In short
Nikita Khatsarevich’s path to becoming a director of photography (DP), how he stays creative between work “waves,” and how he uses Unreal Engine plus small-camera rigs to plan and push camera movement.
Guest background
Born in Zaporyzia, Ukraine; studied trumpet/jazz improvisation for years before switching to DP. Moved to Kyiv, started as camera assistant/focus puller, then second AC around age 16 after messaging major Ukrainian DPs (Yuri Korol). Progressed to first AC and DP in ~1.5–2 years. Based in Warsaw, Poland; girlfriend Lisa met on set in Kyiv (Aug 2021) during an Alphabank 16mm commercial.
Key claims
DP work shouldn’t feel like “work”; classic ladder experience clarifies production roles; Unreal Engine is a “game changer” for lighting/shot confidence; spec/passion projects build momentum; balance life off-set (friends, girlfriend, parents, fishing, fitness) during downtime.
Notable examples
Borrowed gear for 99% budgetless projects; uses GoPro/phone/Sony FX/iPhone for dangerous fast motion; Unreal Engine helps estimate lighting for Phantom slow-mo and studio setups; upcoming challenge: ~20m “stairs” shot with vertigo-like left/right and upward movement.
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Chapters
Tap a time to open that second in VONikita's Background and Early Influences
0:14 to 1:06
Nikita shares his upbringing in Ukraine and his initial passion for music before pursuing a career in film.
“I'd love to kind of just get a little bit of background, like where you come from, your growing up, how you were raised and just how you kind of got into this industry a little bit.”
Transition to Becoming a Director of Photography
1:06 to 2:19
Nikita discusses his transition from music to film and how he discovered the role of a DP.
“And then you said you transitioned from that to this sort of direction of becoming a DP.”
Experiences in the Film Industry in Ukraine
2:19 to 3:20
He reflects on the film industry's environment in Ukraine and his early experiences.
“How did you find what that role of a DP was?”
Climbing the Career Ladder
3:20 to 4:50
Nikita explains his journey from second AC to DP and the challenges faced along the way.
“I actually texted to big Ukrainian DPs, and one of them answered, it was Yuri Korol, and I just came and said, and I just asked him directly, like, Yura, what should I do to be a superstar like you?”
Passion Projects and Spec Work
4:50 to 6:05
He discusses the importance of passion projects and spec work in building his career.
“Then I just get bored and I decided, okay, I want something more than, uh, just work with camera.”
Managing Freelance Life and Career Waves
6:05 to 12:19
Nikita shares insights on managing the unpredictability of freelance work in the film industry.
“I kind of want to ask also, because with Instagram being really popular, a lot of people will kind of make the jump right to becoming a DP immediately.”
Finding Joy Outside of Work
12:19 to 13:55
He talks about the activities he enjoys outside of filming, including sharing skills and fishing.
“I still don't know how can I interact to this?”
Fitness and Personal Challenges
14:03 to 15:19
Exploration of the hosts' fitness journeys and motivations.
Networking as a DP
15:19 to 16:18
Discussion on the importance of networking in the film industry.
“Um, it depends if it's a long project, then, you know, it's tough, honestly.”
Camera Movement Techniques
16:18 to 18:26
Insights on the significance of camera movement and personal style.
“I'm trying to find a connection with people I like.”
Show all 20 chapters
Using Unreal Engine for Filmmaking
18:26 to 21:17
How Unreal Engine enhances decision-making and production efficiency.
“Do you feel like you're ever like afraid to try something on set or do you kind of always just go for it?”
Living in Poland and Community
21:17 to 25:58
Nikita discusses his life in Poland and the sense of community he finds there.
“You know, there are a lot of guys who did some breakdowns, some tutorials, how to work in Unreal Engine.”
Relationships in the Film Industry
25:58 to 28:00
Insights on balancing personal relationships with a demanding work schedule.
“It is unlike any place I've ever been in the world.”
Navigating Personal and Professional Life
28:00 to 29:52
Discover how balancing a personal relationship with a demanding career can be challenging.
“So she understands how crazy your schedule can be when you're not home.”
The Selective Project Approach
29:52 to 32:03
Learn about the importance of choosing projects carefully in a creative career.
“The directors that you work with, do you have really good personal relationships with them outside of work?”
Creating Educational Content
32:03 to 35:14
Explore the motivations behind creating educational content and its impact.
“Uh, but in the end of the day, it's still like commercial for the clients, for the company and you know, they wanna new customers.”
Taking the Leap into YouTube
35:14 to 39:43
Uncover the challenges and excitement of transitioning from behind the camera to in front of it.
