By Ellie Shalvarjian
Staff Writer
Mira Costa sophomore Vinnie Perry has taken his passion for videography and created a successful YouTube with hundreds of recurring viewers and fans.
Perry started creating videos and short films in Nov. 2015 by using clips from his favorite show, The Walking Dead, to make short trailers for fans. Six months later, Perry has published 22 videos, expanded his audience up to 24 thousand people and continues to, not only create trailers from TV show clips, but additionally make short films from his own videography.
“I was first attracted to film making since I love telling stories and I think it’s a great feeling when people can actually visualize my passions and stories through video,” Perry said. “I also love recording and filming things and listening to people, I think everyone has an interesting story or hobby that should be shown to others and shared so it’s helpful, not only to get my work noticed, but also to get other’s work noticed.”
An average video that Perry creates takes anywhere from 5-7 hours and attracts anywhere from 10-24 thousand views on Facebook. Perry gains views by posting his videos on YouTube and Vimeo through his accounts, “Beyond the Walking Dead” on Youtube and Vinnie Perry on vimeo, then sharing them on various social media accounts, mainly Facebook and Instagram.
“I always get extremely excited to see that I’ve gotten so many views because it feels great to know so many people appreciate and notice the hard work I’ve done,” Perry said. “Additionally, I love reading the great comments on YouTube since they’re so inspiring and always are what motivate me to work harder.”
Perry’s videography skills have progressively improved as he initially did not have any formal videography software or tools so he had to use what was already on the internet, Perry said. To improve his video making, Perry saved up enough money that he was able to purchase his own laptop, editing software and a drone to help take shots of different places in the South Bay for short videos of his own. Additionally, he has refined his own style and chosen to specialize in videos of nature, animals and landscapes.
“My friends know that I love creating videos so they always offer to let me use their really nice cameras which is super helpful,” Perry said. “In the past 6 months, I have had a drastic change in how I tell stories and I am learning more and more every day about creating videos and how to make them individual and special to myself.”
Along with advancing his equipment, Perry has started to collaborate with other aspiring videographers and photographers, including Costa junior Lucy McDonald. McDonald also works with photography and videography, and the two recently collaborated on a video using Perry’s footage of Palos Verdes mixed with her footage of an aquarium.
“He’s a great kid and a super fun person to have around, he really cares about creating cool content and his actual interest combined with his determination is so refreshing,” McDonald said. “It was nice to be able to like point out things for him to shoot and then to see the outcome and think ‘hey I had a part in this.’”
In the upcoming years of high school, Perry hopes to continue creating videos, sharing his work to his peers and furthering his presence and audience in the TV and movie industry. One day Perry hopes to major in filmmaking during college.
“I hope to continue filmmaking and video editing in the future especially focusing on re-editing films, making my own documentaries, film adventures, making my own documentaries about people and event photography,” Perry said. “I cannot wait to see what comes in the future and my YouTube channel is just a small portion of what I have to show everyone.”
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