Fast Five: Travis Bertram
By DEVIN WEEKS
Staff Writer
Meet Travis Bertram, entrepreneur, family man, videographer, and dad joke enthusiast.
Generation: I’m a millennial, but not the lazy kind.
Career and community involvement: I own Pulse Productions, a media-based marketing agency that takes on a wide variety of media projects in our community. My company is a community partner with the Innovation Collective, a member of the Coeur d'Alene Regional Chamber and a supporter of Coeur d'Alene Area Economic Development. Through COVID we’ve helped companies continue to support local businesses by moving their events to digital through online streaming. Email Pulse Productions at info@pulsecda.com, visit www.pulsecda.com or call 208-964-9796 for info.
Parental status: I’m dad to two kiddos, Ariannah and Corbin. And we live with my beautiful girlfriend Kelsey.
- When and why did you create Pulse Productions?
I started Pulse Productions as a wedding videography business back in 2015. Things quickly took off and my trial by fire learning style became part of our process. It wasn’t too long before I started working myself into realty and marketing. Now my passion has shifted from making cool videos to helping businesses thrive through multi-media creation and marketing strategy.
- What, so far, has been one of your favorite and most fulfilling projects with your production business?Picking a favorite project is hard for me. As the editor of all of the things I’ve created, each one becomes a passion project of sorts. I have a client, Glen Vaughn, who has started making videos for his family. He first reached out to me with a unique idea: he wanted to surprise his daughter with a music video for her wedding. He was learning guitar and the plan was to have two family members in different parts of the country send video clips of them singing and playing other instruments so they could be part of her special day. I suggested we take it to the next level and he hired us to film the wedding, while not telling her about the music video. Then we gathered old VHS tapes and pictures of her growing up. Shortly after her wedding, we had a custom music video of her dad with clips of her growing up ending with footage from her actual wedding. It was beautiful. Since that project we’ve done several more together. A video honoring his wife, one showing decades of handmade Christmas cards his dad created, another of a historic church in Spokane and one that is currently in production. The emotion and passion behind these videos is what makes them my favorite. They aren’t as polished, or as honed-in as what I create for businesses, but they are the most personal and intimate projects I’ve ever had the honor to be a part of.
- Why do you think people enjoy storytelling (books, movies, oral tradition) so much, and why is it an important part of our culture?
People enjoy storytelling because it’s an escape. It’s a chance to live in another world and experience something we might not otherwise. The power of storytelling has been present since the beginning of time. It’s how we taught lessons and remembered history. Nowadays, media and entertainment have been taken to the next level. The stories brought to the big screen or told through books or video games are epic in scope. What is interesting is that the story elements haven’t really changed. The role storytelling has in forming our culture is still as powerful as ever.
- What is something people would be surprised to learn about you?
One thing that might surprise people about me is that when I have the time, I love to longboard and snowboard.
- If money was no object, what grand-scale production would you create and where would it take place?
If money was no object, I’d create a full-blown studio somewhere near Coeur d’Alene where we could create films and television shows without the limitations of needing to travel elsewhere for a studio. It would become a place to support and lift up creatives in the area and become a filming destination for big film projects and shows. Then I’d form relationships with investors who would help fund local projects as well as integrate with local films to teach students about how to work in the film industry. I’d set up a portion of the profits to fund scholarships to film schools and further the education and film industry in our part of the country.
