Today we’d like to introduce you to Noah Whitmore.
Noah, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
When I was in high school I was extremely involved in a lot of activities including Band, Soccer, Theater, and Audio Visual classes. My sophomore year of high school I chose to take an AV Production class, the teacher was also the baseball teacher and he didn’t care much for the class but I took an interest almost immediately wanting to make and share videos with people. At the time we were working with the most basic software you can imagine and only really doing highlight reels for the football and basketball team. I very quickly got bored of this and decided I wanted to make other things in my free time. I bought Adobe Premiere and After Effects and spent months watching tutorials on how to use them and replicating people’s projects learning the ins and outs of these, at the time, extremely complicated programs.
Fast forward to the end of the year, we were tasked with making a short anti-bully film and I didn’t want to do the typical boring slow video that everyone else was doing so I worked with my class partner to create a video that showcased a couple different scenarios where a superhero saved a kid from a bully. At the time these videos required a lot of special effects and I worked extremely diligently to make them look as perfect as I could. Of course, it ended up looking very amateur but I was super proud of what I had accomplished and the amount of great feedback I received. Throughout the rest of high school, I just spent my time doing short videos and even creating 2 of the band banquet videos and getting to shoot at the NBC channel 8 news station. Senior year I made my first short film that was entered into the Texas State UIL film festival, it was about a young girl with depression and really showed the effects it can have on people.
Fast forwarding to today, I’m constantly working on a music video, commercial, or wedding video. I love what I do because I have creative control and I am able to tell the story that I want to tell. My main reasoning for really anything that I make is the emotion, I want to one day make a difference in the world and I believe that can be done through my work.
Has it been a smooth road?
The road definitely hasn’t been smooth but I feel like I don’t have a lot of the struggle most other people have. Growing up both of my parents have always been together and always supported me. They’ve helped me pay for equipment and even bought me my first camera. I’ve also had some really great mentors and friends to help push me to be better. All of the struggles I’ve had as an independent creator would revolve around still being so young and having a lot more to learn and also not being able to get work as easily as others while still being in college. I’ve had the ability to work with some really awesome and creative people and that really has boosted my standards and production. I am thankful to everyone that has gotten me to where I am and all the people that will help me in the future.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
I started Short Screens Cinema while still in high school and I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do with it, all I knew was I wanted to make movies. After graduating high school I saw a lot more potential in my business and that when I started reaching out to work on other projects and do wedding videos. My first wedding I was the second shoot for a friend of mine’s company named Jedai Production, and that really has opened a door to continue to do more. Short Screens specializes in Wedding videos, Short films, events, and commercials in the DFW area. I have a ton more short films in the works but they tend to be a little expensive so its gonna take some time to get those produced. Eventually, I would like to make a feature-length film. Next Summer I will be in Honduras for a documentary with Light of Life International. The thing that I am most proud of in my company and in my work is my ability to show the motion from an event. When I film something I really want the people that are watching to feel like they were there. Mainly when I do wedding videos, I like to bring back all of those happy emotions that the Bride and Groom felt that day. I think what sets Short Screens apart from most other companies is that there is only one person in the company and that is me. I direct, shoot and edit everything. I do have others help me shoot every so often however it is mainly all done by one person.
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
I believe DFW is a great area for a lot of things to start out, I have lived here all of my life and I’ve seen not only where I live but DFW as a whole really growing into a magnificent place (minus all the terrible construction). Being a videography in DFW is awesome because of the huge population of the city has to offer, every day there is also some kind of event going on and there is always a need for it to be filmed. In my personal experience I feel like there already is a lot of videographers so work becomes kind of scarce at times but if you know where to look you can pretty much find what you need.
Pricing:
- Wedding Video (Full Day/8 hours) -$1200
- Wedding Video (Half Day/4 Hours) -$800
- Commercials range from $1000-12,000
- Event Coverage ranges from $500-$1000 w/ video $1000-2000 (depending on event)
Contact Info:
- Website: https://noahgw8268.wixsite.com/shortscreenscinema
- Email: Shortscreenscinema@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shortscreens/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ShortScreensCinema/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/ShortScreens?lang=en
- Other: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC02lJfQ3vNpnt1DEH2ILyXg
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