![Junior Grant Levins sprints down the track. "I'm here to try out because I love the sport of track and field and I'm working on my 800 [meter] time. Just trying to get better," Levins said.](https://www.wjpitch.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/g82ehdhTRiNswrE8gfn0tL9VRz7fuAnaiIKPCaOI-1200x900.jpg)
From documenting sports games to telling stories with film, WJ filmmakers hit all the categories. Seniors Phillip Pham and Dylan Rose make completely different kinds of videos but come together for one common purpose, the love of creating film.
Pham has gained acknowledgement for his videos documenting gameplays. His videos started taking off in January during basketball season, and expanded to filming lacrosse and football. However, Pham didn’t start out with big crowds and eventful sports games.
“I started making videos back in 2014 editing videos of gameplay and sharing them with others on Youtube, but I didn’t have any interest in real life film making until 2017 when I came across travel videos on Youtube and thought they were really cool,” Pham said.
During 2018, Instagram created a feature that allowed people to repost each others Instagram stories or Instagram posts. Pham wanted to take advantage of this feature to share his videos.
“When Instagram released the feature of being able to “restory” people’s posts, it gave a chance for videographers to share their work on a platform that everyone uses to gain exposure,” Pham said.
Pham gets inspiration from a lot of filmmakers such as Jay Alverrez, Matt Kimi and Matthew Blum, who mainly create videos about travel and lifestyle on Youtube. Additionally, Pham gets a lot of inspiration from his friend Eddie Martin who creates similar videos.
Pham has produced a number of videos for WJ and for other schools. Last year, he made three videos about the WJ boys basketball team and their successful season. In May, Pham switched sports and focused on boys and girls lacrosse. Not only does Pham film WJ athletes, but also local private schools like Gonzaga, St. Johns, Landon and Bullis.
Pham wants film to be involved in his career later in life.
“When I get older, pursuing this in the future would be a big goal of mine with other things related to art,” Pham said.
Rose is also a filmmaker at WJ. Rose typically likes to make narrative based films, comedy or short films.
“I really love to tell stories, so film is pretty fantastic for that,” Rose said.
Rose fell in love with making films after taking a film camp the summer after sixth grade. That same summer, he began making films and gaining more experience.
Rose tries to pull inspiration from just about anything he sees or hears. Whether it be a movie or a song, Rose tries to bring those elements into his videos.
“Everything from comics to oil paintings have inspired some of my concepts in some way. Whether it be a mood I wanna set or the color scheme, I’m always taking in the world,” Rose said.
Just like Pham, Rose hopes that filmmaking will be involved in his future in some way.
“I am going to study film in college and hopefully be able to work on stuff that is worthwhile. I hope that I can make something at some point in my life that will reach a wide audience. I hope I won’t end up as a starving artist, but who knows. I’m in it for the long haul with filmmaking,” Rose said.