“But it's all, like I mentioned before, it's all waves and you never know, man.”
Exploring New Creative Projects
39:43 to 42:00
Understand the process of exploring new creative projects and the learning that comes with them.
“So I need someone to manage it into one schedule, let's say.”
Exploring New Challenges in Filmmaking
42:00 to 43:31
Discover the innovative techniques and challenges faced in filmmaking.
Podcast Experience and Appreciation
43:31 to 44:19
Nikita Khatsarevich shares his thoughts on the podcast experience and interaction.
Transcript
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.0:00Gian Carlo:Nikita, welcome to the Creative Gap podcast. It's good to have you.
0:03Nikita Khatsarevich:Yeah, thank you. Thank you. Thank you for having me.
0:06Gian Carlo:I've been following you for quite a bit. I've been a fan of your work for a while, but I don't know too much about you personally. I'd love to kind of just get a little bit of background, like where you come from, your growing up, how you were raised and just how you kind of got into this industry a little bit.
0:26Nikita Khatsarevich:okay so let's talk about my background i was born in ukraine in zaporygia it's a small industrial city on the east part of ukraine i finished school and after school i was thinking to became a trumpet player because i used to play trumpet yeah like a jazz improvisation and I was dreaming about that but then something changed in my mind so I decided to be director of photography and I moved to Kiev to the capital of Ukraine and let's say that was the point when my career started I understood immediately I love it so I go to the set work like camera assistant like a focus puller like a cameraman and then like dp so it's kind of regular stairs and yeah like step by step everything very predictable and slow moving up nice i'd love
1:31Gian Carlo:to kind of just talk about the trumpet for a second was music a part of your life for a while did your parents were they musicians how did you how did you find being your interest in being
1:41Nikita Khatsarevich:your trumpet playing yeah to be honest i spent maybe seven years for music and only last two years was like real passion like pure energy and because before just my parents pushed me to to do some lessons and etc but last two years it was from me and yeah it was training really hard and i love the jazz i love this feeling of improvisation and i love to hear it you know i I love to watch something about this. It's really nice.
2:13Gian Carlo:Amazing. And then you said you transitioned from that to this sort of direction of becoming a DP. How did you find what that role of a DP was? Did you always know about it? Were you into film? What was that sort of transition like?
2:28Nikita Khatsarevich:Yeah, honestly, it was kind of random choice. I know for sure I don't want to work at all. and I was thinking, okay, what kind of profession I could get to feeling like I'm not working. And DP was a nice choice. It's just like a patient and it's about some people, new location, new challenges. So it's not very like common work, let's say. And this is what I really like about this till now.
2:59Gian Carlo:Do you still feel like today that it doesn't feel like work? I'm trying.
3:05Nikita Khatsarevich:I'm trying to catch something in every project. What really makes me feel it's not a work.
3:13Gian Carlo:So I'd love to kind of just ask also, what was your experience kind of coming into the film industry in Ukraine? Is it an environment that is really conducive to the arts? How was your upbringing in that way? I think it's not crazy popular,
3:31Nikita Khatsarevich:but for sure there is some interest from from the people who finished high school to do something in film uh yeah you know i think it's not that thing like in the states like in la everybody wants to be filmmaker probably no yeah it was just like a god
3:50Gian Carlo:blessed choice you know like nothing nothing about it yeah i was doing a little bit of research and I think I saw that when you were 16, you started as a second AC. Is that correct? When you were around 16?
4:05Nikita Khatsarevich:Yeah, it's correct. Awesome. You know how it happened? Yeah, yeah, please. I actually texted to big Ukrainian DPs, and one of them answered, it was Yuri Korol, and I just came and said, and I just asked him directly, like, Yura, what should I do to be a superstar like you? and he told me just go to rental get some experience and i heard him and i just went to rental and uh you know and became like a camera assistant and yeah what was that experience like
4:39Gian Carlo:how long were you a second ac were you then transitioning to first ac and then dp like what was that sort of uh career ladder like for you yeah i think it generally took maybe around one
4:50Nikita Khatsarevich:and a half, two years. Uh, yeah. Then I just get bored and I decided, okay, I want something more than, uh, just work with camera. I feel this energy inside me. I want to take a risk and, uh,
5:06Gian Carlo:yeah. Did you have to, did you have to say no to first AC and second AC work to, to get to those that like becoming a DP, you kind of have to say no to like that old version of you. Yeah.
