I went from BEING a 13-year-old with a video camera to a filmmaker with a mission.
I was 13 when my family bought a Hi-8 video camera as a Christmas present. My brother, close friends, and I started making movies just for fun. Mysteries, based on Night Shyamalan films, Star Wars spoofs… I loved the magic of creating visual lightsaber effects or animations with clay.
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Christmas 1999
This became a creative outlet I poured myself into. I might not have used these words at the time, but what I love about the cinematic arts is that it is the confluence of countless artforms in one: literary, rhythmic, musical, performing arts, visual arts, interior design…
I began to discover the joy of merging these artforms in a movie! Editing together the best takes of my friends and I – with wooden lightsabers – created the illusion of a well-choreographed fight with “real” lightsabers.
I learned anything I could about filmmaking, including watching hours of The Lord of the Rings “making of” documentaries… And watching them all again a few years later.
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CINEMATIC ART
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The Masterpiece
My friends and I created – what to us was our first “epic” (28 min.) – an action-adventure/mystery film when I was a Junior in High School. And it won Grand Prize at the first Milwaukee High School Film Fest.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ran a front page article with our pictures on it, quoting our film as being a “shape-shifting tale of espionage.”
My senior year I was at a wilderness retreat up north, and felt God say to me, “I want to use your films to draw people to Me.” What was filled with guns, lightsabers, a lot of fun, and a lot of self-fulfillment became my vocation. “What can I put on screen that pleases Him?” That became my central question.
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THE MISSION
I started my studies at the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee for a year and later moved on to Columbia in Chicago where I finished my degree.
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16mm Film
In film school, I completed my first 1-hour feature-length film, and took a deep dive into all areas related to film: more than anything I loved cutting 16mm film with a razor blade. I learned to pick the specific frame I wanted by holding the film frames up to the light and picturing the movement based on the still images. This was 16mm film I shot on a World War II model camera called a “Bolex” for class.
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CREATING SINCE COLLEGE
Completed 9 feature-length screenplays
Developed a web series called “The Chosen,” which is a take on a modern-day Sampson (not to be confused with the recent worldwide success. My film was first — but I'll let it slide this time 😏)
Worked in TV news for 7 years
Worked 3 years for a church, managing all their multimedia
I am currently completing a film called “Remembering” that I have developed as Producer/Director for 7 years.
I also have co-edited the “Renew” series, and am currently editing a feature-length film called “The Redemption,” which I have helped to shape in the editing room with a first-time writer/director.
I have picked out actors’ performances, as well as engaging in objective dialogue about which scenes – and beats within scenes – are effective to build toward the specific climax that the film story culminates with.
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IN THE WORKS
I love to tell stories.
And to make movie magic.
I'm passionate about what I do.
And that’s a bit about me.