Charissa Profile

Through The Lens of Zachary Slaughter

As a child, Zach would watch movies and think to himself, “How did they make this story come to life?” This question lead him to finding his passion as a filmmaker. Today, Zach expresses his love for film through short videos that he creates with his brother and friends.

The filmmaking community is very diverse because there are many levels to film, and anyone can be apart of it. Some people become involved by just using their phone’s camera to shoot home videos, memories, or simple scenes just as Zach and his friends do. On the opposite end of the community are professional film makers who use high tech equipment and produce popular movies, tv shows, or commercials.

The film community is a great place to express creativity or deliver specific messages because of the many different types of film that people develop. Films can vary in length, genre, purpose, and emotion, giving whomever produces them unlimited ways to create. Along with creativity, the more serious group of the filmmaking community values originality, dedication, organization, and a higher level of camera quality.

The community of filmmakers can release their content on many different platforms. One of the most popular is Youtube, a type of social media where anyone can upload their own content to share with the world. The community can also come together and share their work at film festivals such as the Sundance Film Festival, and professionals can gather at famous award ceremonies like The Academy Awards.

Zach was always interested in movies as a kid, but it wasn't until he and his friends watched Lights Out that they decided to make a movie of their own. They first attempted to recreate a scene from the movie, but stopped in their tracks when they were inspired to make their own original film. It was about an everyday guy who comes home to discover that his house has been broken into. It ends with a cliffhanger after a gunshot goes off, leaving the viewer oblivious to the ending of the story. Zach says this first video was his favorite film he has ever made and that “it wasn’t necessarily good but it was like, ok, we found something to do in our freetime.”

Today, Zach understands the qualities needed in order to make a good film that he didn't recognize as a beginner. At first, his goal was for his films to be successful and gain popularity. “Wanting to gain success is what was stopping us. It's about creativity,” he says. The qualities needed to make a good film are patience, problem solving skills, commitment, creativity, and the ability to grow and gain a new perspective. “Obviously we don't have a lot of money so we have to come up with compromises” to make up for it. Today, Zach and his friends release their films on Youtube and although their videos are not conventionally successful, they continue to create film because they simply love to do so.

For films that he watches and creates, Zach values an interesting story line, well developed, complex characters, and an editing style that produces a good rhythm and flow. He recognizes these attributes in his favorite director Martin Scorsese, and in his favorite film The Godfather. Zach tries to replicate these concepts into his own films by taking a seemingly average story and giving it an unexpected twist. Zach and his friends don't prefer one genre of film, they like to create both light hearted fun content as well as serious more dramatic stories.

In regards to his future, Zach hopes to become better at film producing. He plans to continue his education in film so that he can “make a living [in film] and keep improving.” Zach claims that if he continues to push forward in his passion, “the only way is up, I guess.”