5:18Nikita Khatsarevich:And it's actually a very good question, you know, because I remember, imagine I worked like yesterday with a production company back to Kyiv, like camera assistant. And the next week I'm going to meet them like DP. And, you know, they all remember me like a camera assistant. So it was kind of tricky point. But to be honest, I really like this feeling of not fair of something. And it gives me a lot of energy to push myself to the limit. And yeah, but it wasn't like a big problem. Yeah, I just need to say no, even if I don't have work like Db, because this is the new times coming. It means hard times now.
6:04Nikita Khatsarevich:So it's kind of part of this transition between one level to another level.
6:12Gian Carlo:I kind of want to ask also, because with Instagram being really popular, a lot of people will kind of make the jump right to becoming a DP immediately. And from your experience going from second AC to first AC, even, you know, maybe operator doing that sort of traditional career ladder, what are the benefits of doing that? Do you get to learn, like explain to me what the benefits of getting through those different ranks to becoming a DP? Like for me, I know that leadership was a really big thing, learning how to light, watching people. like for you what did you gain while you were sort of climbing the ladder to become the dp you are now
6:51Nikita Khatsarevich:uh i think regarding to my experience i just had the understanding of all processes like on film production so i know what this call shit means i know like who is first id and what he exactly does right so i know like have to work like from production side with a like fast dp and with a slow dp so i you know i already felt the difference and i think it gave me a lot to understanding what exactly i want to do and how exactly i want to build my career and yeah you know but i think like it's possible to do without this, uh, experience, uh, and the, like for sure for someone, uh, it could work. But for me, I choose, uh, this like standard way, like classic one.
7:45Nikita Khatsarevich:And it happened really quickly, you know, because like sometimes it could be like way longer, like three years, five years, 10 years. So.
7:55Gian Carlo:To actually get work as a DP as you were transitioning was passion projects and spec work really were they important to you at that time did you do a lot of them yeah i do a
8:06Nikita Khatsarevich:lot man i shoot everything like every single proposition i did like it doesn't matter i just ask my friends to help me like most of them was i mean 99 was without any budget so i borrow camera from my friend borrow lighting from another friend like tripod from another friend and you know god
8:26Gian Carlo:bless i used to live in the student uh hotel you know like so in room it was six to eight people
8:35Nikita Khatsarevich:so we know each other and it was like really easy to get something for free or some for some food whatever and uh yeah jump into each journey what i can what were some of like the difficult parts
8:51Gian Carlo:for you to become a dp like what what challenges were you struggling was it lighting was it camera movement like what what was like some of your initial challenges that you had to overcome
9:01Nikita Khatsarevich:yeah i think the main challenge for me and for everybody it's get like first project you know this is the most challenging stuff even now like i feel you know i want to get something more and more difficult like bigger set or like interesting idea so and back to those time was the
9:22Gian Carlo:same nothing changed as you sort of move into your career you know you can go through different phases of being yeah i know this is something actually you talked about on instagram a little bit i think this is what made me reach out to you was sort of those like in between moments yeah of when you're like really busy maybe you're on like a month-long stretch of a lot of jobs you're traveling and then all of a sudden maybe work isn't really coming in very much i'd love to know like how you've kind of learned how to manage that okay yeah it's very nice question
9:57Nikita Khatsarevich:it's very nice question i'm still learning right so we're trying to get into this level when i absolutely don't care but what i know for sure what i know for sure uh like me living my life right and i have only one try only one i'm 27 like most of the people live let's say till 65 or like 70. let's say last 10 years i'm not gonna be probably that proactive like to travel one country another country like to have like i know 10 projects per month so it means i have maybe 30 percent maybe 40 of my life to to do something and i feel like if i'm just became a sad guy who is waiting for projects and like feel bad about that i'm just spending my life, you know, like to do this and the bad energy coming into my head.
11:03Nikita Khatsarevich:I start to compare myself with other guys and I feel it doesn't help, you know? And the, I think what I can do, it's the way, how can I react to the things happen to me? And I really trying to choose like a more net, more natural reaction and find the good things in my free time like to meet some friends spend time with my girlfriend meet my parents and do some activities and this is what makes me feel i'm a live person instead of just like a sad
11:40Gian Carlo:sad guy it wasn't always in the beginning you struggled with this even more you kind of just always felt like you wanted to be on set more and more when you weren't on set you sort of maybe felt lost in who you were yeah but you know in in the beginning was easy was easy because i didn't do anything in background so i couldn't be sad about like
12:07Nikita Khatsarevich:you know i'm not in shooting because i didn't shoot enough but later when i shoot like enough projects around the world man i still couldn't say why like one month i'm super busy and another months I'm completely free. I still don't know how it works. I still don't know how can I interact to this? How can I predict my schedule? Uh, so this is all about waves and this is specific of, uh, this job and I'm agreeing on this. So we just keep going.
