The Goji Project
As my senior year of college began, I knew that I wanted to create a short film that showed my growth as a cinematographer and a creative storyteller. Working with the University of Illinois Media and Cinema Studies department, I direct a crew of 14 students to produce The Goji Project, a short film about simulation theory, but also about about what it means to be human, how we process the uncertainty of our vast universe, and the relationships that we develop while we are here.
The Goji Project has won accolades from numerous film festivals, including a finalist rating for Best Sci-Fi Short at LA International Film Festival’s Indie Short Fest.
Short Film (2022) | Writer & Director
Bad Night
Music Video (2022) | Director
My favorite projects are those that I get to make with the people I love. Trey Royal is both an incredible actor and musician and also one of my closest friends. This music video is the result of a mostly improvisational shoot that lasted a single night.
I had the freedom to do some more experimental editing on this project, and it created compositions that I am very proud of. These are some of my favorite visuals I’ve produced to date, and it’s an added bonus that the song is great, too.
Every Body Better
Commercial (2021) | 1st Assistant Camera / DIT
The University of Illinois at Chicago’ s Kinesiology and Nutrition program can send students to a number of career paths, some unexpected. With an alarming number of color-coordinated paper backgrounds and handheld foods, this piece is a heavily chromatic ad that communicates the possibilities of a K+N degree and emphasizes the human body.
I served as First Assistant Camera and DIT on this commercial, supplying and managing equipment, lighting the set, operating a B-Cam and backing up and labeling footage. I also concurrently produced a piece of social content for TikTok, which I edited for the client after production.
Girl Over Here
Music Video (2021) | Director / DP
How do you make a music video when you’re quarantined at home? With Barbies, of course. For this project, my Tiny Bit of Giant’s Blood frontman father and I built color-coordinated cardboard sets to house our plastic stars. After collecting iPhone videos remotely from actresses and bandmates, we used After Effects to create a disturbingly realistic showcase of what it might look like if Barbies had moving faces – and were maybe a little bit pissed off.
This video was an official selection in the 2020 Midwest Film Festival, which was held as a drive-in due to COVID.
Five Foot Heels
Music Video (2020) | Director / DP
A literal pair of shining silver five-foot-tall heels is enough of a spectacle on its own, but watching a cult of sequin-clad dancers worship the shoes really brings things to the next level.
Tony Rogers, frontman of Tiny Bit of Giant’s Blood, built these shoes and wears them on stage when the band performs. With the help of giant TBGB lights and a smoke machine, we made a music video that gives the shoes the reverence they deserve.
If You Want Blood
Music Video (2020) | Director / DP
If you want blood - that is, about three gallons of fake blood - then this is the video for you. Tiny Bit of Giant’s Blood covers the classic AC/DC song in a video that can only be described as the lovechild between a glam rock garage band practice and a low budget horror movie.
I directed and shot this project, which was filmed in my garage in Chicago in the middle of winter. Sometimes the harshest shooting conditions produce the best results, though – this video is a great time, and definitely worth the blown fuses from all the heaters we were running.