General Duties & Responsibilities

Steve Szymke creates highly crafted media messages with a keen eye for story and a deep commitment to impact beyond the screen.

  • Responsible for video production from start to finish, including pre-production, shooting, editing, animation, and post-production. Guides the creative process and identifies opportunities for video projects to coordinate with existing communication and media activities.

  • Creates and develops multimedia (audio/video) content for customer stories, external promotional social media videos, product marketing videos, recruiting and training, executive messaging trade show display, podcasts, live stream broadcasts, and webinars, and other company-wide projects.

  • Plans video shoots; location scouting, scriptwriting, and storyboarding.

  • Develops production schedules and budgets.

  • Record and edit video and sound projects, including selecting program format for final output, capturing/importing media, organizing raw media, editing footage and sound files, creating and inserting static and motion graphics, titling, adding music/voice-over/sfx, media management and archiving project media.

  • Select, manage and coordinate video production with outside contractors and vendors.

  • Identifies opportunities for social media development and integration.

Key Competencies

Excellence in communications, video production, shooting, producing, directing and editing video.

Responsible for collaborating with creatives and account teams to ensure that all projects are produced on-time and on-budget. Handles talent contracts and vendor relationships. Attention to detail and a passion for creating quality content.

  • Strong project coordination and client relationship management experience.

  • Team building and team management.

  • Significant experience with a variety of digital and social media platform implementations and maintenance, including SEO best practices.

  • Ability to work independently and as a creative collaborator.

Career Highlights

Director/ Director of Photography

  • “Preps: Chicago Hoops” – Fox Sports Net

  • “Metropolitan Brewery” – Promotional Films

  • “People of ARRIS” – Promotional Series

  • Millennium Park Concert Series - Jay Pritzker Pavilion

Director of Photography

  • “April Fools” – Film

  • “Trustmark 100 Years” – Short Film

Field Producer

  • “Chicago’s Lifeline” – Documentary, University of Chicago

Camera Operator

  • “Super Bowl LIV”

Editor

  • “PODfathers” – ARRIS Technology, Inc. Branded Content

  • “After Dark” - A&E

  • American Pediatric Surgeon Association - 2020


Teleprompter Operator


  • President Obama


Technical Director and Web and Streaming Producer

  • Beltone 2020

  • APSA 2020

Knowledge & Abilities

  • Proficiency with professional ENG cameras, HD and 4K formats, pre-production/planning, studio and field production, lighting/grip, scriptwriting, storyboarding and photography.

  • Proficiency with post-production digital video editing, still and motion graphics design, and video compression for multiple delivery platforms including for live stream.

  • Proficiency with the Adobe Creative Cloud Creative Suite, especially Premiere Pro, After Effects, and Photoshop.

Case Study: Client Motorola Mobility, Producer/Director

Created and implemented media training for Motorola’s sales team. Videos were used in-device and re-purposed for their customers and end users. Re-purposing deliverables slashed production costs. Client saw a 40% drop in frequency and duration to their call centers. Customer satisfaction polling increased 30%. Delivered significant ROI for the client.

EDUCATION Bachelor of Science - Film, Radio and Television (1996)
Bradley University, Peoria, Illinois

Minor in Psychology