12:38Gian Carlo:Yeah. What are some things that you've learned to really enjoy? I know you mentioned, you know, hanging out with your girlfriend, your parents, some activities, but.
12:45Nikita Khatsarevich:Sorry. Let's go one more time. I touch my camera and it's like. with my leg it's all right uh okay it's good um so i know that you mentioned hanging out with your
13:00Gian Carlo:girlfriend your parents doing activities but what are some other things that you kind of feel you know you really enjoy doing in these moments that help you sort of separate yourself from work
13:10Nikita Khatsarevich:yeah i feel some passion to share my skills with some people uh i think it's like really nice mission and maybe it's my mission like in general in this world you know just to share my experience which i get from sets to the younger generation who wants to shoot something so this is what i really enjoy to do and i love fishing i love fishing like it's really nice yeah yeah so i just have maybe three or four spinnings uh yeah i go to the lake or to the ocean or to the sea whatever i am and do do some stuff there do you keep the fish do you cook it no no no never never
13:55Gian Carlo:always come back always come back i will send you a photo with a shark please do wait a shark
14:03Nikita Khatsarevich:with a shark how big from the boat yeah a big one
14:10Nikita Khatsarevich:let's say if i saw it when i was in the water i would be scary
Read the full transcript
14:17Gian Carlo:the other thing i keep i notice on your stories a lot is you're actually like big into fitness
14:21Nikita Khatsarevich:as well you like working out i hate it it's like i hate it but love it in the same moment you know right it's like i have this kind of psychology maybe from my childhood because i was like professional swimmer and man i hate water a lot like i had like 12 a training session per week like every morning and every evening except sunday and it was like very intense you know like a sport olympic like olympic games but i feel something with the gym so it makes me feel proud when i when i done you know right when i did it when i winner against my laziness and let's say this day for sure it's gonna be all right yeah I agree I'm the same way yeah but I feel you also do the same gym you look very nice yeah for sure I've been I've been going
15:25Gian Carlo:to the gym for probably since I've been 15 years old maybe a little 13 years old my dad had me going to the gym early and it's sort of just like a part of who I am now even when I travel I tried to go as much as I can. Um, it depends if it's a long project, then, you know, it's tough, honestly. Yeah. Um, but the other thing too, which I find to be really interesting of like different people's perspectives as a DP is like when they aren't working, some people are very active in trying to get more work, reach out to new people, network. And some people will never network with anyone in their life.
16:08Gian Carlo:They will never send an email. They won't do anything. I'd love to know, like, where do you stand? Are you big into networking or outreach? How do you sort of find new work? Or is that something you don't even bother doing?
16:22Nikita Khatsarevich:I'm trying to do some network. I'm trying to find a connection with people I like. Yes, I think it's good. there's nothing bad in these things and yeah you know I'm kind of proactive guy I never feel like it's not okay to try to contact somebody if you have something to say if you really like what this guy or girl does like why you couldn't say like bro it's like sick so I don't have any problem with this but I understand what you're talking about I have some friends they never do this kind of network and they feel also okay so there is another point of view on this but like I mentioned I have another one
17:20Gian Carlo:and I feel this is
17:21Nikita Khatsarevich:maybe why I'm here and this is why you invite me because you saw some of my video oh yeah
17:28Gian Carlo:this is how I feel it works Yes, for sure. I've seen a lot of your work on Instagram and specifically because that's how I came across you. And I think like, you know, just to go on that, one of the things that really stood out to me was not just like, not lighting. Yes, lighting was obviously really good. But the way that you move the camera was really, really, and your composition really stood out to me. um i'd love to kind of learn about that from you like how how did you start to learn about camera movement how much of a priority do you focus on camera movement on what you're when
18:06Nikita Khatsarevich:you're shooting something you know i'm trying to be crazy a bit uh just to challenge myself as much as i can this is again like we come back to the first question about like am i still feeling i'm working so i'm trying to to feel no and i'm trying to make something harder and harder in case of some technical solution and uh yeah you know like i found a way to work with the small cameras like a gopro insta iphone sony fx whatever and it gave me some possibilities to make some crazy dangerous fast camera motion which is for sure doesn't work with big cameras and yeah man I just have fun you know there is nothing specific I'm really trying to put it into the story when it makes sense it's not each project unfortunately so I would love to do each like with some crazy stuff but not what else So yeah, I think that's it.
