The McCormick Brothers Aim to Inspire Through The Outbound Life
Image courtesy of The Outbound Life.
You’re never be too young to become a creative force, as brothers Kody and Kyler McCormick remind us. They were still in their teens when they decided to start producing adventure lifestyle videos through their own company, The Outbound Life. Fast forward a few years, and The Outbound Life now works with clients including Southwest Airlines and MGM Resorts to bring their inspirational style of storytelling to audiences across broadcast, streaming video, and social media.
“The Outbound Life isn’t just a company name for us,” explains Kody. “It’s a lifestyle and a mindset. It’s about the idea of leaving your current position, both mentally and physically, and pushing past boundaries to discover things you previously never thought or experienced.”
The McCormick brothers started The Outbound Life when they realized the potential from combining their passions for film, business, and adventure to create adventure films that make a big difference in the world.
“We want to do more than just create beautiful and entertaining content,” says Kyler. “What makes us different is our emphasis on creating content that inspires. We’re learning new things every day, and we want to share those powerful experiences and information with others.”
Getting to the core of the story with Adobe workflows
Rather than focusing on formal education, the McCormicks chose a more hands-on approach to building their company. The brothers attended industry shows such as NAB to meet next-generation storytellers and learn about the latest technologies and techniques. Kody took online business courses, while Kyler turned to YouTube for advice on advancing his filmmaking craft. During this research, one name kept coming up again and again: Adobe.
“We were really impressed with Adobe after seeing them at our first NAB show,” says Kyler. “The more research we did, the more we heard about how Adobe listened to its customers and innovated while other companies were just being left behind. Adobe was the obvious choice for us.”
Kyler and Kody started working with Adobe Creative Cloud apps to bring a professional polish to their projects. In particular, the brothers like working with Adobe Photoshop Lightroom for image editing and Adobe Premiere Pro for branded and original video content. Recently, they added Adobe Premiere Rush and like how it lets them take projects in different directions, with everything from basic editing to sound, color, titles, and even the ability to change the speed of clips to achieve different effects. The brothers believe that less is more when it comes to creativity. Sometimes having unlimited editing tools can actually get in the way.
“We’re not super technical, so we like how easy it is to work with Adobe products,” says Kody. “Adobe empowers us to create what we want using simple and fast workflows so we can focus on creativity and getting to the core story.”
Giving it all with Justin Forsett
The Outbound Life focuses on projects and partners that align with the brothers’ message of inspiring others. That’s why it was a thrill for them to create a profile for former NFL running back Justin Forsett. Justin’s path to success wasn’t easy. He faced a lot of roadblocks, but he worked hard and never gave up. His effort paid off, culminating in a starting position for the Baltimore Ravens and an appearance in the 2015 Pro Bowl.
Even after retiring, Justin continues to push himself towards success. Along with friends from college, he started his own company, ShowerPill, as seen on Shark Tank. ShowerPill’s hygiene wipes are perfect for athletes, from professionals dashing between practices and meetings, to office workers who want to squeeze in a quick workout over their lunch breaks. But ShowerPill also donates wipes to people in disaster areas, helping people maintain health and hygiene even when water is scarce.
The Outbound Life brought Justin Forsett’s inspirational message of greatness and persistence to life in a one-minute video. This profile was the first video where the McCormicks incorporated Premiere Rush into their creative workflow.
Immediately after filming with Justin, the brothers uploaded the footage from their cameras to the cloud. Using the streamlined, mobile-friendly editing power of Premiere Rush, they started looking at footage on their phones while traveling to the airport. They had a preliminary rough cut complete even before they boarded their plane. Back in their studio, they simply uploaded the timeline into Adobe Premiere Pro to finalize and polish the video.
“One of the reasons we’re so excited about Premiere Rush is that it’s so natural and simple,” says Kyler. “Rush makes it even easier to work on the go, which helps us stay in the moment and tell richer, more compelling stories faster than ever.”
While Kody and Kyler see themselves ultimately finishing most of their videos in Premiere Pro, they’re also excited about the potential of finishing and publishing stories directly from their mobile phones using Premiere Rush.
“We do a lot of Instagram stories for brands,” says Kody. “With Premiere Rush, we now have an opportunity to shoot something, edit, and push to social media in the same day. So, we’ll very quickly get our brands and partners the high-quality content they expect. Premiere Rush opens up new possibilities for creating and delivering stories.”