The experience behind Clanton Media

I’m Steve Clanton, owner and producer at Clanton Media. Our work brings together video, photography, aerial coverage and live production for businesses, government organizations, tourism teams and events. The common thread is helping people communicate something clearly, whether that means introducing a business, telling a community’s story or capturing a moment that only happens once.

I have worked in production since 2015. Along the way, I have worked behind cameras, handled audio and lighting, directed live coverage, edited stories and coordinated productions. Producer is my main role today. Having worked those individual jobs helps me understand what the crew needs and what it will take to deliver the project we have planned.

A foundation in government and live production

My background includes studio and field production with Polk Government Television. That work covered public meetings and community programming, along with the camera, audio, lighting and master-control responsibilities that keep a production moving.

Government communication has a clear purpose: help people understand what is happening in their community. That experience still influences how I approach interviews and public information content. We need to understand the message, respect the people involved and make the finished piece useful to its audience.

University and professional sports production added another kind of experience. I produced football broadcasts at Southeastern University, helped develop a student production crew and worked camera during Detroit Tigers spring training in Lakeland. Live production makes preparation practical. You need to understand the schedule, communicate with the team and be ready before the moment arrives.

Conferences teach you to plan and adapt

As a video production manager at CDF, I worked on national conferences, internal communications and marketing content. That included coordinating crews and vendors, planning multicamera coverage and bringing a conference together on a two-month planning timeline.

At a conference, the speaker on stage is only part of the story. There are conversations between sessions, sponsor activities, details around the venue and the people who make the event work. Our association photography, including work with the Institute for Portfolio Alternatives, draws on that wider view of coverage.

We talk through those priorities before the event. When content needs to move quickly, the capture plan and editing workflow need to support that schedule from the beginning. The goal is to keep the production organized while leaving room to respond to what actually happens on site.

Places, businesses and the people behind them

Clanton Media’s work includes recurring community coverage at Babcock Ranch, island lifestyle storytelling at Useppa and marine photo and video production with Sweetwater Lifestyles. These projects bring together people, places and experiences in different ways.

A destination story needs more than a beautiful aerial. The setting matters, but so do the people spending time there, the details they notice and the experiences that make a place memorable. We think about how ground footage, photography, interviews and aerials can work together to tell that story.

For a business or corporate team, the starting point is similar: who do you need to reach, and what do they need to understand? That might lead to a brand film, an interview, photography for a website or content that helps explain a service. The production follows the purpose.

One chance to capture the moment

Our live aerial work has included SEU football and the SFC Carrier Cup aboard the USS Yorktown. For the Carrier Cup, we worked with TBN in support of the SFC broadcast production team.

Live coverage is a coordinated effort. Our role has to fit the wider production, its communication and its timing. That background helps on events of every size, because a live moment does not wait while you work out what comes next.

Nichole’s part in the work

My wife, Nichole, contributes photography, brand imagery and editing to Clanton Media. We have worked together on recurring Babcock Ranch community coverage, and her photography also includes local business and community events such as the East Pasco Chamber Women’s Luncheon.

She brings a natural, attentive approach to people and the details around them. When an assignment calls for more hands, we bring in freelance crew suited to that production.

Working with us

Clanton Media is a small, owner-led business. You work directly with me on the message, the plan and the finished content. I can produce the project from the start or work alongside your agency, internal team or existing producer.

The background matters because it makes the work more practical. We can discuss the idea while understanding the cameras, sound, lighting, crew and editing needed to make it happen. Tell us what you are working on, and we will build the production around it.