19:16Gian Carlo:Do you feel like you're ever like afraid to try something on set or do you kind of always just go for it? Because sometimes I, in the beginning for me, I was, I held back a little bit on some ideas because maybe I wasn't confident in myself or the ideas that I have. But I feel like now I'm more willing to take a risk because I have the confidence that I know that one, if it doesn't work, I have the problem solving skills to make something work. Back then, I don't really think I had the confidence to do that.
19:54Nikita Khatsarevich:I have a secret. I have a magic tool. You know, it's called Unreal Engine. And if I'm not sure...
20:01Gian Carlo:I was just about to get into that too a little bit later. I feel you. I feel you.
20:05Nikita Khatsarevich:You know, and if I'm not sure about something, I can check it on my own, you know, without calling the crew, without visiting the studio location. And yeah, it helps me to make this like strong decision and take a risk. But, you know, like for sure it has to be like some valuable risk. So I need to be sure I'm going to get good result if I take a risk on time or like some equipment or something.
20:35Gian Carlo:So how do you actually use Unreal Engine to help you make these decisions?
20:42Nikita Khatsarevich:So usually I use Unreal Engine for a studio setup, which require a lot of lighting, like big sets. So it helps me to understand, is it enough high wall or wide wall? When we shoot some slow-mo on Phantom, I could calculate the amount of lighting and being sure like it's going to be enough or not enough. and this is my tool to be like time effective for production and feel self-confident so i could spend this time on set not thinking about like okay how many light sources i need to put here i can think about okay how can i make this shot more cool like with some small details with some shadow with some bouncing and etc yeah how long did it take for you to learn unreal engine like
21:36Gian Carlo:Like, when did you start it?
21:40Nikita Khatsarevich:I started maybe three years ago. Okay. Just from YouTube. You know, there are a lot of guys who did some breakdowns, some tutorials, how to work in Unreal Engine. And, yeah, so just from YouTube. And I also have a friend. He usually helps me with Kraviz. He's like Unreal Engine geek. and if I have any question I can call him and he will tell me okay, press Q or something small stuff which helps a lot
22:18Gian Carlo:How often do you kind of have a plan for something based on what you did and prepared in Unreal Engine and then when you get to the production day it changes completely Is that often or not really?
22:32Nikita Khatsarevich:To be honest it's not really often happened yeah I don't remember any of this situation like when something completely changed yeah
22:44Gian Carlo:do you think that it would be valuable for most DPs to learn Unreal Engine do you think it's a tool that would be really beneficial for people
22:54Nikita Khatsarevich:I think it's really game changer for every DP especially young DP without like tons of experience of shooting day of ours. You can try anything and it's going to look very similar to the final result. You can spend as much time as you wish until you get result. It's for free. Unreal Engine for free. You just need a laptop. Windows is better. Do you use Windows or Mac?
23:29Gian Carlo:Which one are you?
23:30Nikita Khatsarevich:I bought Windows machine for this. I hate it. I hate it. Yeah. It's very like, uh, not good, but, uh, Unreal Engine works really nice.
23:42Gian Carlo:Do you, how do you do it when you travel or do you not use it when you travel?
23:46Nikita Khatsarevich:I have a huge charger.
23:48Gian Carlo:Oh really?
23:49Nikita Khatsarevich:Yeah. Like 500 Watts like this.
23:51Gian Carlo:Wow. Block, you know. And it's a windows computer laptop. Yeah. Yeah.
23:58Nikita Khatsarevich:It's a laptop, but there's a full, uh, energy you can get only with a charger. So when you plug in.
