James Griffith: Practitioner Interview

     James Griffith began practicing videography and editing in middle school and since then in his personal and professional time while working at Pacific Seafood, a global seafood distribution company. In junior high he was asked by his cousin to film her wedding, and since then has taken on bigger projects and graduated with a Cinema and Media Communications degree from George Fox University. At George Fox he learned how to write, shoot, direct and edit his own films. He took one of his favorite classes, Camera and Lighting while at school, where he got to test different cameras and lighting techniques. This class also allowed him to focus on building sets and recreating them as well as building an understanding of what a “vision” means in terms of film. Another one of his favorite classes was Advanced Production Workshop which he got to take twice, once as a junior and once as a senior. During this class he created his first 3D animated film which utilized photo scanning and mesh photogrammetry to modify videos. Besides school based projects, he took on different projects on the side and exposed himself to what it was like working with start-ups, small businesses, his local church, and other small events found through mutual connections. One of his side projects was a film that included shooting a 1000 fps at 4K Super Slow Motion video. With the help of a co-director, visual effects expert, and twenty other hands on deck, he was able to co-direct and create an exceptional video in 3-4 days. Take a peek of his work here: https://www.jamesgriffith.film/work 

    For James, the creative process starts with getting to know the client during planning meetings. He makes sure that when he is taking on individual projects to start with meeting the client to learn more about what they are looking for. He listens for the subtle nuances of the branding that he can capitalize on in order to impress them and capture the goal. More recently, at Pacific Seafood, James has noticed his enjoyment traveling to different locations to get footage and having to tackle problems with lighting and staging which required him to be quick on his feet. At a company like this, he is lucky to aid in filming/editing advertisements and commercials, like the one linked here for their new ecommerce platform: https://www.jamesgriffith.film/work. In addition to this he also helps with internal communication productions that include filming new interviews and combining b-roll from older content as well as new. 

    His passion for working in the video field sprouted from how rewarding it feels to have people use the content you put time into creating and watching it create traction with a broader audience. He noticed throughout schooling that the majority of people expect this career to be working on big films or documentary content, but he has noticed that the majority of work he has acquired in Portland is usually from companies or small businesses. He has come to really enjoy work like this, and found that whether he is creating commercials or internal company media, he likes learning more about the client and pivoting quickly between small projects. Overall, James said the skill most critical to success is creative problem solving. He added that there are a lot of weird quirks and small bits and pieces of knowledge that you can’t learn until you start working. Things like this are what he looks forward to learning more of.