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Like many members of our Take180 community, Jesse Selwyn began shooting videos for fun, but in the past few months, one of his comedy music videos made it to Atom TV on Comedy Central, he hit the road for Kodak and he produced a comedy gamer video for Netgear.

Do you have directorial aspirations? I sat down with Jesse to find out how he did it.

What inspired you to become a director?

Jesse: I've been making little movies, commercials, music videos, talk shows and whatever else since I was strong enough to lift my mom's bulky VHS camera. That thing was like carrying around an anvil on your shoulder, but I had so much fun piecing together shoestring productions with that as my only means. I learned so much by just doing.

In the beginning, I had fun just trying to get some semblance of interesting content captured on tape. As I kept learning and began taking projects more seriously, I recognized an opportunity as the director to take the germ of an idea and mold and craft it into something larger than life that's entertaining, compelling, meaningful, funny or whatever. I've always been most inspired and influenced by the crazy things I can watch a thousand times and still be cracking up, biting my nails, finding new little nuances and quoting for weeks later. That's the kind of content I strive to make. As a director, there's something really gratifying about the start-to-end process of interpreting and pushing an idea to every limit and finding the best way to tell the story...no matter how big or small the project.
 
 
What was the moment where you felt like you made the switch from for fun to pro?

Jesse: It's funny because I'm still afraid to call myself pro, maybe because I have so much fun doing this. I'd say it all started when I did some segment producing for G4 TV. They brought me in to work on a bunch of comedy spots for some of their shows and specials. I wanted to approach it strictly from a directing standpoint, but I learned quickly how to produce as well. When I saw my first spot run on TV, it felt like the beginning.

The real moment, though, was when people started fully trusting my skills, respecting my ideas, and approaching me directly for their projects. I sort of feel like that's all been pretty recent too. Within the past year, I've created branded entertainment for Kodak, Netgear, Miller Brewing, Ford and Discovery Science. My brother and I also have a deal with Atom.com/ComedyCentral to release six original comedy music videos. It's incredibly fun and exciting to be working with such great companies.

It's been a gradual process getting to a professional level and I really still have so much to learn.


Do you have to do anything different when you're shooting for TV as opposed to shooting for the web?

Jesse: Creating content for the web has hugely expanded my skill set. When I do TV work, it's generally in one capacity -- usually just directing or producing. But in the new media space, I market myself as more of a one stop shop.

Almost all the time, I produce, direct and edit each piece. Sometimes I compose music for them too -- I brought my guitar on the road for the Kodak branded series I worked on this summer and wrote tunes for each daily video. It's such a good creative push for me to handle multiple aspects and it's always very rewarding.

The web serves as a home for content of every caliber -- something totally homemade or shot on a cell phone can be just as valuable online as a fully produced, major studio web show. Because of this, I tailor each shoot according to what it really needs. Not everything has to look so glossy and I frequently shoot in different formats.

For example, I shot MiniDV for the Kodak job because the standard definition look fit the vibe of the handheld/road trip/documentary piece I was creating.
I went a step up for a recent Netgear project ("A Gamer's Evolution") though and shot HD with a full crew because it needed a higher gloss and cleaner feel (it was a hip hop music video that branded a new product, so I wanted to make sure it looked really good).

TV has a baseline standard and the web's so much more flexible. You can really think out of the box when working with web content.


Most people would cringe at the idea of working with family, but you do it all the time -- tell me about that. (Jesse often collaborates with brother Zach Selwyn whom you may know from the movie Dead and Breakfast or the TV series Catch It Keep It.)

Jesse: I feel really fortunate that I get to work with my brother Zach so often. He's incredibly talented. We grew up quoting comedies and making movies together, and it's awesome to see everything come together for us professionally. We're a great two-man team -- he usually writes/records songs and stars in our videos while I do everything behind the camera. Sometimes it's just the two of us, other times we have a crew of 40 people.

Whatever the case, our shoots are always a really good time. I'll often just let the camera roll and he'll do a bunch of improvising that gets the crew hysterical. Sometimes I feel like we're having too much fun to be taken seriously. But we must be doing something right... I guess it's all about finding ways to keep our collaborations fresh.
It's amazing for me to be working with family like this.

We recently launched Selwyn Brothers, our production company, and we're doing a lot of branded/advertising, virals and music videos right now while developing some TV and film ideas too.

Stay Tuned for part two of our interview with video director Jesse Selwyn.

You can learn more about Jesse and see his work at his website: www.jesseselwyn.com