24:04Gian Carlo:interesting and then you have a big computer at home that you built
24:08Nikita Khatsarevich:no no no i don't know a lot i changed my apartment so i it doesn't make sense for me to have a
24:14Gian Carlo:like pc computer where are you living now where are you based i based in warsaw nowadays in poland yeah i'm here what made you choose poland
24:28Nikita Khatsarevich:I would say my community here, you know, because this is what I was thinking like last couple weeks, you know, because I was traveling a lot like Paris, Berlin, Brussels, and now London coming. And I was thinking, you know, I met my friends there. And I feel the difference between like my immigration life and their life in Poland. I don't really integrating into like local community because in Poland, there are a lot of Ukrainians and I speak my native language and, you know, I meet like 99%. It's like guys from Ukraine and they, it feels like a semi home, you know, because before I tried London, I tried Paris to live, like I was based there and it feels like real immigration, you know when you like when you have a couple people from the country but everybody else it's like from another country like local guys and you have to think you have to speak in their languages which is okay but i think this time for feeling like semi home takes way longer than in poland so i decided okay this is my priority and this is how i'm feeling good and actually warsaw is not bad choice because you know there is one of the best airport connection in europe i can travel directly almost everywhere and the prices for leave it's okay the best services so it's really nice i'm really happy to be based here nowadays i don't know about next stop yeah next stop should be something maybe more excited but i'm still thinking where i want to go have you have any
26:17Gian Carlo:any thought let me switch on camera it's heated sorry that's okay okay let's go so i think last question wasn't was without camera that's okay so let me okay we are recording focus that's sort of the the what you get when you do like the virtual podcast is it's never perfect okay okay yeah no worries now it works yeah okay um i was just asking if there's any places that
26:52Nikita Khatsarevich:you are interested in going to next yeah you know i was in states and i was in la new york and texas austin and uh what i really like about states it's like a feeling of uh of life of rush so you have to like something right now and i like the wipe in general there you know you you're going to take some coffee and like the barman can be hey bro what's up i love it i mean you feel like maybe it's even a bit fake but i feel like there is some energy around me and i really want to try it
27:30Gian Carlo:soon new york is i live about an hour away from new york um nice so i go there all the time and And there is definitely a very specific energy in New York. It is unlike any place I've ever been in the world. I really do. It is amazing. It's massive. It's massive. So Poland, did you... I'd love to ask about your relationship. Did you meet your girlfriend in Poland? How did you meet your girlfriend?
28:02Nikita Khatsarevich:No, no, no. I met my girlfriend on... Probably she's here. yeah but she doesn't want to she doesn't want to take a part of this video yeah I met her name is Lisa I met her on set back to Kiev in August 2021 I was shooting a commercial for Alphabank on 16mm with Alan Badoev director and she was taking a part of some scene she was playing a girl in the park with the rain.
28:37Gian Carlo:So she she's in the industry. So she understands how crazy your schedule can be when you're not home. Yes. She's. Yeah. Have you guys figured out a way to kind of like, I think the biggest struggle that I know a lot of people deal with is like going on dates, for example, or like planning things and then a job comes up and you have to cancel and like the whole trying to figure out your personal life is always a really difficult thing.
29:03Nikita Khatsarevich:It's true yeah it's very difficult uh especially when it's crazy timing crazy schedule uh but you know like this year it's way more balanced than the previous one so this year feels really nice uh i have a couple projects per month and the rest of the time i spending uh with lisa or with friends so which is uh which just sounds like a good balance but yeah sometimes it's very tricky and, you know, I would say, like, I'm working on this. I'm trying to build my career that way when I can choose, like, the projects and focus only on good things, which I really like and which really makes sense to do.
29:45Nikita Khatsarevich:But it takes some time. But I truly believe it's going to work for me.
29:51Gian Carlo:How often are you saying no to projects now? Do you feel like you're saying yes to everything and or very specific projects that only you want to do because i know in the beginning most people say yes to everything whatever comes you say yes to but are you in a position now to kind of just be a little bit more uh selective selective selective yeah uh i'm trying i'm trying to
30:16Nikita Khatsarevich:to find a way uh to be free in this period of time if i planning something or you know if uh if I'm not sure about I really want to do it, I'm trying to you know, like to make them feeling maybe I'm not the best choice for this one but very delicate, you know, like I would never say no like no because I feel maybe it's a bit it could hurt like somebody you know but I'm trying to just make it like very smooth as smooth as I can and yeah.
30:55Gian Carlo:The directors that you work with, do you have really good personal relationships with them outside of work?
31:03Nikita Khatsarevich:Yes. Yes. I have my friend's director and we spend a nice time. One of them live in Warsaw. Another one live in Stockholm. Another one live in LA. You know, like when I go there, we do it, but it's kind of tricky, but we keep our speaking, like
31:23Gian Carlo:you know like send some nice video to each other like reels in this kind of stuff the one of the other areas of interest for me was that i'm i've done a lot of like educational stuff for years now and like youtube even the podcast and um i've always felt you know a sort of calling maybe to share my experiences as well similar to what you said before and i know that you have this other side of like your instagram black side that you've created yeah why why start something like this why create an educational side when you don't need to maybe you just focus on being a dp like what is the benefit to actually starting some sort of educational side
32:13Nikita Khatsarevich:uh i feel it's my mission on on this planet honestly uh and like i mentioned like i mentioned before i really enjoyed to to do it and uh no like because if i do only commercial for now right so i'm like commercial dp i really want to do some feature movie but i think it's coming soon, hopefully, but for now I do commercial and I'm trying to be some, I'm trying to find some art into this. Uh, but in the end of the day, it's still like commercial for the clients, for the company and you know, they wanna new customers. Right. And, uh, between this like service, I'm trying to, to make some real thing, which I can leave on this planet, you know, after like disappeared, let's say and yeah so I think this is the real mission of this and also what I found you know is run not many things like with good quality and like from from good guys who share some experience like I do like with all details with like very very unique info and some behind the scene and I really feel like people love it and they share their feedback and it make me feeling okay I'm doing it right so I have to continue to to do it and develop.
