Marko Huisa (12) first watched the 2002 Spider-Man movie when he was only 6 years old. Mesmerized by the movie’s ability to bring other-worldly scenes to life, Huisa committed himself to videography, hoping to someday create his own film.
“I thought, ‘I wanna be Spiderman too’ and that’s a thing that you can only really do in a movie,” Huisa said. “It really sparked my imagination, and I began to think of other things that could’ve happened in the movie. That’s when it first crossed my mind: ‘What if I could film something as good as this movie?’”
Last summer, Huisa gained film experience working behind-the-scenes of two music videos for singer-songwriter Jiwhan Kim. Huisa was introduced to many other filmmakers and Kim through his friend. Then, they spent the next two days traveling together to film scenes for the videos in Del Mar and Los Angeles. Although Huisa wasn’t able to do any of the filming himself, he got to see the process up close. Behind both videos’ most breathtaking scenes, Huisa set up lights, used a hose and grass blower to create the illusion of rain, and even helped carry a grand piano into the waves in Del Mar. Huisa said that working on the music videos was his first time working with a team on a real production, but the long hours they spent were worth it.
“It was an amazing experience,” Huisa said. “I was in a group of people who were all trying to get into the Hollywood film industry. Those two days together, we did a lot of ambitious things. It was pretty much work for 48 hours straight. We only slept for a few hours during the day, but it was all fun.”
Huisa said that working to film the music videos for Kim taught him more about videography’s ability to tell a story to the viewers and create visuals to match music. The relationship between sound and visuals creates an appeal to the audience, which Huisa has utilized at Westview while filming and editing short videos for sports teams.
“The visuals [of the music video] are like an expression of the song,” Huisa said. “When you’re able to match any video to the sound, it’s more impactful, especially in the sports edits I do because everything is cohesive and works together to portray emotions.”
During the basketball season, Huisa collaborated with the boys basketball team to film all of their games. On social media platforms, like the team’s Instagram, his video edits shared the highlights of each game. Upon request, Huisa sold highlight video edits for individual athletes and will continue to put together the videos in his new partnership with the boys volleyball team this season.
Huisa said that a lot of time, thought, and effort goes into creating the 1-2-minute videos.
“The actual filming [at sports events] can be difficult,” Huisa said. “I have to get around the room and find the best angle because sometimes there are coaches and referees that block the shot. The real craft in it is editing the videos afterward. I have to put some creativity into editing because anyone can use a camera and videotape. The difference is that I put my craft into it, which is mainly sound editing.”
Huisa manipulates the audio of the sports edits to control the sounds of sneakers on the gym floor, the timer buzzer, the volume of cheering from the stands, and the music that he puts over the clips. Shaking and flashing visuals are made to match the audio, as planned by Huisa.
In a recent clip, Huisa highlighted a point scored by Owen Sajnog (12) from the varsity volleyball homegame against Canyon Crest Academy, Feb. 28. Last Monday, he put together the clip to the song, “redrum” by 21 Savage, slowing some parts, adjusting the audio, fixing the lighting, adding shaking visual effects and bass sounds, and adding in the Westview logo.
“There are so many little, tiny things that make the video so much better, but most people don’t realize they are there,” Huisa said. “Storytelling with the visuals and sound is really more about the emotions of things, how you want to make the audience feel about it. That’s why I like filming and editing videos the way I do.”
