Beginning Digital Darkroom with photography teacher Jonathan Nast, check. Narrative Film with film teacher Mike Zito, check. Advanced Digital Darkroom with Nast, check.
During Jack Craymer ‘14’s freshman and sophomore years at Staples, he took advantage of the many film and photography classes that Staples has to offer. Craymer had more than enough experience to create this year’s Grim Reaper Day documentary.
Before Craymer’s freshman year, he worked with his father, a professional photographer, Chris Craymer, on photo shoots. These photo shoots were where Jack’s experience with film took off.
In fact, Craymer has even had his work published on national television—just not in this nation. After filming a video from a photo shoot with Clark’s Shoes, Craymer showed the video to the company, which then aired the advertisement on Chinese television.
“Ever since then, various companies have been asking me to make videos for them,” Craymer said. “I have worked for magazines such as Self, Italian Vanity Fair, British and Russian Glamour, and various others.”
Through these experiences, Craymer feels as though he has learned a ton about film and directing. When Lily Rappaport ’13, a member of TAG, approached Craymer and asked if he would be interested in creating the Grim Reaper Day documentary, Craymer was very excited.
The video took several weeks to create because all of the interviewees were filmed on different days. Craymer used a Cannon T2I with a 50 millimeter lens to film. In addition, Craymer used Keno Flow Lights, which, according to him, “really helped with the video quality and made each person a little bit more interesting to look at.”
In terms of editing, Craymer used Final Cut Seven. “This program is great for editing and if anyone is interested in film, I suggest that you use this for editing rather than iMovie,” Craymer said.
Rappaport was very pleased with how the documentary turned out. “It was definitely one of our best yet,” Rappaport said. “I got lots of positive feedback.”
Rappaport believes that part of the reason that this year’s documentary was so eye opening for students was that the majority of the speakers were either Staples students or Staples alumni.
Kendall Rochlin ’15 was one of the Staples students in this year’s documentary. Rochlin lost her brother in a drunk driving accident on Dec. 27, 2009.
“If I could say one thing to the Staples community, it would be to not make that stupid decision to get in a car with a driver who has been drinking or drive while drunk,” Rochlin said in the video. “I wouldn’t ever want anyone to feel the pain that I felt knowing my brother was gone forever.”
While Rochlin was nervous to be in the documentary, she knew that it would be a good way to have a strong impact on people.
“People told me I did a great job and that it was a very strong thing to do,” she said.
Brittany Silver ’14, a member of TAG, was also very happy with the way the documentary turned out. “By far trying to make it through the interviews without crying was the hardest part about making the documentary,” Silver said. “Hearing the stories in person and watching some of the interviewees cry was just so upsetting.”
Overall, Craymer was proud of the documentary that he created.
“I wanted to make this video to show people the dangers of drunk driving,” Craymer said. “It is an incredibly serious issue and the fact that TAG is doing everything they can to try to stop it is amazing.”
Check out more of Craymer’s videos by going to his vimeo page.