33:49Gian Carlo:When you first started doing that were you nervous about feeling like you were maybe good enough to share educational content or were you always you always felt like no matter what i'm going to share whatever it is that i'm doing i feel it like right now each each second even right now and
34:10Nikita Khatsarevich:you know like tomorrow actually it's kind of secret but oh my god my skin is very red this camera looks better so um i'll take the red down a little bit when i color it You know, yeah, I feel it. I feel it. Like, even right now, like, am I good enough to share something? Or, yeah, but, you know, like, this is all, these things in my head coming because I'm thinking what other people will say and think about it. But who cares? Like, I'm trying to don't care about this and just do what I feel and how I feel. And, uh, yeah, so, you know, just, just, just focus on my like real hurt, you know, like what I feel inside and, uh, it, it helps me to, to feel good about that.
35:07Nikita Khatsarevich:And, uh, really like, uh, you know, I think it depends the way how I, how I do it. Right. And what kind of information I share. and I feel proud proud of every breakdown I did there it's all me, it's all my experience it's all how I feel it, how I did it how I made it and yeah, I feel good I feel good but sometimes especially when I don't have a lot of projects I feel like, oh wow I'm sharing some experience but I'm not busy enough or something like that. But it's all, like I mentioned before, it's all waves and you never know, man. I'm like nine years in this industry. I don't know why today I'm busy, tomorrow I'm not busy, and the day after tomorrow I'm busy.
36:00Gian Carlo:I still don't know how it works. Have you ever considered, maybe I saw this on your Instagram recently, you were thinking about starting YouTube. Is this true?
36:12Nikita Khatsarevich:Yes, yes. And honestly, tomorrow I have a biggest challenge in my life, the biggest ever. I will sit in front of the camera, not behind. I asked my friend DP to help me with this. And today I was organizing the shooting, like with a mic, with some clothes, with a bit of art department. Man, it's crazy. It's really hard. And I did a script for YouTube. So I'm really excited. and honestly my hands are a bit shaking but I love it. I love this feeling of you know going out of zone of comfort and I have a lot of things like what people will think about like I became a YouTuber instead of DP but
36:57Gian Carlo:I'm trying to listen to myself
37:00Nikita Khatsarevich:and
37:02Gian Carlo:yeah so I'm gonna do it anyway
37:04Nikita Khatsarevich:I'm in the studio already so
37:05Gian Carlo:you should, you have to and if I can give you any advice at all I've been doing
37:10Nikita Khatsarevich:youtube simultaneously as being a dp for yeah five years now i think i have over like 130 youtube videos oh my god it is 140 it is really hard it is harder than being a dp i will say that but it is also very rewarding you have you will get over like the the difficulty of sitting in
37:40Gian Carlo:front of a camera and talking yeah that it takes time but what i've come to learn is that the best way to do it is literally just to keep going keep trying keep doing keep doing it and your first video tomorrow is going to be great but it's not going to be as good as your video in six months from now you just have to keep trying keep doing it and like you said about everything else that you're doing just focus on what you're doing because people will say things people say things to me all the time about youtube dp but who gives a shit who cares just keep doing what you're doing it's true it's true and you already have you already have like a community of people that really like your breakdowns like what you have to say so it's not like you're starting from zero you already have a bit of a community that you've built already yeah yeah but it started from zero
38:37Nikita Khatsarevich:just like of course five years ago of course so it just takes some time it's a long process yeah yeah but it's like a native native way you know like natural yeah so you wait you rented a
38:53Gian Carlo:studio for your video for your video you're speaking tomorrow yeah why cyclorama yeah i think it was mistake honestly why because in this case i have to rent it every time
39:07Nikita Khatsarevich:and it's money wise no i don't think that's true
39:12Gian Carlo:i don't think that's true you it could be changed i change my videos all the time
39:18Nikita Khatsarevich:yeah i think it's good you know but the reason was like another reason was because i book it
39:24Gian Carlo:i have to go there you know yes exactly i understand that yeah i understand i couldn't
39:30Nikita Khatsarevich:drive reverse yeah yeah i couldn't drive reverse after i i book it so it's good thinking about the study it's my guarantee i'm gonna do it do it i wish you a lot of luck in your first youtube
39:43Gian Carlo:video it's going to be i when do you hope it's going to come out oh honestly i'm about to build
39:49Nikita Khatsarevich:some platform and i'm going to go out from patreon and build like a full platform with breakdowns and i want to make some courses about unreal engine about lighting in studio and some other topics and for this i have to create something from scratch so the team of developers promised me around two months so i think two months and yeah it's gonna be like let's say deadline for for the platform and for for a video i wanna mix it into one day amazing i think it makes sense maybe do you feel like you've you've had like a like a creative side of you and then sort of like a
40:31Gian Carlo:business side to you like you've always sort of enjoyed the on maybe entrepreneurial side I think I'm bad in business completely.
