My artistic inspiration: Gabriel Hypes

From around the start of high school, I knew I wanted to do something creative. At first, that thing was video games. I love games, and when I started college, I wanted to learn how to make them myself... but that’s beside the point.

With the degree I chose, “Entertainment Arts and Engineering,” with an emphasis in computer science, they made me take a myriad of film classes. Perhaps it was to be well-rounded, or maybe to get a taste of the other side of the degree, “Film and Media.” Either way, it worked, and I was addicted to film.

There were two things I would say gave me a passion to pursue filmmaking. At the start of 2016, I began a challenge. To watch a new movie everyday for a year. 

Turns out, that was a lot harder than I thought it would be, considering I only made it five months. The third movie I watched though was an experience that has stuck with me since: “The Hateful Eight” roadshow in 70mm.

I traveled a couple hours just to pay $20 for a ticket, but it was an experience I will never forget. “The Hateful Eight” isn't even my favorite Quentin Tarantino movie, but it had the biggest impact.

Enamored right from the ticking of the film reel, I would stand up on the seats after the movie to get a view of the film, revel in the intermission and overall presentation with the book they gave to everyone, taking in the all-around spectacle.

It was the first movie I watched that made me say: “This is what I want to do.” I don’t care if I’m the guy getting coffee, or the guy behind the camera screaming ‘CUT,’ I want to be responsible for making something like this.

The next thing that comes to mind is the first time I got to take a production class and make my first movie. I thought I did great, but looking back now, I know it was bad. I had no idea how to operate a camera, edit video or tell you what the word “cinematography” was; I was terrified.

That’s what made it so amazing.

I was scared to touch anything. How does a camera work? What is good lighting? How do you use a tripod? To me, filmmaking was like rocket science, and I’m not a rocket scientist. I got through the semester though and put out a short film I was proud of.

I don’t think I will ever not be scared when I see film equipment, just as I was when I took that class. It seems daunting and impossible to me to make a movie, but that’s what makes it so awesome. 

With film graduate school coming up, I’m excited to see just what I’m capable of, in a passion started by a movie about eight horrible people and a class that terrified me.

Gabriel Hypes is the arts editor for The Spectator. He can be reached at ae.spectator@gmail.com.

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