughout the wedding ceremony.
“I was doing a lot of corporate ads. So it was more of yun ang foundation ko sa video,” Teddy said.
It was then through it that he got a request from a friend to edit a wedding footage. With corporate production editing as his experience, Teddy accepted the request and that became the catalyst for him to see the potential hidden in wedding videos.
“Kumbaga my approach in corporate videos akong gi-apply sa iyang video. And after the first wedding video nga edit, sige na siya'g balik-balik magpa-edit kay ganahan sya sa akoang pag edit,” he said.
After editing several post production wedding videos, he saw the opportunity to not just edit but also shoot a wedding using the discipline he learned when he did television commercials before.
He introduced the three-camera setup, a setup that uses three cameras to capture three angles of coverage at the same time. It became a success and a starting point for him in the wedding videography business.
Initially named as Adtronix, the Teddy Salido Films and Videography was established and became a famous brand in wedding videography industry. And despite the ongoing change in the trends in wedding events, Teddy made it a point to be up-to-date and feasible in his work.
He may adopt the concept of the latest trends as it is a hit for clients of today but this doesn't stop Teddy in incorporating his own technique and signature which the people can identify is his brand.
“You have to continue exploring, you have to continue learning, you have to know your craft and find your style. Especially now that there's a lot of new players, you have to stand out among the rest na meron kang mai-introduce that would separate you sa iba,” Salido said.
“Sometimes it works na you just copy which is how most are doing. Pero it’s better to be brave and bold to create your own signature para it’s easy for the people to identify na 'hey, this is you,'” he added.
Teddy Salido's work has been different from your average wedding videographer. He's willing to do whatever the couple, his clients, want, creating a video using his own draft which not only satisfy them but also impresses and touches the hearts of the wedded couple and their guests.
Brave and bold, two words that describe one Teddy Salido. It’s really no wonder how he got the title “veteran” in the industry of wedding videography.