Other Side of the Lens
CHL Member of the Month: Allen Clements of Otaku Motion
By George Hunter
Being a small business owner takes determination and focus, two qualities that this month’s featured member has aplenty, Allen Clements owner of Otaku Motion.
His company is aptly named considering, that otaku is a Japanese term for a person that shows almost obsessive interest or focus on something. For Allen his interest is his business. Known for his strong work ethic and easy demeanor, Allen freely admits to the winding course that brought him to his business.
Though born, raised and educated in Lafayette, Louisiana, you’d probably not know it considering his lack of a southern drawl. But Allen is familiar with the Cajun patois, speaking a little French himself, his mother was a French speaker, and French was his grandmother’s first language. “It was a great place to grow up, [a] really rich culture,” Allen says speaking of Lafayette.
He got his start in video production at KATC-TV3 , in Lafayette, where he refused an internship and convinced the company to hire him as an Art Director, the same position Allen’s father held about twenty years prior. “I thought...that I would never do production again, maybe marketing, creative advertising,” but little did Allen know at the time that video production is what would be filling his days and most of his nights.
Playing various instruments, including guitar, trombone and drums, and having been a member of a number of indie bands, Allen doesn’t consider himself a musician, but rather “a performer or artist,” due to his experimental approach to music. Allen’s love of music and, by now, his tenacity in anything he puts his mind to made him wonder “what’s beyond the garage [band].” Well, beyond was Lancaster.
So when a Lancaster based band approached Allen to join them, Allen sold everything he couldn’t pack in his truck and 1300 miles later he was in Lancaster.
Despite a number of opportunities to leave, Allen remained in Lancaster and even put down roots by starting his production company out of a York office. With a little help from his close friend, Allen was able to take that leap into entrepreneurship. As he explains it, his friend knew that he would be “putting sixty hours a week into his own business.” Allen says your business is an investment like “buying your own house,” for the time and energy that must be expended.
He has reaped his reward collecting contracts from That Fish Place, Chapman Ford and Hershey Medical Center among others and is currently working on a documentary about the legendary Chameleon in downtown Lancaster.
Allen’s work abides between talent and sheer will. He exudes a sort of seize-the-day energy, and while he recognizes the fear that comes with starting your own business, he is also quick to point out the rewards, “It’s been tough, but now I can see how it’s progressing.”
No matter what Allen does, his talent and determination are evident, and for that the Lancaster viewing audience is grateful.
Interested in what Allen does? Want to see more of his work? Check out his website at www.otakumotion.com