Panji Kaonga is a London-based media genius; particularly skilled in video production (including directing, editing, shooting, lighting and post-production). He has a great eye for composition and colours in filming and knows how to put together shorts, documentaries, promotional videos and interviews. Panji currently works in London for a business magazine publishing house doing their web videos, but was working at Kings Church Manchester for a number of years previously. He also runs Born To Capture, an upcoming innovational production company which aims to collate art within all it’s various forms. Keep an eye on them in the near future!
Give us a brief history of how you got to where you are today?
When i was a little boy i used to love technology and i would experiment a lot with it. I didn’t have fancy gadgets but I would try and do cool stuff with whatever I had. Like I would open up 3 VHS recorders, re-route the wires to achieve a 2 angle edit with background music coming straight from a walkman.
I started serving as a musician in church and back then, there were no other creative teams so the worship team did everything technical. So when my pastor had an opportunity to do a talk show on TV, he came to us to help make it happen and so I got involved in that. Later I started running a music studio with a friend and we would try and do music videos too. When I later moved to Manchester, I joined King’s Church at the time when they were pushing for more in media. I volunteered for a while until they employed me full time.
What does your role within church media consist of?
Video production, Stage and Lighting Design.
What tool, software or app could you not live without?
Motion 5 because I can use it for pretty much anything; I feel like if I didn’t have any other media software I would survive with motion 5. I can edit pictures, I can colour grade, animate graphics, make generators for final cut and many more.
Send us a picture of your workspace?
Tell us about any side projects you have going on?
I’m currently editing a promo video for “Velocity Hillsong London”.
How do you stay current and on top of design trends?
I watch a lot of good videos for inspiration then I hunt for their behind the scenes to see how they did it. I read a lot blogs covering topics that I’m interested and people that are doing amazing stuff and try and learn from them. There are a number of websites I go to frequently like nofilmschool.com.
What piece of advice would you give to other church media people?
Having the latest super duper tech is amazing but focus on the vision. when you clearly understand the vision for the Church you are part of and make everything you do about that, you will do amazing things no matter how limited your gear is.
What’s your favourite bible verse?
“So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets”
Matthew 7:12
It’s such a good verse to live by.
Send us the artiest photo you’ve taken.
Tell us a joke.
I can’t think of any!
