Jake Butler

BFA New Media ’21

Fall 2021

https://fmx298.santiago.bz/butler/

From a young age, I’ve always been enamored with the feeling that video can evoke. Whether from watching old home movies, to feature films, to short Vine videos. I can remember a time when I was 16 years old that I discovered that I wanted to create that content myself. The satisfaction I got every time I rendered a video was so great. I would watch it again and again until I couldn’t stand it. It wasn’t until I got to college that I found out that it was a viable career path and not just something you had to luck into. I learned to develop my skills from some of my very influential professors such as Aaron Walker who taught me valuable concepts for editing, and professor Santiago Echeverry who introduced me to other areas of digital design that I’ve been able to explore such as web coding in HTML and CSS.

I’ve been able to develop my skills in the tools and concepts that have already been invaluable to the work that I’ve done. By learning these concepts such as color, timing, etc. in tools such as Premiere Pro and Davinci Resolve, I’ve been able to build off of what I was able to teach myself and create some projects that I’m incredibly proud of. I also didn’t expect to build the skills that I have in HTML, CSS, InDesign, Photoshop, etc. I’ve really been able to push the tools I have to do things I didn’t think I’d be able to do this early in my career.

However, there are some things that I have struggled with. For examples, the concepts behind sound editing and DAWs have been very difficult for me to grasp. Also, some industry standard tools such as Avid Media Composer had really turned me off from them, and I haven’t found the motivation or time to relearn them. In the future, I hope to rebuild those skills with these tools.

In the future, I hope to continue in my passion for video editing. Ultimately, I would love to branch out from behind a computer to perhaps be a director and cinematographer, especially after watching so many hours of content when editing, I believe I have started to really develop the eye for what works on film and what doesn’t. I’d love to direct music videos, documentaries, and narrative films. As an editor, I am always the closest to the final product and I’ve gained such a pride for each project I’ve produced, and I hope I can continue that journey.