Photo by Sam Romero ’17 – Jake Lee ’16 poses for a photo for the Roundup, Feb. 27. Lee takes both photos and videos, but focuses largely on his videos.
By Brendan Hinkle ’16
THE ROUNDUP
Classes have been moving to a more tech-saturated teaching style for a few years, which includes the production of videos for class projects.
During his freshman year, Jake Lee ’16 created a video in English and he said ever since then he has been involved with video production.
“Before Brophy I made home movies with my friends,” Lee said. “I got really into my English video project and Mr. (Tommy) Smith suggested that I take Video Production next semester.”
Lee said he gets video inspiration from watching movies, reading books and just looking around.
“Most recently I’ve done stuff with my friends and I finished a documentary which has been in a few film festivals so that’s fun,” Lee said.
Lee said he’s taken the first two Video Production classes and is planning on taking the last one next year, which is digital storytelling. He is also taking AP Studio Art Photography next year.
Mr. Pete Burr ’07 said he has had Lee in Advanced Video Production and he’s fortunate to have had him in his class.
“He has this sense that you can’t teach, that you’re just lucky to have in your classroom and I can think of maybe one other student I’ve had that has had that sense.” Mr. Burr said. “They understand what’s going to grab the audiences attention and how to show and tell that in a unique way. I think Jake’s always had that and I wish I could take some credit for it but I can’t. He’s always had this x-factor.”
Mr. Burr said filmmaking is tough because one has to go above and beyond to get the shots other people aren’t getting, and Lee is always willing to get that difficult shot.
“The fun thing for me when I get kids as talented as Jake is I get to push them a little bit,” Mr. Burr said. “The cool thing about pushing really talented kids is that they often take it in directions you never would’ve considered before.”
Mr. Burr said Lee had his single favorite shot of the semester in one of his final projects, something he doesn’t think he would be able to get himself.
Lee said that for anyone just starting out in filmmaking or photography to take as many pictures and make as many videos as you possibly can because practice is what really helps you get as good as possible.