40:42Nikita Khatsarevich:Very bad. I have no system. Very haotic style. So I need someone to manage it into one schedule, let's say. And then it's going to work for me.
40:54Gian Carlo:One of the last kind of topics I want to kind of get into a little bit is just your balance between commercial work, music video, and narrative. Because I know that you primarily do commercial. But I'm wondering, do you have hopes of doing more music videos, more narrative projects? And how do you sort of want to get into those a little bit?
41:17Nikita Khatsarevich:Yeah, it's a good question. I want to do some music video for sure, like some short movies for sure, some feature movies for sure. but I feel now I want to enjoy a bit more like maybe one year you know swim into this commercial world travel around like meet new people have a big sets and etc yeah and I think later I'm going to switch to some something more like serious like some long form with that experience from past from commercial you know because I feel like every project it's like small exercise for something bigger in the future and more exercise i do like in the gym you know like you get stronger you have way more experienced guy and i think it's going to help me a lot in
42:08Gian Carlo:in future for future future movies with the commercial because obviously it is bigger sets you're traveling all over you get to kind of maybe play with some more equipment and toys what is something maybe on a project you have coming up or something that you just finished that you were that you've never done before something that you want to try is there anything new that you want to experiment with
42:35Nikita Khatsarevich:yeah for example now i'm preparing a project when i'm gonna drop a camera for the stairs it's around 20 meters and the directors want to do like not just like like a standard shot with rotation he wants to do like some crazy like vertigo feeling like left right and go up so it's very good challenge for me and i think you have to make it into the right way
43:04Gian Carlo:yeah so it's about camera motion so you it seems like you like any challenge that comes at you is there anything that you've been thrown that like you haven't been able to do like or do you always
43:16Nikita Khatsarevich:want to try to figure something out always i'm trying just push it to the limit you know like to find something what make me feeling i'm not working i'm like like like a kid playing you know
43:31Gian Carlo:with some toys uh yeah amazing well nikita thank you so much for being here today i really appreciate you taking the time out to hang out thank you to chat yeah bro thank you for your
43:43Nikita Khatsarevich:question to be honest it's my third podcast amazing and this one were was the best questions it was really like smooth and make sense one to each other really like it feels like you you
43:57Gian Carlo:you did it a lot of time before it feels yeah i think you are the um the 88th episode i believe 88 almost at i feel it i feel almost at 100 so i feel it it was a smoothie from your side like 100 % like thank you thank you hopefully enjoyed today's episode everyone have a great day peace out
From the publisher
In this episode, Gian Carlo sits down with Nikita Khatsarevich, a Ukrainian-born cinematographer now based in Warsaw, for an honest and wide-ranging conversation about building a creative career from the ground up. Nikita traces his path from a small industrial city in Zaporizhia — where he almost became a jazz trumpet player — to climbing every rung of the camera department starting at 16, driven by a simple philosophy: find work that doesn't feel like work. He opens up about the unglamorous in-between periods of a freelance career, the unpredictable waves of busy and quiet months he still can't explain after nine years in the industry, and how he's learned to fill those gaps with life rather than anxiety. The conversation moves through his use of Unreal Engine as a pre-production tool, his decision to build the Black Side community after not finding the cinematography resource hub he was looking for, and his upcoming leap into YouTube — something he admits had his hands shaking. Through it all, a recurring theme emerges: Nikita's creative restlessness, his drive to keep challenging himself technically and personally, and his belief that every commercial job is just a rep in the gym preparing him for something bigger.