(bright music) (light music) - I remember having a moment in college in the movie theaters thinking like, "I want to be contributing to this.

"I want to be behind the camera.

"I don't want to just put my head down at a desk.

"I want to be the creators."

I'm here at puzzleYOU today.

Typically, I work from home, but we're going to be filming a social media video here.

(soft music) My name is Em Menta.

I am a Content Creator and Customer Service Rep for puzzleYOU here in Williamsburg, Pennsylvania.

So on a typical day, I would be creating any content needed for the website or social media channels for puzzleYOU.

That'll include any homepage videos needed or any ads needed for Instagram, Facebook, YouTube.

And then in between that time, I also handle customer service tickets.

(soft music continues) The USA Jigsaw Nationals welcome speed puzzlers from across the country to compete for the fastest times.

A project from when we went to Atlanta for the Jigsaw Nationals, I got to make a vlog of the event.

We sponsored artists and produced puzzles for them, so I got to go around and like film some of the artists' work.

It was really neat.

It was a good experience.

I also got to see some speed puzzling, which was exciting, a lot more exciting than you think.

(bag zipping) (light music) I have a video task for the day to do a video for Web.

So, I'm going to walk you through what it is like to shoot a product video with a puzzle for web.

I shoot all of my video using my phone, so it's important that I have a phone adapter for my tripod.

Most tripods don't come with an attachment for your phone, and I find it really useful for shooting.

So just before I get started with my shoot, I like to make sure that I have a plan.

It's not gonna be a full shot list, but rather just notes of shots that are important for me to grab, just so I know that when I'm editing, I have everything that I need.

Saves a lot of time by taking a little bit extra time to write it out.

(soft music) It's all about getting the money shot.

I find that if I just take random pieces out and I don't remember where they go, I need to reshoot quite often 'cause I'm solving the puzzle as I'm shooting.

So I like to save myself some time by creating a little map.

That hand swipe is one of the most important aspects.

Puzzles are kind of seen as a satisfying product, so a lot of the content is geared towards the satisfying sides of putting together a puzzle and just knowing that the pieces go together in all the right places and it's smooth is a money shot for us.

(upbeat music) Content creation helps with making more engaging material for the website and our social media channels, just because videos are more energetic and it helps draw people in to puzzleYOU to potentially place an order with us.

(energetic music) I would say the biggest misconception of content creation is the glamorous side of it.

I feel like it is a buzzword position that feels very glitzy, but at the end of the day, it is just setting up a camera and getting to work.

The hardest part of this job, I would say, is management.

A lot of the projects fall on me, and it's important for me to be managing myself accordingly, whether that be with my time or with my projects.

I would say a quality that would make someone a good fit for content creation is just be a go-getter.

(energetic music continues) I would say that content creation might not need a college degree.

In the world we live in now, especially with smartphones, I do the majority of my job with my phone.

It's not necessarily a demand to have the best equipment, to have a large studio.

It's not something that's impossible or out of reach for somebody that has the drive to learn on their own.

(energetic music continues) I've never really had a position before where my videos were being seen on the scale that they are now.

Feels like I'm contributing to something a lot bigger, knowing that my work went from my laptop to now on people's feeds when they're scrolling online.

It took a little bit of work to get to where I'm at working as a content creator, but that's also because I never stopped content creating.

It's important to keep pushing along, keep practicing, because it's only going to strengthen you more, and you might end up here.

(upbeat music)