My first video camera was a modest one. Its use required tethering to a VCR, it shot only in black and white, and was manufactured by the toy company 'TYCO'. I still have the video of myself opening the box on Christmas morning (filmed with my dad's higher-end camera), me shrieking in excitement as 4th graders do and immediately charging into my room to plug it in. Sitting at my bedroom desk at the time was a television, a VCR and a video game console. Video games would never grab my attention the same way again, I now had more important things to do on that screen.
Since that December at age 9 my language has become film. Like a wolf in sheep's clothing this child's toy began my insight into the filming and editing process at an age in which I hadn't yet seen an elementary school diploma. When I was home, I was most likely at my desk editing between two VCRs for years to come. Book reports became video projects, science fair exhibits became video projects, any 'creative thinking' project that didn't explicitly state the use of paper became another excuse for me to sit down and edit.
Years after the sloppy VHS tapes, digital cameras and editing software came into play making this a cleaner and affordable process. With the advent of websites like YouTube, film making has become a very accessible, very public, and very powerful medium. The ever-growing frequency of cameras in the home have allowed for an infinitely rich source of diversity and lent a hand to society's further recognition of the language. So important has the 'amateur videographer' become in society, that theatrical releases like 'Cloverfield' and 'Paranormal Activity' are wildly successful thanks to their emulation of the handheld YouTube style. Of course this new-found accessibility can also mean a lot more personal and very boring pieces of work on the internet; some of mine included I'm sure. I consider myself a revivalist and with that I try to maintain the attention to detail that is sometimes over-looked in film -- while maintaining the accessibility it's gained. With my early start in learning the editing process, I'm a member of the last generation of film makers who began before the ease of digital editing and distribution, yet is still young enough to understand and be a natural part of the 'viral video' and video blog generation.
"To make a film entirely by yourself, which initially I did, you may not have to know very much about anything else, but you must know about photography.' ~Stanley Kubrick
While my passion lies in film making, I started off as a photographer and still continue it from time to time. I find photography to be an important medium and very useful in capturing life's exact moments -- which I do find restricting at times, but when done well it conveys a charm that film can lack. I treat my film and photography as similar animals allowing them to compliment each other. The films and photographs I shoot are about documenting the sub conscious and capturing new atmospheres. I take advantage of the opportunity to recreate my imagination on a medium which can be shared with others, the rare ability to document anything from a daydream I had on the bus last week, to a nightmare I had when I was six. Bringing things into existence that were once just fleeting thoughts is the magic I experience in taking the opportunity to create art.
I have a natural understanding of cameras and more importantly know what interesting things to point them at. Exercising that with the process of shooting and editing channels the eye and precision I've gained as an adult, with the authority-defying shameless creativity I had as a 9 year old boy. It's a necessity that grounds me on both an intellectual and emotional level. Thanks to the constant ability to share my conscious and sub-conscious ideas; I've never needed to question who I am or what I want -- because I've always had the chance to put my inner workings on display for open discussion.
