How I got into film.
During my senior year of high school, I got a job at a revolutionary gaming store called Game Pazzo. It was down the street from my house and one of my best friends also worked there. Over time, I built up a relationship with one of the owners of the store and started to learn about his story. He told me he was a stuntman in Hollywood before he got into the sales industry. He had a nice camcorder and offered it to me if I ever wanted to create some content for the store. We had recently bought a Mario outfit to wear during kid’s birthday parties, so I decided to have one of my friends dress up in it and make a short video to promote Game Pazzo. The owners loved it and they gave me a license to continue making content. This led to me making short videos for some friends and family since I was the only guy they knew who had film experience. On top of that, I started making some short skits on youtube just for fun.
As time went on, my obsession with film started to become unhealthy. I learned that I was making videos for the wrong reasons, especially the ones on my youtube channel. All I wanted was recognition and a sense of accomplishment. One day I was praying about the matter and I sensed the Spirit of God tell me to give away all of my film gear. I did not hesitate, so I packed up all of my gear and gave it to a friend who was in campus ministry in Chicago. I thought that God was going to restore it to me in some way like winning a contest for a new camera or something like that. At first, it was the days, then the weeks, and eventually the years that went by where I did not have a camera. Each time I wanted to go and buy one I sensed the Spirit tell me to just wait, so I did. It was about four years before I held a camera of my own again.
In 2017 I got a job as an admissions counselor at Northern Seminary. They had recently invested in some really nice camera gear. The problem was that no one had any background in video making. I spoke up and mentioned my past experience, so they asked if I would help in making some videos. As I started, it was the first time I had peace again about making videos. In all honesty, I thought that I might never do video work again in my life. I laid it down at the altar for God and I knew there was a possibility I might never pick it up again. As I started working with it again though, there was something so different. I didn’t care about being known or getting notoriety from it - I was just glad to be able to do it again.
One thing led to another and I began working for Seminary Now as an assistant camera for their class recordings. Seth Deming of Anomaly Video was hired as the main director for the project, so I worked with him under his leadership. I started to learn so much about film and the passion started coming back to life once again. At this time I consider freelance video to be a part-time job in addition to pastoring. Check out some of the work I’ve done and have been a part of in recent times.
